Hey folks, Harry here... While I'm here in Catalan country at the Sitges film festival, AICN's The Flu is in far off RIO FILM FESTIVAL doing his bit for his fellow film geek. I believe this is the first time I've read about this particular Audrey Tautou flick... Good stuff!
Hey everybody, The Flu here, with yet another day of the Rio Film Fest.
After taking a day away from the marathon, I went back on track. Though I gotta say, I should have taken another day out. I had two pretty lousy experiences.
First up was The Gathering, with Cristina Ricci. It's not that the movie sucks... Well, it does, but... I had potential. The problem is that the movie was just too cliché for my tastes. There's the whole hallucinaton thing (which has absolutely NO meaning here...), the whiz kid, who ends up beng part of the mistery. More like a compilation of effects created by great movies.
Which was exactly the same problem with the next movie: Irreversible. Alright, I admit it. I was curious about the whole "10 minute long rape scene", and that's what drove me to watch it. But the rape scene, in my opinion, isn't even the most schocking scene in the movie. And then there's the backwards narrative, not exactly Memento style, but close enough. The thing is... There's no point to it. The movie could very well have a "normal" narrative and absolutely nothing would change, because there is no big mistery, like in Memento. Backwards narrative has no meaning here, because it doesn't help us put ourselves in the character's shoes, also like in Memento. Besides that, the camera movements goes as far as The Blair Witch Project never dreamed of going. Sometimes you couldn't understand what the hell was going on, and that just pissed me off! It was totally annoying! Bottom line is: Irreversible has absolutely no reason to exist.
Thank God my luck was about to change. I went on to watch He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, with the eternal Amelie Poulain, Audrey Tautou. I found out about the movie in the last minute, and I wanted to watch because of Tautou and just 'cuz I didn't have anything better to do. I thought it was gonna be like a romantic comedy or something, and the beggining of the movie does give that impression. How wrong was I... If you go to this movie not knowing what it's about, the experience is much better, when you find out the movie is actually a thriller! I was blown away! Not only because of the surprise, but because the movie is really fucking gooood! Amelie, oops, I mean, Audrey plays Angelique, a waitress who is having an affair with a married man. Lots of things happen, the man dumps her for his wife, then gets arrested... And then at some point (I'm not gonna tell what point...) the movie goes back to the beggining to tell the same story through the man's point of view. And it's one plot twist after the other! This is a great, great film. Even reminded me a bit of Fatal Attraction.
I ran to the next theater to watch Bowling For Columbine. Not since the short Isle of Flowers have I seen such a great documentary. Michael Moore is the soul of the movie, and is truly a genius. Had it been someone else the movie could have been abismal. But with Michael Moore... It's a life lesson. And Moore manages to make such a serious subject a reason to laugh (which I did, although a couple of times I felt a little guilty about it). He digs every dirt the US has involving firearms (it's amazing to realise that the US government actually PAID for the training of Osama Bin Laden...), and studies it in a way that there is no way to discuss with him, 'cause he has an argument for any reason you can give for violence. And the movie evolves and expands its subject, studying violence from all its aspects. This is a movie to be remembered, as a way to reach the understanding of the way our world works.
And finally, I watched Pumpkin, also with Cristina Ricci. I loved it, although I kinda got the feeling that this is a movie most people wont like. Cristina Ricci is better than ever, but it's Hank Harris, as Pumpkin Romanoff, who steals the show. His portrayal of the innocent, disabled kid is just perfect, and as funny as hell. I guess there's not really much I can say about Pumpkin. It felt a little like Ghost World, and in the ending, like in A.I., less was more.
That's about it for the day. The Flu, gone.
