The Girl with All the Gifts

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Movie
German title The Girl with All the Gifts
Original title The Girl with All the Gifts
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 2016
length 112 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 16
Rod
Director Colm McCarthy
script Mike Carey
production Camille Gatin ,
Angus Lamont
music Cristobal Tapia de Veer
camera Simon Dennis
cut Matthew Cannings
occupation

The Girl with All the Gifts is a British horror - Drama - Thriller by Colm McCarthy , who as part of the August 3, 2016 International Film Festival in Locarno premiered. In the form of a dystopia , the film tells of a post-apocalyptic world in which large parts of humanity are infected by a fungus . The film is based on the novel of the same name, The Girl with All the Gifts by Mike Carey , who also wrote the script adaptation for the film. The film was released in UK theaters on September 23, 2016 and opened in the US in 2017 . The cinema release in Germany was on February 9, 2017.

action

In a post-apocalyptic world in which large parts of humanity are infested with a fungal infection that robs those affected of their human qualities and turns them into roaming undead, carnivorous beings called hungries , Helen Justineau teaches one whole as a teacher special school at a military base, home to many infected children who have kept their minds despite the infection. In a bunker located in a rural part of England, they are examined here with the aim of finding a cure for the fungus. The children are only allowed to appear securely lashed to their wheelchairs for class. Justineau knows that children actually only thirst for their meat, which she pointed out to Sergeant Parks, but she likes the children and treats them with great respect. One of her students is 10 year old Melanie. The bright and highly intelligent student knows the periodic table by heart and enjoys listening to the stories of Greek mythology that her favorite teacher Miss Justineau tells them. Unlike the other people who walk the streets as mindless masses around the world outside of the grassroots, the mushroom strengthens Melanie's intelligence .

The scientist Dr. Caroline Caldwell, who works at the grassroots and firmly believes that these children are the key to a vaccine against the zombie fungus, dissects their brains to discover the secret of the parasitic fungus that is lodged in the human brain. When it was Melanie's turn in the operating room, the base is suddenly attacked by Hungries. Sergeant Parks, Miss Justineau and Dr. Caldwell must flee and make their way to another, safer human enclave. Melanie, to whom they have put a bite protection mask, is supposed to give them escort during their escape. They make their way through the woods and deserted London, where nature has forced civilization to retreat.

The group makes their way to a city and has to spend the night there in an abandoned clinic due to the hunger pangs . Here Dr. Caldwell Melanie the background to her infection; Mothers who became infected with the fungus during pregnancy also automatically pass the infection to their children. These instinctively controlled themselves, literally eaten out of their mother's belly, were found by the military in such facilities and collected for experiments. Children are infested, but can suppress the effects of the fungus to a certain degree of hunger for meat. The next day Melanie manages to use her immunity to use a dog as a distraction so that everyone can escape. The troops get further inside the abandoned city until they discover an abandoned intact research facility as well as a huge tower overgrown by mushrooms. According to Dr. Caldwell Hungries in the next evolutionary stage. Here the fungus has developed to such an extent that the host settles down collectively with other hosts and the fungus can develop as a huge plant with countless spores. In addition to the risk of infection via saliva, air transmission through the spores would be the fatal blow for mankind. Due to the sacrifice of the landlords at the tower, this area is free from hungries , but also in this district there are feral children infested with fungi, who further decimate the group, etc. a. also Dr. Caldwell. In the end, Melanie sets the tower on fire to free the spurs, since in her eyes the world no longer belongs to people. Before that, however, she locked the last survivors, Sergeant Parks and Miss Justineau, in the airtight research facility. Parks is their still followed and shot at his own request by Melanie because he was not a Hungry would like to be. In the last scene you can see all the children, including those from the military base, sitting in front of the research facility and being taught by Miss Justineau through loudspeakers. According to Melanie, you now have all the time in the world for stories.

production

Staff and cast

The film is based on the 2014 novel The Girl with All the Gifts by Mike Carey , who also wrote the script adaptation for the film. The book was published in the same year under the German title Die Berufene . Carey had primarily appeared as a writer for DC Comics and Marvel Comics before his activity as a novelist . The title refers to Pandora , the all-gifted, in Greek mythology , who opened a box , whereupon an evil previously unknown to mankind escaped, but Pandora was also from the gods with many gifts such as beauty, musical talent, dexterity, Curiosity and cockiness have been endowed. The zombie girl Melanie has skills similar to Pandora in the novel and in the film, and she knows this character from Greek mythology well from the stories that teacher Helen Justineau reads to her and the other students in class. The film was directed by Colm McCarthy . Seb Barker was responsible for the visual effects .

