The Princess and the Warrior (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

The search turned up no "concrete" thread for "The Princess and the Warrior", so here's mine.

Since it was written and directed by Tom Tykwer, the same guy who did "Run Lola Run" and stars Franka Potente (who played Lola in RLR), I was intrigued.

I rented the DVD tonight and watched the film, and most of the extras (I need to get through the "making of" documentary piece).

While the pacing was slowed down quite a bit from a film like RLR, the unfolding of the characters' histories is what makes it a pretty interesting film, especially after it's over. I sort of enjoy these types of films because the actors do disappear into their characters, and that's always neat to see happen.

FYI, it is in German, but subtitled.

Anyhow, a good film if you enjoy somewhat flawed characters and the messiness of love and attraction.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Wow, has it been that long already. I hate how good threads fall off over here in Movies, especially between theatrical and DVD release.

The main flaw to the film might be that at times it felt like Tykwer was overplaying the slow down, but the film is still strong. It was probably a good idea for Tom to show that he could go a different way and still come off with a strong film.

I love the robbery scenes, they just have a good look and tone.

Plus, the acting is quite strong. It's probably hard to tell but in my sig I have it listed as my #15 for last year.

The only thing I don't like about the film is the EXTREMELY long ending shot. I have no idea what is up with that.

 

[Kevin M]

As Patrick mentioned I was surprised that this film didn't have a thread of it's own...or at least one with more discussion going on at the time of it's release.
But anyway, I'll revive this old thread to say that I finally got this from netflix (I have an absolutely engorged queue over there and I decided to bump this up to the top after letting it sit for two years)...anyway..
At first I think I had the reaction that many had at first blush, it seemed to want to be more important that it was ever capable of being with it's seemingly simple plot...however it hooked me and I wound up watching it three times, a good sign for a film IMO, after the second time I realised that it was the characters that had me fascinated & the plot, while indeed minimalist, was quite interesting and chuck full of allegory....not necessarily a good thing for certain films but I really enjoyed this film for what it was, and as pretentious as the ending sequence is (leaving part of yourself behind for the better...did you actually have to show the actor doubled in a FX shot Tykwer? I mean I got the idea in the first shot...oh well) I couldn't help but be pleased with this film as a whole.
If you liked Run Lola Run then you might like this film but be aware that it is almost nothing like it aside from the extreme "coincidence" angle that both plots take...just seen from different angles between the two films. YMMV.

 

[Haggai]

I need to revisit this one. I saw it when it was in theaters, having enjoyed Lola in its theatrical run. I also didn't like the rather pretentious ending, but the relationship between the two title characters is really intense and engrossing. Plus a lot of the side stories were good as well.

One thing I wonder if they mention anywhere on the DVD: The original German title is really "The Warrior and The Empress." Why'd they switch it a bit in English?

 

[Kevin M]

In the actor/director commentary they do mention the change, basically they thought it sounded better & they didn't want people to think it was a historical drama....but mainly because the title sounded more "cool" that way.