Mavka: The Forest Song
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Caution: spoilers.

This is a Ukrainian film, loosely based on a poetic play called "The Forest Song". I'm afraid I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, especially in the beginning. But while it never got to a point where I'd really call it a good movie, my appreciation of it grew a little bit as the story went on.

It starts with a story of a sawmill owner who went to the forest beyond Dark Mountain, to get a drop of water from the source of life, to save his baby daughter's life. The guardian of the forest, Lesh, gave it to him, but the man later came back with an army, and the forest ended up being burned down, and all the humans killed. After that, no humans were allowed back into the forest, and the entrance was sealed off with a boulder.

Years later, the forest has regrown, and as spring comes, a nymph named Mavka awakens. Meanwhile, in the nearby human village, a woman named Kylina arrives, claiming to be the late sawmill owner's daughter. She's accompanied by a flamboyant fashion designer named Frol, who acts as her servant, as well as a pair of goons named Erick and Dereck. She wants the townsfolk to go into the forest to find the tree that is the source of life, but they all refuse, believing the forest to be filled with demons. But one young man named Lukas needs to buy expensive medicine for his uncle Leo, so he agrees to the job. He's accompanied by Erick and Dereck, who easily push the boulder aside. When Lukas gets to the forest, he goes off on his own and meets Mavka and her odd little friend Hush. Mavka is charmed by Lukas's flute playing, and says she'll give him a drop of water that could heal his uncle. At the same time, Lesh is preparing to step down as the forest's guardian, so a new guardian must be chosen. A few nymphs hope it will be one of them, but the spirits of the forest unexpectedly choose Mavka. Then all the forest creatures learn that a human is present, and chase him out of the forest. But Lukas is determined to return, because he had promised to play his flute for Mavka again. And she ends up disguising herself and going to the village, but she is eventually discovered to be a nymph, whom the villagers consider to be a demon. So they try to kill her, egged on by Kylina. But Mavka manages to escape back to the forest. However, Kylina locks Lukas in a basement, and tricks him into showing her the location of the source of life on a map. She then incites the villagers to join her in attacking the forest creatures. Kylina confronts Mavka and tricks her into believing Lukas had betrayed her.

And... things get intense. But ultimately there's a happy ending, with the forest creatures and humans making peace. I fear I've said too much already, but I'll leave out any further details. Except to say there's a neat little mid-credits scene with Kylina. Anyway, the animation was mostly just okay, though I did like the look of the nymphs, especially Mavka. The acting (in the English dub) wasn't great, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't watch it, obviously. I found Hush kind of annoying. But the story itself wasn't bad. And I guess I'm glad I watched the movie.