Friday, April 20, 2012

Review Mirror, Mirror: The Costumes were the Fairest

What did you do this Wednesday? I went to see Tarsem Singh's Mirror Mirror. I pretty much knew what to expect after reading all the reviews, so I just sat back and enjoyed the pretty pictures. And pretty they were!


The costumes for this film were designed by Eiko Ishioka who worked with Singh before on The Cell and The Fall. Mirror Mirror was, sadly, her last project and she died soon after the film's completion.

SPOILERS START HERE!

The setting for Mirror Mirror is very much 'once upon a time, in a land far, far away', and so the film is not bound to any specific time period or location. But most of the costumes seem to be inspired by 18th century court dress. There are powdered wigs and voluminous skirts in abundance.


My personal favorite is this beautiful dress Snow White wears at the beginning. The colors are just gorgeous; but what makes this piece a real beauty is the little applique flowers and butterflies that look almost alive.



Snow white's badass-trained-by-dwarfs look was my second favorite. And it's actually something I would wear in real life. Maybe the corset over a bright blue peasant blouse is a bit too much, but those pants look very comfortable.


My friend and reluctant movie companion was of the opinion that the best part of this flick was the Prince's coat. Which was, admittedly, very impressive.


I loved how Snow White's palette changed throughout the film. She starts with a delicate pastel dress, and then we see her in white, followed by the blue and black look and finally this gorgeous white, blue and orange frock. My guess is that brighter, stronger colors signify character development. Though there is very little of that going on.


The masquerade ball gives us some pretty bland 'symbolic' costumes for the main cast: peacock, swan and rabbit.



But it's the supporting cast that really gets to shine. It seems that everyone at this party is wearing a fauna-themed costume. And they are quite creative. Walrus, shrimp, chicken, moose.





The evil queen is the one who steals the show with her gorgeous dresses. The skirts are huge, the shoulders are prominent and the collars are impressive. All her costumes are ostentatious and extravagant. And yet the character is very lovable. I have to say, more so than the dopey prince or the naive heroine.











I would recommend seeing this film in the cinema. It looks quite stunning on a big screen. But it's more fluff than substance and you shouldn't expect a provocative plot or depth of character. For a modernized fairy tale it's more of the same.        

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