The young actress Sennia Nanua took on the role of the mysterious zombie girl Melanie, who is referred to in the title of the film. In the novel for the film, Melanie is described as a blonde girl with blue eyes, but Nanua is a black British woman. Gemma Arterton plays her teacher Helen Justineau, Glenn Close the scientist Dr. Caroline Caldwell and Staffordshire- born actor Paddy Considine starred in the film as Sergeant Eddie Parks. Dominique Tipper took on the role of Devani, and Anamaria Marinca plays Dr. Selkirk.

Filming and funding

Filming started in May 2015. In June 2015 recordings were made in Church Street, Haslucks Green Road and Barwick Street in downtown Birmingham , in the local business district. The footage taken there served as a backdrop for the group's escape through deserted London. Some of the associated aerial photos were taken by a second unit using a mini drone . These were allowed to fly over the ghost town of Pripyat in the immediate vicinity of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant . The director Colm McCarthy said about these recordings that they provided interesting images of a post-apocalyptic London for the film.

The scenes of the military base on which the school for the zombie children is located and which is described in the book as a base for the Royal Air Force in Bedfordshire, were filmed on the grounds of the RAF Upper Heyford military airfield in Oxfordshire . Further filming took place in Dudley . The former hospital there, where the fleeing group in the film rests, is in the immediate vicinity of Dudley Castle. Camille Gatin, one of the producers of the film, said of the choice of location that they weren't looking for something old and dilapidated, but they were looking for overgrown buildings. The film would be about people who haven't been outside for ten years, and everything should look lush, green and alive and not depressing. After one of the location managers had pointed out Dudley and the former, very quiet hospital there, in which no film had been recorded before, the decision was made in favor of this location.

Additional filming took place in Halesowen , on the premises of a PowerGen facility in Shirley , a suburb of Solihull , and other locations in the West Midlands . Near Penkridge Bank Road in the woods of Cannock Chase , footage was taken of the woods through which the characters in the film run during their escape. In Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent in the English Midlands , the recordings were made by a former bus station and two parking spaces, which can be seen in the background of the film.

The cost of producing the film is around £ 4 million. Much of the film was funded by the British Film Institute and Creative England, both of which invested over £ 1 million, making it one of the largest holdings of these organizations to date.

Film music

The film music was composed by the Chilean musician Cristobal Tapia de Veer . The haunting opening song of the soundtrack reminiscent of an Inuit - throat singing , a kind of chanting in which a murmur is combined with a louder complaints, creating an eerie atmosphere and almost otherworldly Am working as Rachael Steven. Mark Kermode of The Guardian speaks of a groundbreaking and excellent work. De Veer has conjured up a dazzling soundscape that is inextricably linked with the uncanny power of the film and that gets under your skin.

The soundtrack to the film consists of 25 pieces and was released on January 27, 2017.

Title list of the soundtrack

  1. Gifted (pimped mix) - 02:58
  2. Pandora - 1:49
  3. Hunger - 01:00
  4. My Special Girl - 02:05
  5. Hungry Classroom - 02:21
  6. You Smell Nice - 01:01
  7. Ride To The Lab - 02:27
  8. Abyss - 05:25
  9. Open Fields - 00:53
  10. Ride In The Woods - 01:02
  11. Hungry Woods - 02:43
  12. Standing Dead - 04:22
  13. They Eat Their Way Out - 05:18
  14. Sleepers - 1:44
  15. Walkabout - 03:31
  16. Beneath The Remains - 02:42
  17. Dead City Trek - 03:47
  18. Roof Tops - 03:04
  19. Rat Girl - 02:13
  20. Duel - 02:30
  21. Lab Ambush - 00:57
  22. Run To The Hills - 01:19
  23. Tree Of Life - 06:51
  24. She Who Brings The Gifts - 05:52
  25. Gifted (hungry kids remix) - 04:39

Marketing and Publishing

The thriller premiered on August 3, 2016 as the opening film of the Locarno International Film Festival . In Germany, the film was shown for the first time in August 2016 as part of the Fantasy Film Festival 2016 . From September 9, 2016, the film was presented at the Toronto International Film Festival and from September 23, 2016 at the Fantastic Fest in Austin . The film was released in British cinemas on September 23, 2016 and is due to open in the USA in 2017. A first German trailer was published at the beginning of December 2016, and a long trailer in English at the beginning of January 2017. The film was released in German cinemas on February 9, 2017.

reception

Age rating

In Germany the film is FSK 16 . The statement of reasons for the release states: “The film contains a number of drastic scenes of violence, but these are always logically integrated into the plot and are not played out excessively. For young people aged 16 and over, it is clear that people try to avoid violence and always act in self-defense. The complex ethical questions of the story can also be understood and appropriately questioned by viewers aged 16 and over. "

Reviews

Mike Carey , the screenwriter and writer of the novel for the film

The film was able to convince 86 percent of the critics at Rotten Tomatoes (out of 120 critics in total, as of March 13, 2019).

