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Customer Reviews of The Juniper Tree

I practically own Bjork's entire back catalogue, and worship 'Dancer In The Dark', but I promised my self that when I watched 'The Juniper Tree' for the first time, I'd try to do so with an open mind, and try not to be biased. Although the movie is a challenge to watch... I was not dissapointed.

This dark tale see's Margit (Bjork) and her sister Katla trying to rebuild their lives after their mother is burnt at the stake for practising witchcraft. So the sisters don't get the same fate, they flee across Iceland where Katla discovers a young widower and his son living alone. Through the use of Katla's withcraft, she is soon Married to the young widower, much to the dissaproval of his young son.

The rest of the movie focusses of Margit as she try's to come to terms with her own Growing magical powers, and try's her hardest to use them to protect the young boy from Katla's influence.

I'll admit that there are times when the film is difficult to watch, and frequently takes itself on little tangents elsewhere and there even some quite disturbing and graphic scenes; but the performances are very powerful & thought-provoking and if you do manage to sit through the entire film you do end up feeling like you've accomplished something and feel strangely rewarded.

Although filmed in 1987, the black & white photography and numerous beautiful shots of Iceland's legendary landscape, make you feel this was shot in the 1940's. Although the directory has manged to successfully capture the medi-evil pagan era of the movie very well. And the question on everyones lips... How well does Bjork do in the film? Her acting ability is remarkable considering this is her debut venture into a field of media she knew nothing about. And it is Bjork's portrayal of the niave young girl coming to terms with the death of her mother and her own inner witchcraft that holds the film together, and in the final scene as Margit reveals what Katla has done... you can't but feel strangely moved.

Although Bjork herself doesnt think off this as her first film cuz she had "Just had a kid, and didn't really know what she was doing!", she should really give herslef more credit for this, as it's a remarkable debut... totally uncomparable to her prtrayal as Selma in 'Dancer In The Dark', But 'The Juniper Tree' is almost as rewarding.

I do highly recommend this film. If you have the disciplne to sit still and really concentrate... You'll be touched!

Really rather good.
The Juniper Tree is a surprisingly good film. Although presumably of principle interest to fans of its star, Bjork, it would actually stand up as a fine, if slight piece of cinema, without her presence.

Although, as anyone who has seen her in Dancer in the Dark will testify, the movie would certainly lose something without her.

That said, it isn't for everyone. If you like your movies all pace and speed, with thirty second long scenes, don't watch. If, however, you like the kind of direction that soaks up the atmosphere of a situation before moving on, this is the kind of thing you'd like.

There isn't much dialogue, the fairytale story is rather slight, but the acting is decent and the overall effect is quite hypnotic. We aren't talking about a forgotten classic here, but we are talking about something that deserves to be seen by a greater number of people than it has, or will be.

So if you like Bjork, whether through her music or her role in Lars Von Trier's film, you'll enjoy this immensely. Especially if you think she's cute. She looks lovely. Aw.

And if you like enigmatic, different... let's say the word art house and get it over with ... films then you'll possibly like this too.

It really is rather good.

Poor Quality dvd of a badly directed mess
Where to start.... I give this film credit for the fact that it is a tiny budget independent film and therefore should be viewed as one. As a film maker myself being a small film does not excuse bad cinematography, scripting, sound design, direction and production. The performances are quite strong particularly bjork's and lets face it nobody would watch this film had she not appeared in it. The thing that made this messy film even worse was the special features on the dvd! Sometimes they are better left off the disk, trust me. The interview with the writer/director is cringe worthy at the very least and the so called deleted scenes, well who cares! Seriously there is a shot of a bird with the directors voice over saying "It was a bird from a zoo". Big deal, it's just sitting in a tree that shot was achievable anywhere at any time. When questioned as to what this film is about this director has no idea about her own subject matter, it just sounds like she wanted to go to iceland. As far as researching this project for almost a full year, well it sounds like a pretensious university lecturer living off grants. Unfortunately this woman is what keeps independent film makers down and had that money been given to someone competant a great film could have been made. basically this is a shocker but the actors are great.