The whole movie takes place in Hungary with an entire Hungarian cast. The director is German Robert Sigl and this was his first long movie. In a short documentary on the DVD it's explained why he decided to film in Eastern Europe and not in Germany. Germany at the time still divided between East and West was for beginning directors too expensive to make a film. It was much cheaper in Eastern Europe (not that much later the Berlin Wall would eventually fall). Hungary had a location that fitted for the movie. Sigle opted to have the cast speak English to give it an international appeal. The movie never made it to the theatre and was shown as miniseries on TV. Quite a pity as it would have looked great on the big screen. The documentary shows how the cast gets pronunciation lessons and that surely helped. The kids in the movie, I think their voices might have been dubbed afterwards.
Laurin, a girl around the age of 10 with a incredible pretty face, has not so much speaking lines as you would expect from the character bearing the movie title. But despite that it's definitely her story as almost everything seems to happen through her eyes. And if she isn't there to observe she has those dream sequences which reveal her bit by bit the dark things happening in her village. It's those scenes that are the strong part of the movie together with Laurin wandering around in the village looking for clues to solve the mysterious disappearance of a boy her age and even more mysterious death of her own mother. She has a lonesome life living alone with her grandmother, her father being for months away at sea. Her best friend is the neighbour kid Stephen being overly protected by his mother (his father is dead) and usually the target of bullies at school. When the kids at school get a new teacher who resembles Laurin's father things really starting to get interesting.
I truly enjoyed the movie. Don't expect anything scary nor creepy or jump scares. The movie is more of a mystery than horror yet contains a few disturbing scenes for the eyes of a young child. Dóra Szinetár as Laurin together with the other cast members really pulled it of well. The ending I thought was really clever.I really got to applaud the writer for that and the director for having it put on screen so beautifully. The story takes place in the late 1800s, the scenery and costumes fit perfectly well there.
Laurin, a girl around the age of 10 with a incredible pretty face, has not so much speaking lines as you would expect from the character bearing the movie title. But despite that it's definitely her story as almost everything seems to happen through her eyes. And if she isn't there to observe she has those dream sequences which reveal her bit by bit the dark things happening in her village. It's those scenes that are the strong part of the movie together with Laurin wandering around in the village looking for clues to solve the mysterious disappearance of a boy her age and even more mysterious death of her own mother. She has a lonesome life living alone with her grandmother, her father being for months away at sea. Her best friend is the neighbour kid Stephen being overly protected by his mother (his father is dead) and usually the target of bullies at school. When the kids at school get a new teacher who resembles Laurin's father things really starting to get interesting.
I truly enjoyed the movie. Don't expect anything scary nor creepy or jump scares. The movie is more of a mystery than horror yet contains a few disturbing scenes for the eyes of a young child. Dóra Szinetár as Laurin together with the other cast members really pulled it of well. The ending I thought was really clever.I really got to applaud the writer for that and the director for having it put on screen so beautifully. The story takes place in the late 1800s, the scenery and costumes fit perfectly well there.