Leigh Singer from IGN speaks of a terrific adaptation of the brilliant book and thinks there are two main reasons for this. On the one hand, the decision to tell the film from Melanie's perspective makes it more than just a survival thriller, namely also a twisted coming-of-age story , and Colm McCarthy shows with the tactile camera work and the sound design their change, which is often more surprising for the audience than any zombie attack. The second and greatest trump card of the film, according to Singer, is its end, at which the characters have an insight into the history of human development, but also to a metaphor from Greek mythology used in the film . Singer says that this ending leaves the viewer completely satisfied, but also makes them want more.

Singer's colleague Valentin Aschenbrenner from IGN Germany explains that the unsettling mood that spreads at the beginning of the film accompanies the viewer through the further action, which is also thanks to the atmospheric soundtrack, which continues with pulsating tones until after the cinema visit eat the brain into it. In addition, the film never underestimates the viewer's intelligence. Aschenbrenner sums it up: “An exciting film that doesn't neglect either action or personality and at the same time stimulates thinking.” In the seemingly endless mass of zombie films , Aschenbrenner says, The Girl with All the Gifts represents a welcome change from the competition puts them in their place.

Screendaily’s Charles Gant says one of the movie's strengths is the lavishly painted and complete universe it is set in, which is expanding to surprising proportions. This can be seen, for example, when the camera goes up and overlooks the first zombie attack from the air. In general, according to Gant, the fighting sequences benefited from a bloody intensity that heightened the drama of the film. At the end of the film, Gant highlights the visual effects that made it possible for the set's décor to blend in seamlessly with the cityscape of an abandoned London that nature reclaimed long ago. However, what really sets the film apart from other films of its genre is the moral intelligence with which it was made, according to Gant, and its clever thematic consistency, which reminds it of the Greek myth of Pandora's box . Gant particularly highlights the performance of the up-and-coming actress Sennia Nanua , who plays her role in a heartbreaking way when she expresses the inner struggle that the character is fighting between her emotional and physical needs.

Jay Weissberg from Variety is also convinced of the young actress and her unaffected charm, but also notes that she might have been better off in another film. Regarding the work of the screenwriter Mike Carey , who also wrote the novel for the film, Weissberg believes that the screenplay is full of the usual banalities that are presented in disguise in the form of philosophical conversations. Weissberg says of the director Colm McCarthy that he does too little visually to create a feeling of fear or a real moment of shock in the viewer. The zombies and a few swear words would have blocked the film's way to a child audience, but in the end it was difficult to guess the target group of the film.

Awards

British Academy Film Awards 2017

British Independent Film Awards 2016

  • Nomination for Best Newcomer ( Sennia Nanua )
  • Nomination for Best Supporting Actress ( Gemma Arterton )
  • Nomination in the category Best Technology ( Seb Barker )
  • Award for best young producer (Camille Gatin)

Three Empire Awards 2017

  • Nomination (shortlist) for Best British Film
  • Nomination (shortlist) as best young actress (Sennia Nanua)

