Pelican Blood
Pelican Blood follows horse trainer Wiebke (Nina Hoss) as she decides to adopt a second child from Bulgaria, with problems ensuing as it becomes clear that said child (Katerina Lipovska’s Raya) has a few behavioral quirks (to put it mildly). Filmmaker Katrin Gebbe delivers a slow-moving (and palpably overlong) drama that works best in its deliberate yet fairly engrossing first half, as the director does an effective job of establishing the compelling central character and her decidedly remote environs – with the impact of these scenes certainly heightened by the effectiveness of Hoss’ subtly engrossing performance. (It’s clear, too, that the movie benefits from an undercurrent of suspense generated by Raya’s progressively sinister actions.) And although the lengths to which Wiebke is willing to go to help her new daughter are fairly fascinating, Pelican Blood is eventually thwarted by a third act that stretches plausibility to its breaking point and emphasizes a possible solution to the crisis that’s nothing short of silly – which ultimately does ensure that the whole thing ends on a fairly anticlimactic note. Still, Pelican Blood is, for the most part, a relatively engaging drama that features a pair of superlative performances by Hoss and Lipovska.
**1/2 out of ****
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