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AliquaSalix
Reviews
La vie comme elle va (2003)
Touching
"La vie comme elle va" is a 90 minutes comment-free documentary about life in a south western village of France, Najac.
This little place could be anywhere: time passes by slowly, people meet and go, a bee falls into a glass of beer, a cow watches a leaf fall from a tree... A 100 year-old lady dies. A man takes his dog for a walk. An old man cries for his wife gone long ago.
It is touching, sometimes overwhelming, with tragedy and comedy intertwined just as they are in life, making the fragile poetry of our lives come out in the light.
A must see for those who can.
Le divorce (2003)
Very bad
"Le Divorce" shocked me. As a French woman and Parisian I felt insulted by it and really wondered what was in James Ivory's mind when he made it.
Kate Hudson's and Naomi Watts' characters seem to be attracted by French rude and worthless men, but as far as I know, not all French men are rude and worthless... Yes, we too have gentlemen around here, and marriage does mean something to some of them - just like anywhere in the western world. Oh, and, last but not least: 99% of the French _don't_ know what a Kelly Hermes bag is... I didn't before I saw "Le Divorce".
A few good points though: Naomi Watts is beautiful and so is the photography.
The Black Stallion (1979)
Beautiful
I watched this movie tonight for the first time in 15 years and was surprised to realize it could bring tears to my eyes after such a long time - grown up, adult tears. The TV copy was bad with a noisy soundtrack and cloudy images but the beauty of its cinematography seems to be stronger than time, amazingly new and powerful. The island scenes are pure poetry... so delicate is Carroll Ballard's way of catching the rising love between boy and horse - love shining out from innocence. Music is sublime, touching like the most poignant and fragile themes from Erik Satie's.
Many interpretations can be given to "The Black Stallion". To me -who saw it again after losing a friend in tragic circumstances- it is a beautiful and hopeful tale about death. Alec meets the Black -figure of death, wild and unpredictable- the night of his father's passing away and the world falls apart -the boat sinks into flames and cold water. The Black saves Alec, waking up then on a pale morning, alone on a lonely island made of black stone, translucent waters and white, dry sand. Then begins mutual taming between wild animal and young boy. How long will they observe each other, how long does it take for the Black to run gently besides Alec and for Alec to stand by the Black's tall silhouette? It feels like a few hours in this timeless land, but it could be a lifetime.
Then fear is gone, so are individuals - are they not one, running in suspended waters between sky and dust? Desire exists no longer... what do they want, but each other? If the horse is Death then Death is a friend, Death is peace and love and the abolition of time. And dreams are real just like the Black is real against Alec's hands, while in Alec's hands is clutched the unmoving and lifeless figure of a black horse given by his father on the night of his death.
Suddenly comes back the world of men, and horse and boy return to Life, witch is limits and rules and time. Yet when death has been tamed and accepted, frontiers don't matter anymore, and Alec makes peacefully his way into the world, growing along with the beautiful friendship connecting him to his horse. Together, horse and boy, they will prove that boundaries can be broken between man and animal, between dreams and reality.
Moving.
The Musketeer (2001)
Very bad
The plot is inconsistent, the acting is bad, the costumes are bad, the action scenes are boring. Oh, and Castaldi is extremely annoying. Only a couple of good ideas in the fight scenes keep you from falling deeply asleep.
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
I hate this movie
I've been reading comments on this movie and was very surprised to see so many good ones. To me, this is the worst of cinema: it's not a bad movie... it's a disgusting, revolting one. The performance of Bjork is great, and the songs she wrote for the movie are brilliant. Everything else made me want to scream. I felt like I was being an hostage of some sadistic director. I hate being manipulated, especially concerning my feelings, and that was what Lars Von Triers intended to do. No one in the world is so unlucky as Selma. She's slightly dumb, naive, poor, and almost blind. She raises her child alone. She works in a dangerous factory. She's betrayed. I think Lars Von Triers should have made her crippled too! Anyway, the worst comes in the end. A one hour long agony. Great. "You're gonna cry, you miserable audience!!"
I went to see this movie with some friends and I would have left the theater within 20 minutes had I been alone. But my friends loved that movie, and left the place with tears in their eyes. I was furious about the director, about my friends for liking it, and about myself for spending 6 dollars on that horror.
Vercingétorix (2001)
I can't believe it's a real movie
"Vercingétorix" is the worst movie I have ever seen. It's a catastrophe beyond your imagination. Christophe Lambert is ridiculous as young Vercingetorix, and as old Vercingetorix too. The dialogues are so bad even I could have done better. The costumes look like rags. The fights are boring. Some scenes are so inconsistent it's funny... Example: imagine you've been living in a forest all of your life, without seeing the world. OK. Now, you're going out of the forest (obviously not a very thick one), and what can you see? A "via romana", a roman highway. Yes. Just a couple of trees from your cave. And who's riding on it, with a couple of bodyguards and one extra-horse? Julius Caesar himself and its fierce army. And the emperor just gives you a horse, because he has an extra one. And this explains why, some time later in the movie, Christophe Lambert says, giving a horse back to a roman soldier: "I give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar."
