Hey folks, Harry here... I'm going to Cannes this year for the LORD OF THE RINGS presentation that New Line is holding, and there are a couple of pure heartbreaks that I realize... 1. I won't be seeing MOULIN ROUGE early.... and 2. I leave before LE FABULEUX DESTIN D'AMELIE POULAIN screens in the gigantic outdoor free screening at Cannes... Heartbreak... Don't get me wrong, I'm a lucky as hell bastard to get the access to the LOTR stuff, but Hey Zeus More Or Less, I want to see these two puppies terribly! Alas, here's another review of Jeunet's latest... which seems to be blowing people away....
Hi Harry,
long time reader, first time poster... you know the drill. I live in Paris and work in the "business" and I was lucky enough to see that movie yesterday (I also went to the party afterward, but that's another subject). Anyway, since you're already familiar with the subject I'll make it short.
The basic story goes like this : lonely girl goes out in a quest to make the people around her happy. She does that in order to forget her own loneliness. Then she falls in love, and for the first time in her life has to take some risks in order get a hold on her life. But will she ?
To describe it (it's nearly impossible, this movie is a UFO), you take the visual imagination of "Delicatessen" and "The city of lost children", add the feel good sensation of Capra's "It's a wonderful life", a little touch of the magic of "Edward Scissorhands"... and it's still inaccurate.
The movie is simply MAGIC. There's no other word to describe it... the key words here are dreams, happiness and joy. It's the type of movie that reminds you why you love cinema, and it feels great. It's the type of movie where you get out of the theater and want to dance and embrace everyone in the street. Some movies can find the inner child in you, this one succeeds in finding the dreamer in you. It's so universal in it's description of love at first sight that you WILL recognize yourself at one point or another. It's funny, touching, sad, and crazy in the same time.
Do I need to say that it's probably the best movie I've seen in years ??? By the way, too bad you'll miss it in Cannes, Harry ; from what I could tell of your tastes I know you'll absolutely fall in love with this movie.
Cinemaniac.
Here's NI2KO's review....
hi, my name is NI2KO
Tonight al over Paris a few specials screenings of "le fabuleux destin d'amelie POulain" the new movie from Jean Pierre Jeunet (city of the lost childrens,Alien 4) happened. First let me tell you something, if one day in your life you've ever dreamed of finding what could be the perfect moment of happiness, don't look any further, it's just here on your movie screen, right in front of your eyes and this DREAM got a name: AMELIE POULAIN.
French actress AUDREY TAUTOU give one of the best performances of her short career (she's just 24 ), but trust me when you will saw the movie, you will start believing in magic, cause after that your vision of the world will become like the one of AMELIE.
Happiness is simple if you decided to do it properly and that's awhat amelie try to do during all the movie.
Since the death of his mother (tragically killed in front of NOTRE DAME by a canadian girl who decided to jump from the top of the church---and land right on AMELIE's mother) the life of the young girl completely change. Her dad, completly lost the taste of life a,nd his relation with her girl. So that's why after seeing her red fish try to commit suicide (bad mood at home) she decided to leave and go to MONTMARTRE.
The destiny of AMELIE begin the day of the death of lady diana.By accident she find in a wall of her closet and old box which once belongs to a young boy who had live where she is now. After seeing what was inside the box she decide to find the box to give it back to the child who now became a lonely man. Amelie thinks that if the man is happy to retrieve his box, she will start helping people all around her. The mission succeed and the quest of amelie begin.
During all the movie, you meet a lot of very well played characters, The most important are Nino Quincampoix (played by Mathieu Kassovitz, french director of the CRIMSON RIVERS,and the HATE). The passion of Nino his to collect the anbandonned picture of peoples in the train station. During the day, we work on and porn video house and play a ghost in an haunted house. Kassovitz is just plain perfect in his character. Touching and funny at the same time, he's the kind of dreamer that all of us have been one time in our life.
After him there is the glass man ( he have exactly the same disease than SAM JACKSON In UNBREAKABLE) he can go outside and saw the world threw his painting. Since 20 years he reproduce a painting of renoir. This character will play the link between NINO and AMELIE because as he sayd ' she help everybody, but who will help her".
Telling you more about the continuity and all the jokes who happened in this movie will waste the magi you could have. So i will not do it. But all i can say to you is go see this movie when he will come to your place (MIRAMAX pick up the right to distribute the films in the us)
AMELIE POULAIN is designed to make you enjoy life and worship JEAN PIERRE JEUNET for being such a GOOD DIRECTOR. CITY OF THE LOST CHILDRENS was one of the rare movies i've seen that blew me away, but tonight JPJ did it again and all i can say to him is thank you and prey that the next one will be so good.
NI2KO
