Honestly, is it ever a good idea to listen to the voices in your head?

Then again, when 14-year-old Krabat (David Kross) is telepathically summoned by an evil sorcerer to become an apprentice at his mill cum black arts training academy, his options are limited: In 17th century Germany, it’s pretty much poverty or the plague – in which case, pentagrams probably look pretty good. Installed at the mill, Krabat finds a home and a family of fellow grimy-faced male apprentices (women are verboten), and all seems well enough, until one of the brothers has his neck snapped. Taken from the 1971 very grim tale by Otfried Preußler and directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner, Krabat boasts some beautiful visuals in the German landscape and seasons, which go from winter whiteouts to rapturous summer and back again. But Kross wears the same blond blandness that he brought to The Reader; as he ages, he sprouts a pencil mustache that looks like it could be removed with a vigorous rubbing. Stay for the credits: Imagine if Peter Jackson had capped Lord of the Rings with a Falco synth-popper and you get something of the effect of Polarkreis 18’s end-reel song, “Allein Allein.”

Krabat screens Friday, Sept. 25 at 3:20pm and Sunday, Sept. 27, at 1:45pm.

This article appears in September 18 • 2009.

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A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Kimberley has written about film, books, and pop culture for The Austin Chronicle since 2000. She was named Editor of the Chronicle in 2016; she previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor, Screens Editor, Books Editor, and proofreader. Her work has been awarded by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for excellence in arts criticism, team reporting, and special section (Best of Austin). The Austin Alliance for Women...