I'd say the following things to people who have the opportunity to see "Druids" (by the way, what druids? Those white-clad weirdos jumping around with a sword?): If you are a cinema student, you might want to see this movie just to get what you should never do. If you are interested in bad movie experiments, don't miss it either (it's a cult movie for many people for that very reason). If you're just a normal person, don't lose 3 hours of your life. The first hour is very funny but the 2 following ones are long.
La planète sauvage (1973)
Very, very good
I saw this movie for the first time when I was a teenager. I loved it, and I watched it again many times. As a poetry and sci-fi amateur it thrilled my imagination and as a painter, my eyes. What more can I say?
If animation movies had lived up to that standard the world might be better now. Ok, maybe not but I told you, I AM a sci-fi fan!!
Mais qui a tué Pamela Rose? (2003)
A rather subtle parody
(If you want to see this movie, you might not want to read my comment, which contains spoilers).
"Mais qui a tué Pamela Rose" is the natural product of two men who have been watching too many American "whodunit". Hey, come on, we all have seen so many of those... and we like it, don't we? What's better than a "film noir"? That's probably what Kad and Olivier thought too; so they made a parody of these movies for us - and a rather good one. The peculiar thing about this movie is that the authors went to the very end of their idea. Along with all the murder and inquiry plot, they took from American "whodunit"... America. Hey, what if we all were American? So, they took natural sets and landscape of France and pretended them to be some Middle West place called Borsnville. Of course, they transformed them a little, and some sets are actually convincing (I think of the restaurants scenes, and the Motel). The characters are American too. Americans from the depth of America, characters taken straight out of some dark road movie. (the strip-teaser, the sheriff, the radio guy...).
Kad and Olivier have made what no one else has done before: on purpose, they have recreated a unique America, one made with heart by admirers who pretend they only know it from the outside, from movies. For instance, the name of the secondary characters are uncongruous common names, English words that just stick out from films when we see them over here: Mr Donuts, Dan Nuggets... and Riper has a recommendation from... Stevie Wonder! Another example of that is the "FBI University"... I really don't think such a thing exists!
In this extraordinary set evolve characters who want so badly to be American, who truly seem to believe they are. Jean-Pierre Rouve is great -and subtle- as this sheriff who feels that he might be homosexual... Darmont is impressive as a leather figure with santiag boots (I never thought I'd see him clad like that!). And, of course, Kad and Olivier -almost convincing in FBI agents!- are such as they always are: funny.
Well, time is to talk about the most important thing: the movie itself, its rhythm, its humour. If you like Kad and Olivier's sense of humour, you won't be disappointed. From the very first minute (a dedication to Christopher Colombus, the lad who "invented" America) to the last it is there, made of very seriously pronounced nonsense and silly drifts in classical situations -I like it because it is more of a language humour than a visual one. The first thirty minutes of the movie are hilarious, like this scene where Kad deals with Colombian drug dealers, or Olivier teaching in the FBI University. The second part of the movie is too slow with many punch lines just not up to our expectations. But overall, one has a very good time with this rather subtle parody: a good plot, good actors, and the precious feeling it's not been seen before.
Soap (1977)
The best show I have ever watched
French TV aires mostly bad shows, whether they are made in France or imported from other countries. It's a curse we French men and women have to fight every day. Therefore, I still can't believe I ever got to see SOAP!
From the very first minute I saw it, on a late evening (midnight on the cable), I was utterly bewitched. Every single episode is hilarious, touching, surprising. The cast is great, from young Billy Crystal to Richard Mulligan, whose encounter with aliens is one of the most delirious things I've ever got to see on TV. Katherine Helmond is wonderful as silly Jessica Tate.
Some people may think SOAP has not stood up for the test of time... I disagree with them. None of the shows I have seen so far have the fresh, witty, daring tone of SOAP. In many ways it is a show every one in this world could like, and saying that is really something.
Oh, Thank you, thank you so much Susan Harris!!! May TV create some day something as good as SOAP.
Brocéliande (2003)
Not that bad
I went to see this movie with the idea that I would somehow help French B-Movies, which have not been doing too well lately. I thought that I would probably regret it. I was wrong. Of course, Brocéliande is not a very good movie. Almost everything in it has been seen before, and they obviously lacked money and time. But this movie has a soul, or at least a true and fresh spirit. One can actually feel that the authors and the director meant to do some kind of tribute to horror and suspense movies. You can feel that they loved their project. If you go and see it in a good mood, if you let yourself slip into the story without thinking too much about its slight incoherences, then you can have a pretty good time.