Julio Medem

One of Julio Medem's earlier successes. The Lovers of the Arctic Circle is a hopelessly romantic film. The plot may be a succession of weird coincidences and farfetched twists, and the amount of factual drama is quite high, but the soothing soundtrack, the lovely performances and the tragic romance kept me glued to the screen. It's a film that has lost little (if any) of its original shine, it's also a great reminder that I should give Medem's other films a fair shot sooner rather than later.

I used to be a big Medem fan, but somehow I lost track of his work. The Tree of Blood carries Medem's signature, but it's not without fault and only occasionally matches the genius of his earlier work. The story is a little too overwrought and the narrative frame is somewhat of a nuisance. This is not a bad film, just too focused on the narrative.