Amelie
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Amelie is so pleasing it made
me loath the real world even more for being
so crass, so crime infested and so corporate.
This is one of those movies that made me yearn
that French culture, and not American culture
was influencing us here in England.
Amelie is a French film set in
Paris (That's Paris in France for the benefit
of our American friends * ) and features a girl
who's led a sheltered existence and tries to
impose her innocent goodness upon an uncomprehended
and uncomprehending world.
The film is gently moving, surprisingly funny
- I literally
lol-ed several times, and,
to sum it up -
CHARMING! French movies
tend to make me realise that for all the bang
for yer buck you get from Hollywood movies,
only the French really know how to charm. Hollywood
can entertain you with action, special effects,
gore, explosions and goofball comedy, nothing
wrong with that, I am a big consumer of that
crap. But where as corporate Hollywood movies
are wantonly and focus-group-affectedly childish,
Amelie (Audrey Tautou) is affectingly
child
like, in the sense it captures a
wonderment untainted by the crap you perceive
as a jaded adult.
Amelie made
me let go of my cynicism and sarcasm. Don't
panic! I will soon be back to my bitter and
twisted self, but it's great just to let go,
even for a short while. Even for a total bastard
like me :)
This movie won't please MTV types, that's for
sure, its an unforced, observant, character-driven
movie. It does have (uh oh) a love story but
this is not too cheesy. As a bloke who loves
action movies and flees in horror from chick-flicks,
I can definitely say to the more discerning
blokes of the world, relax, put your testosterone
in a jar to one side for an hour or two and
try this movie. To women, all women will love
this, as far as I can guess.
I missed
Amelie on its initial
release. Then our local cinema showed it for
an extra day. The place was absolutely packed
out! We desperately need more (good) European
movies marketed full heartedly - and distributed!
Update: I finally saw Delicatessen on the big
screen. Delicatessen is the first movie by the
same (more or less) people and is just as inspired
as Amelie. Perfect! Wonderful! Delicatessen
is the story of a clown who works for a murderous
butcher, one of the most glorious comedic characters
I have ever seen on a screen. The humour in
Delicatessen is monumentally darker than the
light hearted world of Amelie. Yet in very different
ways both movies portray a loveable innocence
lost in a barking mad world. It is not until
you see an unreal universe that our real universe
becomes so unreal.
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spoilers corner
Spoilers!!!!
Warning: this box contains a movie post-mortem analysis that freely gives away important plot twists and details. If you have not yet seen this movie and intend seeing it, avoid this spoilers box until afterwards. Bookmark the page, see the movie, see if you agree with my review then write an arsy comment saying I am talking total b*ll*cks :-)
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There are so many priceless jewels in
this movie. One of my favourite moments
was the line where the blonde explains
she wasn't blushing, it was dyspepsia.
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There are no more spoilers below this
point, except maybe in any user talkback
comments.
End of spoilers corner
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Dragons eat all the hobbits. Oops. Wrong movie.
* This is just my little bad taste joke, no
condescension intended.
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