+5
The Tin Drum
This is based on a book by Gunter Grass, which I read a long time ago but couldn't remember much about, apart from the beginning and the eels in the horses's head.
It's a grotesque, semi-comic, semi-fantastical story of the time before and during World War 2 from the perspective of Oskar, a boy who decides not to grow. He is played throughout - as a newborn baby and an adult and all in between - by a 12 year old actor, who did a very good job portraying this character (although considering some of the later scenes, I don't think it was right that they had a child actor for this).
I was interested in the story and I liked the colour palette and the way some of the scenes were shot. It was an interesting perspective on a time in history and there was a certain darkly comic energy to the tone and the characters, although the pace flagged a bit at times.
However, it was too grotesque for me. Everything and everyone was unpleasant - deliberately so, I suppose, but it was wearing over 2 and a half hours of it. I felt like I was watching it through my fingers - metaphorically a lot of the time, but sometimes literally. I'd made it through the bit with the eels, but the scenes with Oskar and the girl I thought crossed the line of what should be shown on screen.