London Critics' Circle Film Awards 2017

Online Film Critics Society Awards 2017

  • Nomination for Best Non-US Release

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for The Girl with All the Gifts . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 164731 / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ Age rating for The Girl with All the Gifts . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Christian Endres: One girl, many hungry people. 'Die Berufene' - the new SF horror novel by comic ace Mike Carey In: diezukunft.de, September 30, 2014.
  4. ↑ a b c Andreas Wiseman: The story behind 'The Girl With All The Gifts' In: screendaily.com, August 4, 2016.
  5. ↑ James Smythe: The Girl With All the Gifts by MR Carey - review In: The Guardian, Jan. 15, 2014.
  6. ↑ M. Leigh Hood: The Girl with All the Gifts In: thepandorasociety.com, August 6, 2016.
  7. ↑ a b Camille Gatin in conversation with Alison Jones: Why Hollywood chose Birmingham for film set, according to She Who Brings Gifts producer In: birminghammail.co.uk, June 20, 2015.
  8. ↑ a b c The Girl With All The Gifts Red carpet London Premiere In: londonfilmpremieres.com. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  9. ↑ Wil Jones: Gemma Arterton interview: The Girl With All The Gifts In: denofgeek.com, September 23, 2016.
  10. ↑ Richard Trenholm: 'The Girl with All the Gifts' is a zombie movie with brains In: cnet.com, September 19, 2016.
  11. ↑ a b Bram Welch: Review: The Girl With All The Gifts - film shot in the Midlands and Shropshire ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / nativemonster.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: nativemonster.com, September 23, 2016.
  12. ↑ PowerGen. Background ( Memento of the original from August 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / powergenshirley.co.uk archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: powergenshirley.co.uk. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  13. ↑ The Girl With All The Gifts - Film Review In: crashlanded.co.uk, September 15, 2016.
  14. ↑ Graham Young: Watch trailer for The Girl With All The Gifts - the Hollywood zombie film shot in Birmingham In: birminghammail.co.uk, June 22, 2016.
  15. ↑ From Peaky Blinders to Hollywood blockbusters - movie-making in the West Midlands In: expressandstar.com, August 21, 2016.
  16. ↑ Natasha Hardy: Trailer released for Hollywood film 'The Girl With All The Gifts' filmed in Stoke-on-Trent ( memento of the original from August 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stokesentinel.co.uk archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: stokesentinel.co.uk, June 22, 2016.
  17. ↑ Trailer released for Hollywood film 'The Girl With All The Gifts' filmed in Stoke-on-Trent In: briefreport.co.uk, June 23, 2016.
  18. ↑ Rachael Steven: A different beat: Cristobal Tapia de Veer on creating music for film and TV In: creativereview.co.uk, January 5, 2017.
  19. ↑ Mark Kermode: The Girl With All the Gifts review - provocative and imaginative In: The Guardian, September 25, 2016.
  20. ↑ 69th Locarno Film Festival starts with thriller 'The Girl With All The Gifts' In: derstandard.at, August 3, 2016.
  21. ↑ The Girl with All the Gifts ( Memento of the original from August 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fantasyfilmfest.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: fantasyfilmfest.com. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  22. ↑ The Girl with All the Gifts ( Memento of the original from September 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tiff.net archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: tiff.net. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  23. ↑ The Girl with All the Gifts In: fantasticfest.com. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  24. ↑ Woon-Mo Sung: 'The Girl With All The Gifts': In the new trailer with Gemma Arterton and Glenn Close, zombies overrun the army In: filmstarts.de, January 6, 2017.
  25. ↑ Björn Becher: 'The Girl With All The Gifts': Trailer premiere for the extraordinary zombie thriller with Gemma Arterton and Glenn Close In: filmstarts.de, December 9, 2016.
  26. ↑ Reasons for approval for The Girl with All the Gifts In: Voluntary Self-Control of the Film Industry. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  27. ↑ The Girl with All the Gifts In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  28. ↑ Leigh Singer: The Girl with All the Gifts Review In: ign.com, September 22, 2016.
  29. ↑ Valentin Aschenbrenner: The Girl With All The Gifts - Film Review - The Last of Us horror becomes cinema reality In: IGN Germany, December 25, 2016.
  30. ↑ Charles Gant: 'The Girl With All The Gifts': Locarno Review In: screendaily.com, August 3, 2016.
  31. ↑ Jay Weissberg: Locarno Film Review: 'The Girl With All the Gifts' In: Variety, August 3, 2016.
  32. ↑ Leo Barraclough: BAFTA Film Award Nominations: 'La La Land' Leads Race In: Variety, January 9, 2017.
  33. ↑ Clarisse Loughrey: BIFA nominations reveal the best British independent films of the year In: independent.co.uk, November 1, 2016.
  34. ↑ Nancy Tartaglione: British Independent Film Awards: 'American Honey' & 'Under The Shadow' Glow - Full Winners List In: deadline.com, December 4, 2016.
  35. ↑ James Dyer: Vote For The 2017 Three Empire Awards: Final Round In: empireonline.com, February 7, 2017.
  36. ↑ Nancy Tartaglione: 'Moonlight', 'Love & Friendship' Lead London Critics' Circle Nominations In: deadline.com, December 20, 2016.
  37. ↑ 2016 Awards In: ofcs.org. Retrieved January 4, 2017.