I realize that Thanksgiving has come and gone, so these reviews are a bit late. November, like October, was pretty nutty this year, though, which means I didn’t have a lot of time for writing, but here they are as promised.

October 16, 2009
Return of the Living Dead (1985) Directed by Dan O’Bannon 2/5
I thought I’d enjoy this film because I am all about B horror/sci-fi movies, but this film was pretty terrible. It feels like a bad Scooby Doo episode gone awry. The motley crew of characters are all over-the-top and include a punk girl who likes to disrobe, a prissy girl who’s dating a loser who works at a medical supply warehouse and a random black guy. The idiot who works at the warehouse inadvertently open a canister which releases a zombie gas of some kind and before you know it every dead person in the cemetery across the street is crawling out of their grave and his friends get picked off one by one. If you’re really, really, really bored I say watch it, otherwise don’t bother.

October 18, 2009
Vampires (1998) Directed by John Carpenter, based on the novel by John Steakley 2.5/5
This was not my first viewing of Vampires. I was exposed to this film by Brian a few years back when he was trying to indoctrinate me into the cult of John Carpenter. Vampires is a vampire western of sorts in the vein of the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino film From Dusk ‘Til Dawn (1996) which I would give a similar rating. Both films are entertaining, but they’re a bit predictable, hokey and dated and both feature incredibly mediocre casts.

October 20, 2009
La Cite des Enfants Perdus/City of Lost Children (1995) Directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet 4/5
I really enjoyed this film. It’s not so much a horror film as it is a surreal thriller for children. The filming style and story telling reminded me a lot of Guillermo del Toro’s El Laberinto del Fauno/Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and movies like Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985). Ron Perlman stars as One, a street preformer who loses his adopted younger sibling to a mad scientist who is kidnapping children in order to steal their dreams to keep himself from aging. With the help of a young girl named Miette, One must rescue his brother and stop the mad scientist before he causes any more harm.

October 21, 2009
Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) Directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo 3/5
This short anime (48 min) is about a young girl who gets hired by a secret society to kill demons plaguing a military base in Japan during the 1960’s. It was good, but too short. A lot of questions were left unanswered. It’s been made into a full-lenght live action film which I’m looking forward to watching sometime in the near future.

October 23, 2009
Les Yeux sans Visage/Eyes Without a Face (1959) Directed by Georges Franju based on the novel by Jean Redon 4.5/5
This black and white French film is considered a classic and I can see why. Though the film was made in 1959 it is still incredibly creepy. Pierre Bresseur plays Dr. Genessier, a plastic surgeon on the cutting edge (no pun intended) of his field with a daughter whose face is incredibly disfigured thanks to a car accident. Feeling guilty over his daughter’s disfigurement, Dr. Genessier begins kidnapping young women with the help of his assistant in order to remove their faces and attempt to graft them to his daughter’s. The acting in the film is superb and it has quite a satisfying/appropriate ending. If you’re into classic horror, I highly recommend this one.

October 31, 2009
Halloween (1978) Directed by John Carpenter – Always a Halloween tradition

From Beyond (1986) Directed by Stuart Gordon Based on the Short story by H.P. Lovecraft 4/5
Jeffrey Combs who played Dr. Herbert West in Gordon’s The Re-Animator (1985) plays Crawford Tillinghast, a scientist who has built a machine to stimulate the pineal gland and open the door to another dimension. When his partner, Dr. Pretorius is killed by a creature from beyond, Tillinghast is locked up at the local psychiatric hospital where no one believes him. However, a young psychologist decides to get to the bottom of things and takes Tillinghast back to the scene of the crime where all sorts of bizarre things start to happen thanks to the machine and it’s effect on their pineal glands. Like Gordon’s Re-Animator, this film is a bit campy and dated, but these things are what makes his films great.

November 1, 2009
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971) Written and Directed by John D. Hancock 4/5
A creepy vampire story/psychological thriller. Jessica has been recently released from an institution in NY where she was being kept because she was hallucinating/hearing voices. In order to get a new start she and her husband move to an old farmhouse with their friend Woody. However, before they even arrive at their new home Jessica begins having strange encounters/hearing voices again. When they arrive at their new house they find a young hippie woman living there and Jessica asks her to stay, though it soon becomes apparent that this was a mistake as the voices/hallucinations only get worse leading her husband to lose patience with her and fall into the arms of the young hippie girl. I really liked the ambivalent ending of this film and I was thoroughly creeped out by the hippie chick and the weirdos who lived in the local town.

Dante 01 è un film di fantascienza del regista francese Marc Caro. E ‘la prima pellicola diretta solamente da lui, già noto per le sue collaborazioni con il regista Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Il film è uscito nel 2008.

Leggi altre notizie su: | Marc Caro | Lambert Wilson | Dominique Pinon

This piece of music is a very tender one, and it’s accompanying an also tender scene on a surreal film. The duo consists of a cello and a musical saw. For those who have never heard of this instrument, yes, it’s a common saw, played with a cello arc (you can watch the world Guinness record with 50+ musical saws performing Ave Maria – thanks for the link Michelle).

