#mio in the land of faraway

[sometimesigif]

baby Christian Bale in Mio min Mio / Mio in the Land of Faraway (1987) dir. Vladimir Grammatikov

[multifanidiot]

In my "read this book as a child an now as a teenager there's a movie " era

[sleepingpeonies-blog]

Mio in the land of Faraway (1987)

everything about this movie is like sweet fantasy ambrosia to me - an older style of fantasy/adventure film that I always look for, akin to Never-ending Story and the like.
The scenery is great - I love the long bridge and the black knight's castle and under the mountain, and the dungeon scenes are just great. The music is charming and worked well. Christopher Lee is obv brilliant.

Hokey, very trash-stratum stuff, and I can certainly see why it isn't well loved, but it just ticks all the right boxes for me

[kagekanecavi]

[cinemaquiles]

Tem no youtube: uma fantasia esquecida com Christian Bale: "Mio in the Land of Faraway", de 1987

[adventuresofalgy]

The next morning was brighter, but also a great deal colder, and although the world was still dripping as far as the eye of a fluffy bird could see, it was as dry as anything possibly could be when it was already completely soaked through and through…

Now that the mist had cleared, Algy was able to see more of the woodland that stretched out before him, and at its very edge, just a short distance away, loomed a huge Atlantic oak tree, whose branches reached high into the sky and out across the still-chortling burn, which ran on deep into the woodland and vanished.

Carrying the magic pumpkin carefully in his beak, Algy flew over to the tree and landed on a wide, almost horizontal branch, which not only provided an exceptionally secure perch for both himself and his pumpkin, but also a luxuriously soft cushion of moss for the comfort of a fluffy bird's tail feathers…

As the low November sun squeezed through the clouds and attempted to illuminate the scene in front of him with a pale, watery light, Algy felt moved to sing to the magnificent tree – and as he could only think of one appropriate example in which the singer praised a tree, he opened his beak and did his best to perform that beautiful hymn-to-a-tree for the benefit of the hospitable oak, changing the words slightly to make it quite clear that he was not addressing some faraway plane tree in a mythical land…

Frondi tenere e belle del mio platano amato per voi risplenda il fato. Tuoni, lampi, e procelle non v'oltraggino mai la cara pace, né giunga a profanarvi austro rapace. Ombra mai fu di vegetabile, cara ed amabile, soave più. Which Wikipedia translates in English as: Tender and beautiful fronds of my beloved plane tree, let Fate smile upon you. May thunder, lightning, and storms never disturb your dear peace, nor may you by blowing winds be profaned. Never was a shade of any plant dearer and more lovely, or more sweet.

[Algy is singing what is sometimes referred to as "Handel's Largo", the aria Ombra mai fu from the opening of Handel's opera seria Serse (Xerxes) written in the early 18th century.]

But Algy, of course, has a fluffy baritone voice, and although he always does his best, this beautiful aria is really quite beyond the capabilities of a daft fluffy bird 😔 Nor is Algy's version anything like what the composer intended, as it was originally scored for a very much higher voice.

So Algy decided to provide links – for those interested – to two very different interpretations, out of the many, many available recordings of this famous, hymn-like aria. The first, in the unusually pure voice of America's great contemporary mezzo-soprano Joyce Didonato, goes straight into what is in her case an almost ethereal "Ombra mai fu", while the second, sung more robustly by the famous 20th century German baritone (or bass-baritone) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, contains the complete aria starting from its less melodic opening, and is much closer to Algy's own rendering… 😀

[patrothestupid]

what is you're favorite mOOoo°vie?

Candyman 1992

Memorable mention : Alien, Discworld the color of magic 2008, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Puss in boots 2, Shin Godzilla, Karate-Robo Zaborgar and Mio and the Land of Faraway (that I'll never find again in french x'(

[puterboy1]

Jum-Jum is so adorable, I wanna squish him.

Christian Bale as Jum-Jum/Benke in Mio min Mio (1987)

[arconinternet]

Mio in the Land of Faraway (Video, 1987)

Starring Christopher Lee and, in his first film role, Christian Bale. You can watch a VHS trailer here, or the whole movie here.

[ferociouslycreativemystery]

So, movies!

I didn't watch any today or yesterday, but the day before that I watched 2 whole motion pictures!

1) Mio min Mio (English title: Mio in the Land of Faraway) (1987)

Classic, gotta have some Astrid Lindgren stuff in here. I really liked this movie as a kid. I had no memory of the Swedish version being a dub though—apparently it was all shot with English actors? And Mio's friend was played by a tiny Christian Bale? Huh. Wikipedia says it's a, ahem, "soviet-swedish-norwegian-brittish fantasy/adventure film", and it was mainly shot on stages built in Moscow. Okay then.

