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Linkkk gets buzzed about Danish animated film called PRINCESS in Toronto's Midnight Madness!!! Part TAXI DRIVER & LEON!!!

Published at: Sept. 16, 2006, 2:41 p.m. CST

Hey folks, Harry here... it's a Danish animated film called PRINCESS - and it has elements of TAXI DRIVER and LEON? I'm so fucking there!

I just got back from a Midnight Madness screening of Swedish animated film Princess here at the Toronto International Film Festival. I had been anticipating this film the most of all the midnite madness flicks this year after I heard the basic premise of it and was surprised to learn that a story of that nature would be told in an animated feature. It turned out to be a very hardcore noir revenge tale that was gritty as fuck and dealt with some very sensitive material. I wish there was some official website/trailer, or even some images I could find on the net from this movie but I can't seem to much at all. To compare it to other works I guess the movie felt to me like it had certain elements from films like Taxi Driver, Leon: The Professional, and a load of other film noirs just set in a more underground modern day euro trash setting. The story follows a man named August, a priest in the opening of the film, who finally tracks down his pregnant sister, whom he discovers in a very shocking scene engaged with several men in a gangbang. The images of that and the character's reaction, framed in an intense close up of his quivering blue eyes that look like they could crack at any moment, pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Years later, August's sister, who we learn was a renowned porn star named Princess, is found murdered, and her daughter now orphaned. August must now take his sister's daughter Mia under his care, while slowly discovering the deep trauma this child has suffered living under such a degrading, sexually oppressive environment. The connection these two characters form is what's most powerful about this movie, as they both endure the loss of a sister/mother who fell into such a disgusting, dangerous world, and Mia who is probably only about 5-8 years old slowly learns who her mother really was. What definitly carries the film though is August's transformation from rational, peaceful man and caring figure into an infuriated angel of death [you begin to see symbolic traces of religious empowerment in August's extreme actions later on in the film] to those responsible for killing his sister and continuing to make money from her Adult Video sales and merchandise, exploiting her even in death, while trying to eliminate all the existing pornographic material of his sister. This man reaches such a breaking point that when he finally unleashes the results will leave you speechless. The level of violence in this film is surprising at times, though never becomes too indulgent and over the top, as brutality almost seems quite necessary and appropriate at times given the subject matter and themes of the film. This is a man who enters a world that completely contradicts everything he holds to be morally right and pure, a world that destroyed his only sister, and whom he is somewhat responsible for plunging her into as you'll learn later on in the film. I wish i could rant on more about the animation and direction in it too. Really, the animated medium this story reaches it's audience is so effectively used, every transition and image is so well executed, while the animation is quite simplistic yet very well suited to the gritty places and faces we're introduced to. 20% of the film is actually live action camcorder footage which appears as glimpses into the character's pasts, as August used to record everything on his video camera, though we never actually see him in any of these live action flashbacks. There is so much beauty to this film despite much of it's vile content; the settings, depth of character & expression, atmosphere, colours and soundtrack all create such a wonderfully hypnotic visual experience and a film that I eagerly await to see again. I doubt it'll ever get much of a theatrical release given the level of violence and sexuality in it, especially when dealing with a small child, but lets hope there'll be more buzz around Princess in the future. -Linkkk

Readers Talkback

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  • Sept. 16, 2006, 4:01 a.m. CST

    Ehmm.. it's danish!

    by Nüpst

    Yo! Princess is danish. And it's great!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 4:07 a.m. CST

    Here's the official site

    by Liontamer2

    http://www.princessmovie.com/ with trailer. This looks good.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 4:09 a.m. CST

    offical site

    by professortrip

    there's a link to the official site from imdb. pretty drawings.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 5:26 a.m. CST

    da' Zone

    by keepcoolbutcare

    we've forumfucked this flick for a while now. http://tinyurl.com/fsj54 even a review from Dimnix!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 7:30 a.m. CST

    Undskyld, jeg kan ikke forsta det.

    by CreasyBear

    Now-mandatory comment-box filler.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 8:04 a.m. CST

