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dolfkamper
Reviews
Le dernier combat (1983)
Man of La Mancha
Pierre Jolivet plays a Don Quixote character, unable to speak, living in a world incompatible with modern life. He trusts to his homemade weaponry - helmet, sleeves, and spear - made out of hubcaps, seat cushions, and discarded office furniture. Just as Don Quixote rode Rocicante, "The Man" rides his contraption (literally) transcending the lost lives caught up the harsh and demeaning modern world - soaring above the earth, away from the plight of modern man. Both characters ride in search of adventure in an effort to right the wrongs of the world. Both characters are guardian knights of values unfamiliar to most of the other characters in the story.
Unlike Cervantes's tale, in this movie we identify more directly with the anachronistic ideals of the main character. We can only compare this alien and forbidding landscape to the lush and beautiful world we live in. Our frame of reference is the fantasy realm which the lone knight perhaps remembers. Our vision would be one which expects the main character to triumph, to vanquish, to change his world (for the better) back into a world of plenty that no longer exists.
We look at this movie and see a true knight among a world of humans-as-animals. Don Quixote considered himself a true knight among animals.
With Cervantes's tale we can only see the dreamer, without really understanding the scope of his anachronistic displacement. In Besson's and Jolivet's tale we see the new world from the eyes of Don Quixote, because we value the same visions and ideals as the crusading main character.
Casino Royale (1967)
A perfect example of a time long past.
I imagine this movie gets all kinds of criticism these days because most people today don't fully appreciate this kind of entertainment.
In a way it is comedy in the purest sense, like the original "James Bond" in the movie. This movie is comedy without form or reason. The form is far from the classical. Things are thrown in, one might say haphazardly, or one might liken it to jazz. To enjoy this movie don't trouble yourself with why the opening has Peter Sellers in a public toilet, or why "What's New Pussycat" is coming out of the sellers in West Berlin (unless you've seen that movie too), or why women are being captured for almost no reason. To appreciate this movie just relax and take in the Goon Show sillyness of it all. Let the story unwind around you and don't try to capture any deep meaning, unless it is the meaning of unmeaning.
Watch some of the biggest screen names have a grand time together.
You might also catch some other movies just like it: What's New Pussycat, The Party, or The Magic Christian.
Since we live in a classical age where popular film and music is dominated by clearly defined scientific form, this movie may strike some as being out of date. Sure, recent attempts have been made to ape this style. But although his heart was in the right place Mr. Myers really only set the visual charachteristics of a Peter Sellers movie within the rigid framework of a comparatively mechanical dialog and storyline. Entertainment minds of today may not even understand the value of this movie, with its unexplainable non-sequitors and rediculous plot-turns it may look even badly-edited or ineptly constructed. However if you are like myself and live as a sort of anachronism in a reasonable time you'll check this movie out.