Welcome to the darker side of Tabu!
For 1931, the wide-scaled and land + people-loving cinematography and resourceful sound editing in F. W. Murnau’s Tabu is quite impressive, if not, even exceeding today’s common practices. It’s coated, however, with a pretty limited vetting on the psychological lengths we’re willing to go through in our fight for love, plus on the classic jab that tradition and old people stuff are for prudes and what have you. The plot is kinda ass too, and maybe that’s just me being a nit-picky Karen or something but this movie almost had an equal effect on me with its fantasy-driven logistics as did the flawed yet highly praised Night of the Hunter. Nonetheless, the simplicity of its narrative and the grand nature of its visuals were charming enough to warrant the watch as not a complete waste of time.
The shark parts definitely get a 10/10 though. Spielberg exposed!
Verdict: C+
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