This film is part of Rentals
Tale Of Tales
Mythical monsters, shape-shifting sisters and a giant flea are all on the menu in Matteo Garrone’s fulsome feast of gothic fantasy.
Director: Matteo Garrone
Overview
Following the corporeal dramas of Gomorrah and Reality, director Matteo Garrone presents something truly expected: a fulsome feast of gothic fantasy. Taking its cue from the folk stories of Giambattista Basile, Garrone presents a twisted tapestry of dark fairytales, all set around an accursed royal court. Salma Hayek plays a bitter queen on a bloody quest, while Vincent Cassel’s libidinous King is tormented by two mysterious sisters, and Toby Jones is another monarch who becomes obsessed with a giant flea.
Much like Game of Thrones, Tales of Tales offers yet another step in the rehabilitation of the fantasy genre, while also helping to reclaim the dark fairytale from its recent Hollywood reinvention as a teen genre. Garrone’s film is undeniably adult, but it leavens its outlandish episodes with a playful air that come across like The Princess Bride directed by Terry Gilliam. Nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2015, Tale of Tales is a visually wonderful and gloriously distinctive film experience.
Related
Flow Flow
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2024 85 mins Director: Gints Zilbalodis
Oscar-winning animated adventure about an unlikely group of animals who must work together to survive a natural disaster.
Timestalker Timestalker
Fantasy 2024 89 mins Director: Alice Lowe
What if unrequited love spanned the centuries? Alice Lowe's time-jumping fantasy rom-com is a colourful, darkly funny treat.
The BFG The BFG
Fantasy 2016 117 mins Director: Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg’s luminous Roald Dahl adaptation boasts an enchanting performance from Mark Rylance as the Big Friendly Giant who befriends a little girl (Ruby Barnhill).
Lost River Lost River
Fantasy 2013 95 mins Director: Ryan Gosling
Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut is a disturbing, visually experimental fairytale about a single mother drawn into a nightmarish netherworld.
The Beast The Beast
Fantasy 2022 145 mins Director: Bertrand Bonello
Léa Seydoux wanders through a maze of past, present and uncertain future in Bertrand Bonello’s audacious blend of period drama and conceptual crystal-gazing.
La Chimera La Chimera
Action and Adventure 2023 132 mins Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Alice Rohrwacher’s fascinating new drama finds Josh O’Connor’s fish out of water delving into the world of stolen artefacts.
Seven Green Bottles Seven Green Bottles
Documentary 1975 34 mins Director: Eric Marquis
Warning film about seven young delinquents, played by non-professional actors, who commit a series of offences, increasing in severity.
London in the Raw London in the Raw
Documentary 1964 47 mins Director: Arnold Louis Miller
Low-budget movie mogul Arnold Louis Miller concocted this exploitation-style documentary which peers behind the grimy net curtains of British life.
Cross-Roads Cross-Roads
Horror 1955 19 mins
Christopher Lee in perhaps his earliest supernatural screen role, as a ghost who returns from the grave to seek revenge.
Bread Bread
Drama 1971 68 mins Director: Stanley A. Long
A fun tale of hippies and rock and roll directed by the legendary Stanley Long and featuring cult British rock bands Juicy Lucy and Crazy Mabel.
Apocalypse Now Apocalypse Now
War 1979 141 mins Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Transplanting Joseph Conrad’s colonial-era novel Heart of Darkness to Vietnam, Coppola created a mesmerising fantasia on the spectacle of war.
The Bookshop The Bookshop
Drama 2017 113 mins Director: Isabel Coixet
Words run riot when a free-spirited bookseller (Emily Mortimer) introduces a sleepy town to a host of provocative literature
The Hummingbird Project The Hummingbird Project
Thriller 2018 111 mins Director: Kim Nguyen
Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgård are sensational as scheming cousins on a lucrative but ethically dubious mission, in this fast, funny and topical technological caper.
Io Capitano Io Capitano
Drama 2022 122 mins Director: Matteo Garrone
In this epic drama from the director of Gomorrah, two Senegalese teenagers attempt to travel across land and sea to Europe.
Pinocchio Pinocchio
Fantasy 2019 125 mins Director: Matteo Garrone
In this unnerving live action adaptation of the classic tale, wood carver Gepetto (Roberto Benigni) crafts a wooden boy named Pinocchio who magically comes to life.
Palestine 36 Palestine 36
Period drama 2025 120 mins Director: Annemarie Jacir
Acclaimed Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s most ambitious work is a powerful exploration of the events leading up to the Arab Revolt of 1936.
Ghost Trail Ghost Trail
Thriller 2024 106 mins Director: Jonathan Millet
Tense, morally complex political thriller about a man hunting down fugitive war criminals from the Assad regime in Syria, inspired by true events.
Plainclothes Plainclothes
Drama 2025 97 mins Director: Carmen Emmi
Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey lead a Sundance-prize winning ensemble in this knockout cruising drama from debut director Carmen Emmi.
What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day? What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day?
Documentary 2005 45 mins Director: Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly’s second collaboration with pop band Saint Etienne traces the hidden history of East London’s Lower Lea Valley before its Olympic makeover.
Young Hearts Young Hearts
Drama 2024 99 mins Director: Anthony Schatteman
A gentle and sincere story of queer love between two young teenage boys, told with warmth and humour.
Finisterre Finisterre
Documentary 2003 59 mins Director: Kieran Evans and Paul Kelly
A journey from London’s suburbs to its heart, charting the influence of the city on indie pop band Saint Etienne.