Die Farbe, dir. by Huan Vu (2010)

I recently received a copy of Die Farbe, a black and white German film from filmmaker Huan Vu. The film is based on H. P. Lovecraft's "The Color Out of Space". Lovecraft stories have been adapted many times, often to great effect (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Dagon, etc.). I've read a lot of his stories, but wasn't familiar with this one, so I looked for it and read it before putting on the movie. Some people have a hard time watching a film version of a book or a story they just read, but not me; I like to line em up as close as possible, book, then movie.

"The Color Out of Space" has been adapted a few times previously, including "Colour From the Dark," a 2010 production from Italian filmmaker Ivan Zuccon. I haven't seen that one or David Keith's 1987 The Curse, but I'm familiar with the Boris Karloff-starring loose adaptation (very, very loose, really) Die, Monster, Die! from 1965. That film doesn't have a hell of a lot to do with Lovecraft's story, though it's entertaining in its own strange way.

Die Farbe tells just about all of Lovecraft's tale, and provides a new bookend, as a man hears the story of what occurred in a town his father once visited long ago. The long ago is the end of World War II, and the bookend takes place about thirty years later. The man finds that his father, an American in Germany, came upon a house and property that had been ravaged by a mysterious alien force a while back.

This is the "color" of Lovecraft's story, in which he describes the visual qualities of the alien "light" as being completely unknown, a color never seen before (on Earth anyway). After crashing to earth inside a meteorite, the mysterious presence fixes itself in every organism on the property: vegetables, animals, and eventually people.

Vu's direction is patient and focused, with lots of long, brooding shots of the house and land where the alien force takes hold. A sequence involving a psychotic woman succumbing to her neuroses, alone in an upstairs room, pacing back and forth works quite well. There are a number of eerie scenes and moments; these are accompanied by an effective, haunting score.

If there's anything I'm not quite sold on, it's the way the "lights" are presented towards the end of the film. Using color distracts somewhat from the beautiful black and white picture we've been seeing for the last seventy minutes--although I'll add that I don't have a better suggestion as to how to visualize what Lovecraft wrote.

This is a good film, whether you're a Lovecraft fan or not. The acting is decent, and as I said, some of the cinematography is very striking. Vu has an engaging style, and I look forward to seeing more from him in the future.










www.die-farbe.com