Snow Way!: Blancanieves @ GFF

In 1937 Disney released the first ever feature length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The stunning drawings and big box office success saw the film become the most iconic version of the Grimm brothers’ story. It wasn’t, however, the first film to tell the Snow White tale – a 1916 silent film can claim that honour – and it certainly wasn’t the last. Since Disney’s historic interpretation it has been turned into a horror film with Sigourney Weaver (1997’s Snow White: A Tale of Terror), a modern day teen movie (Sydney White, starring Amanda Bynes) and the curiously titled German comedy 7 Dwarves – Men Alone in the Wood.

The recent revival of classic fairy tales, with films like Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, has seen cinema return once again to this age old story. Last year saw two new cinematic Snows: visionary auteur Tarsem made the disarmingly light-hearted Mirror, Mirror, a critically mauled film that deserves a second chance for its stunning visuals and old school fantasy vibes. At the very least it’s more fun than the dour Snow White and the Huntsman, which aimed for gritty but felt like a tepid rerun of Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood. Whichever you preferred, it was difficult to see both and not hope that cinema was finally done with Snow White.

Yet hiding amongst the big gala screenings at GFF is a beautiful black and white surprise in the form of Blancanieves. A pastiche of silent cinema in a similar vein to The Artist, Pablo Berger’s reinterpretation features bull fighting dwarves and a scene stealing pet cockerel. While retaining all the key Snow White elements, it brings a freshness and sense of humour to the myth, meaning that, while the story may appear to have died, Blancanieves is here as Prince Charming to give it the kiss of life.