Sorceress (2017) User Reviews

The art of manifestation

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 26 July 2017]

Nina (Naama Kates) a singer less polished than Emma Stone, leaves the US after the death of her mother to live with relatives in Eastern Europe who she barely knows, working as a librarian, checking out Harry Potter books. She is into Giordano Bruno, 16th century pseudo-scientist/scientist and we get a heavy first person narration from Nina, reminding me of bad Rod McKuen poetry readings my ex-girlfriend used to drag me to and I had to pretend to be inspired. She meets Katya (Oona Airola) moves out of her aunt's place and PLOT SPOILER, later moves back in. Nina imagines herself a sorceress, connected to her mother through the blood....umm the same blood her non-sorceress aunt has? And bigger PLOT SPOILER, that is the entire plot which was good enough for an Award of Merit (whatever that is) for women film makers at IndieFest 2016. So Naama Kates can put that on her mantle next to her T-Ball trophy.

If you are heavy into New Middle Age Kabbalah mysticism stuff, you might find the film of some interest, or if you liked "Love Witch" for its content, you might like this film. As for me, I was bored. Knowing where the stars are in the sky doesn't get you any closer to them. No seriously. It doesn't.

Guide: F-word. F-word with an accent. No sex or nudity.

Finnish flop

[Leofwine_draca · 1/10 · 21 February 2018]

SORCERESS is an indie drama from Finland exploring some metaphysical concepts, namely a young woman who is convinced that she's the reincarnation of a famous sorceress. Sadly this all boils down to a lot of chit chat and ideas but absolutely zero involvement and actual storytelling. The insipid main character wanders around a lot but does very little and her home life seems to play an unusually significant role in the story. The attempts at artiness don't pay off and all you're left with is unrelenting tedium.

Doesn't Live Up to Potential

[Stovepipe99 · 6/10 · 19 September 2019]

I love finding hidden gems on services like Amazon Prime, and I try not to let low ratings scare me away.

This film just didn't have enough spark to make it worth recommending.

A woman named Nina moves back to Europe (after a childhood in the US) following the death of her mother. Socially isolated, Nina strikes up a friendship with a local woman named Katya which quickly morphs into a romance. But Nina's belief that she is a witch (inherited from her mother through blood) begins to knock things off the rails.

This is a great premise! And I did like the way that they showed the romance develop between Nina and Katya. The two actresses have good chemistry. But the film just doesn't know where to go in its third act. It was already kind of slow and low-key (something I don't always mind), but it lacks any punch in it's final twenty-five minutes. There was one moment at the end that I thought was powerful, but by then it was pretty much too little, too late.

If you are interested, though, it's worth noting that the movie is only like 70 minutes long, so you aren't exactly throwing away a whole evening if you want to check it out.