Anyway no wonder the first HP movie felt familiar the first time I watched it, it's basically the plot of this book/movie as told by the game of telephone.

2) The Red Shoes (1948)

Can you imagine a current movie stopping halfway through to have a full ballet performance that only has thematic (no explicit) ties to the rest of the story? Because it slaps! I don't really have a lot to say about this one except I quite enjoyed it. Worth a watch!

[movie-titlecards]

Mio in the Land of Faraway (1987)

My rating: 6/10

Very cheesy, fairly generic portal fantasy with occasional bits of amusing weirdness (like the giant floating head whose beard the kid rides into fantasy land - y'all better have your Zardoz references at the ready), and overall entertaining enough - plus if you ever wanted to see Christopher Lee menace a teensy tiny baby Christian Bale, this is the movie for you.

[onaa-ohokthen]

Actually, let's talk some more about this book, because it's one of the best books in the world. I don't mean just one of the best children's books, just one of the best books, period.

The story was written in 1954 and is about Bo Vilhelm Olsson, an orphan who was adopted by parents (that he calls aunt and uncle) who wanted a well behaved quiet little girl and and who don't even pretend to like him. Bo is intensely envious of his friends who have fathers to build model airplane with and who can tuck them in at night, and when a series of magical events see him transported to Faraway Land where his real, loving, father is the king and where his name is Mio, he is very happy. But all is not easy. There is Sorrowbird who songs at dusk in the garden. Worse, there's the topic of Sorrowbird's song: the children who have been abducted by the evil Sir Kato and turned into white birds. There's the prophecy that it's Mio who can defeat Kato and save the children.

Mio, My Son is a very tropey book in that it uses familiar elements from fairy tales and children's literature in mostly familiar ways. It is, however, not less beautiful or original for that reason. Lindgren's policy was always that children aren't stupid, and that they need to hear stories about dark and scary things just as much as adults do. The tropes are deftly handled and blended with language that uses the same key phrases over and over in a beautiful, hypnotic pattern.

Lindgren, who was forced to give up a son at birth as a teenager in 1926 and didn't get to raise him until five years later when she had married, wrote a lot of books about lonely little boys. Mio is by far the best one, although also the scariest. I loved it as a child and I love it more now. The translation is a little lacking at catching the poetry of Lindgren's language but overall decent. Read it.

"Why is Sorrowbird singing?" I asked the Weaver. She began to cry, and her tears fell on the cloth, becoming bright little pearls, so that the fabric was even prettier than before. "Why is Sorrowbird singing?" I asked again.

"He is singing about my little daughter", said the Weaver. "He is singing about my little daughter who was stolen."

"Who has stolen your little daughter?" I asked. But I already knew without being told. "Don't say his name", I begged.

"I won't," said the Weaver, "because the moonlight will die down and the white horses will cry tears of blood."

"Why will they cry blood?" I asked.

"For the little foal that was stolen, too," said the Weaver. "Hear how Sorrowbird sings over the forest!"

[fairytalemovies]

Gunnar Ernblad as the swordsmith and the voice of the spirit in Mio, min Mio (1984).

[motionpicturelover]

"Mio in the Land of Faraway" (1987) - Vladimir Grammatikov

("Mio min Mio")

Films I've watched in 2022 (36/210)

[alyona11]

I could never be into something super hype because my brain be like:

Me: Can we please watch something new and hypey so I would have more serotonin and things to talk about? Brain: No <3 Me: :( Brain: But we could rewatch Mio in the Land of Faraway, you know that movie that got you fixated in the prime age of 8? The one with Christopher Lee and baby Christian Bail? And with the banger soundtrack from someone from ABBA? Me: Omg say no more

[undefeatednils]

Some films with a similar feel, only one per director:

Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession (1973)

Wizards (1977)

Time Bandits (1981)

The Dark Crystal (1982)

The Last Unicorn (1982)

Krull (1983)

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Momo (1986)

Mio in the Land of Faraway (1987)

The Princess Bride (1987)

Dragonheart (1996)

The 13th Warrior (1999)

Angels in America (2003)

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Stardust (2007)

Wolf Children (2013)

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor among Thieves (2023)

what would you add to this list

Labyrinth (1986) Legend (1985) Willow (1988) The Green Knight (2021) La Belle et La Bête (1946)