    It's DANISH

    by Waxfinger

    Jesus christ...first quint calls it Dutch...Now Harry calls it Swedish....It's a DANISH movie, from DENMARK!!!!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 9:04 a.m. CST

    Very cool!

    by Neo Zeed

    Can't wait to check it out

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 9:36 a.m. CST

    I like lemon danishes

    by jackinitraw

    This movie looks awesome.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 9:36 a.m. CST

    I will say it again, its DANSIH

    by Barl

    Morgenthaler is also running this webcomic together with a dansih comedian: http://www.wulffmorgenthaler.com/

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 10:55 a.m. CST

    Where do Dutch people come from then?

    by brycemonkey

    JK. Hope this isn't a double post as something weird happened to my machine just there... I like the sound of this. Nice to see animated crazy sex, throbbing members, gang-banging and it isn't from Japan! Snarf.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 11:39 a.m. CST

    Dutch come from Holland,... Isn't that wierd?

    by DJSpoonfed

    Sounds pretty kick ass.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 11:54 a.m. CST

    This movie is still Danish..

    by Waxfinger

    God, i like and enjoy this site, i really do, but shit like this should be fixed quicker than this. Very un-professional. Also, it seems the movie was cut down from it's original 90 minutes to 78 for the Toronto film festival. It was probably deemed too harsh? So maybe that means that you people don't get to see a 5 year old girl take a crowbar to a mans groin? Oh wait, or maybe you just loose some of the sexual stuff. Sometimes it's good to be european, well, a lot of times really.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 12:10 p.m. CST

    Speaking of stuff happening in Canada

    by ELGordo

    See Uwe Boll kick the ass of a couch critic called Oso. http://tinyurl.com/oux7a

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 1:17 p.m. CST

    this is the kind of stuff disney needs to start doing--

    by the toad

    ...if they grew up a little and canned the talking animal crap long enough to make something not losely 'based' on a fairy tale, they might be able to get back in the running of making good movies again...

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 1:47 p.m. CST

    sorry, Danish!!

    by linkkk

    i'm pretty sure Collin Geddes said this movie was Swedish when he first mentioned it at the beginning of midnite madness...either that or someone else told me it was Swedish which threw me off. either way, my bad!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 3:50 p.m. CST

    78 minute runtime

    by linkkk

    ya i was wondering what happened to the other 12 minutes we may have lost from the 90 minute runtime it's said to have on IMDB as well, but it DID have the crowbar to the groin scene for sure. again, sorry for the Swedish mix up.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 4:28 p.m. CST

    Linkkk

    by Waxfinger

    It's easy to get scandinavian..or even european countries mixed up it seems, i'm certainly not blaming you, but aintitcool should at least be able to use imdb. It was a pretty good review, that's what really counts. I'm guessing that maybe some of the sexually oriented stuff is what has been cut, but there is no way to tell for sure.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 5:02 p.m. CST

    so will this be getting an art house release in the US?

    by beamish13

    I've been dying to see it for months...

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 5:48 p.m. CST

    new episode of sonic warriors

    by doctoremittbrown

    the fifth episode of Sonic Warriors "Judger Be Judged" is ready to rock your face nuggets...WATCH IT!!! myspace video: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1174962415 youtube: Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0EJleR6Oo4 Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHJoESRpuvw

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 7:15 p.m. CST

    If it's not anime, I'll consider it.

    by ZeroCorpse

    If it's anime, it can fuck right off.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 7:47 p.m. CST

    the toad,in response to your statement.

    by DOGSOUP

    BWAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!Sorry.Disney will NEVER have the balls. EVER.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 16, 2006, 10:50 p.m. CST

    Too soon!

    by Cruel_Kingdom

    Isn't it weird how the Rock plays the coach in GRIDIRON GANG, and then you find out at the end the real-life coach he was portraying was actually a goofy redneck-y white guy? Cracks me up.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Sept. 18, 2006, 1 p.m. CST

    This looks awesome!

    by Johnno

    If only I'd known... I'd have checked it out at the Toronto Film festival!

    Reply to Talkback