Valley of Shadows 2017

Valley of Shadows 2017
Skyggenes dal (original title)
1h 31m | Drama, Horror, Mystery | 20 October 2017 (Norway)

Storyline:

Between the sea and the mountains in a small village in Norway, Aslak (6) lives with his mother Astrid. A tragic event occurs that Aslak can’t quite understand and Astrid struggles to handle. In a quest for answers, Aslak ventures into the dark forest behind his house. Is what happens on his journey merely a boy’s imagination or is it reality? VALLEY OF SHADOWS is a film in the tradition of Scandinavian Gothic.

User review:

6-year old Aslak lives with his mother in a rural town in Norway. Through Aslak’s friend we learn that something has been brutally killing the farmers’ sheep. Caught in a mix of family secrets and small town struggles, Aslak finds himself drawn into the dense woods behind his house.

Together with Aslak, our young protagonist, we explore the great unknown though the eyes of a child lost in the woods. Danger and curiosity go hand in hand as the movie unfolds. What is real and what isn’t? There is something beautifully innocent in looking to nature for answers we cannot comprehend.

It’s the mood of the film and the striking visuals, the uncertainty and the looming sense of foreboding, accompanied by eerily beautiful music, that makes Valley of Shadows thoroughly intriguing.

Valley of Shadows is thought provoking with a chilling, fairy-tale like aesthetic that is truly beautiful, while being, at it’s core, a movie about a struggling family with their own traumas and secrets.

Director: Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen
Writers: Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen, Clement Tuffreau
Stars: Adam Ekeli, Kathrine Fagerland, John Olav Nilsen
Country of origin: Norway
Language: Norwegian