Andreas Prochaska's German-language Western is—like many of its Italian spaghetti brethren—an old-fashioned revenge tale. Here, handsome stranger Greider (Sam Riley) arrives in a snowy logging town, ostensibly to photograph inhabitants. In reality, Greider has come to take vengeance on brutal patriarch Brenner (Hans-Michael Rehberg)—who abused Greider's mother many years earlier—by killing his six sons before doing in the old man himself. Unfortunately, what should have been a story told with some degree of passion turns out to be a slow and stately affair, dragged down by unnecessary narration flatly delivered by Gaderin (Carmen Gratl)—the young woman whose family Greider lodges with—and dull shootouts. What is impressive, however, is the cinematography in this handsome-looking adaptation (Austria's official submission for the 2014 Oscars) based on Thomas Willmann's 2010 novel Das finstere Tal), which captures the rugged beauty of the mountains in winter near the Italian-Austrian border. Still, The Dark Valley is not in the same league as Hollywood genre classics or Sergio Leone's operatic re-workings. Optional. (F. Swietek)
The Dark Valley
Film Movement, 114 min., in German w/English subtitles & English-dubbed, not rated, DVD: $24.95, Jan. 6 Volume 30, Issue 2
The Dark Valley
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