The film that hosted this music is “Delicatessen“, directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and the soundtrack was composed by Carlos D’Alessio (1935 – 1992). The piece was played in the movie by two of the main characters on a roof. On the video below you can watch the piece played in it’s whole in a musical saw festival. You can also listen to the original soundtrack track or watch the movie scene.

The movie:

Delicatessen presents a post-apocalyptic scenario set entirely in a dank and gloomy building where the landlord operates a delicatessen on the ground floor. But this is an altogether meatless world, so the butcher-landlord keeps his customers happy by chopping unsuspecting victims into cutlets, and he’s sharpening his knife for the new tenant (French comic actor Dominque Pinon) who’s got the hots for the butcher’s near-sighted daughter. Delicatessen is a feast (if you will) of hilarious vignettes, slapstick gags, and sweetly eccentric characters, including a man in a swampy room full of frogs, a woman doggedly determined to commit suicide (she never gets it right) and a pair of brothers who make toy sound boxes that “moo” like cows.

It doesn’t amount to much as a story, but that hardly matters; this is the kind of comedy that leaps from a unique wellspring of imagination and inspiration, and it’s handled with such visual virtuosity that you can’t help but be mesmerised. French co-directors of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro have wildly inventive imaginations that gravitate to the darker absurdities of human behaviour, and their visual extravagance is matched by impressive technical skill.

Prima del divorzio, Jeunet e Caro firmano gemme come ‘Delicatessen’ o ‘La Città Perduta’. Se non è consigliabile parlare di miracolo, almeno di cinema epocale certamente si, visto l’impatto pressante sugli addetti ai lavori: Tim Burton, per dirne uno, e forse anche Proyas per il suo ‘Dark City’. Ha riscosso poca attenzione dalle nostre parti, forse per lo scarso valore pedagogico e per le sue deformità fisiche e facciali in netta controtendenza a chi vuole rappresentazioni rassicuranti per i propri angioletti. A sua volta, si riallaccia ad un altro classico di dieci anni prima, questa volta di levatura eccezionale ed imprescindibile: quel ‘Brazil’ di Terry Gilliam che ha cementificato le coordinate stilistiche da cui ha attinto. Siamo nel sincretismo weird più desincronizzato che mai. Si riesumano gingilli pescati da vecchi numeri di Metal Hurlant o dalle intuizioni scenografiche di Jules Verne o di H.G. Wells, magari di Karel Zeman: impalcature sbilenche per sorreggere torri metalliche, ringhiere arruginite che danno su calli nascoste, molle e ruote dentate, travi e lamiere bullonate, fiamme ossidriche e monocoli dorati, gli impermeabili che ‘Matrix’ avrebbe celebrato qualche anno dopo. Il cielo addensato e le luci riflesse sono quelli di un’era a cavallo tra otto e novecento tecnologicamente sovrasviluppata, una decadente suburbia costantemente avvolta dal fumo; le scenette, invece, quelle di un’improbabile split registico tra un Fellini e un Jodorowsky che non si limitano al divertissement bizzarro o alla parabola intellettuale, ma che piuttosto vorrebbero raccontarti una fiaba grottesca con il piglio di un Michael Ende in salsa steampunk. Nella città perduta, i bambini scompaiono, rapiti da cloni grigi senza sogni che sbraitano come neonati e giocano di società. C’è un sacco di merce ovunque, tesori improbabili per alcuni e per altri solo rifiuti da accatastare. Tutt’attorno, una orgia di freaks a là Browning e facce schizoidi movimentano le vite degli orfani e dei lestofanti: un autoritaria insegnante siamese bacchetta e sbraita, cervelli ribollono in brodaglia verde e ti scrutano, eserciti orwelliani consumano il rito religioso. Giù, al porto, anonimi scaricatori prelevano carichi di pesce da pontili scricchiolanti e nello stesso momento insetti nanotecnologici inettano veleni per dirottare la volontà. I fari, dalla cima di torri Eiffel conficcate nel mare, scrutano un orizzonte piatto e presumibilmente vuoto. Intanto, anche se la città dorme in una perenne notte, Miette, scaltra e coraggiosa, e One, buono ma infantile, sono i sotterranei fautori di indagini a tappeto, quasi degne di un noir. E non azzardatevi minimamente a lasciare in secondo piano il fronte estetico-visuale, autentico viatico per i tasselli di un mondo magico che gradirebbe anche il Miyazaki più barcollante. Sarebbe errato, infatti, pensare che si tratti di un furbo sotterfugio per mascherare un plot narrativo frugale. Zio Irvin vi sta già osservando…

Avec la sortie de Micmacs à tire-larigot mercredi prochain, film dans lequel Dany Boon joue un gentil gars un peu paumé et Yolande Moreau une fille un peu paumée mais gentille au fond -des rôles clairement à contre-courant-,  je voulais revenir un peu sur la carrière de J.P. Jeunet.

Jeunet commence sa carrière filmographique avec Marc Caro, dessinateur de son état. D’abord trois courts métrages, très remarqués, dont le plus connu est sans doute Le bunker de la dernière rafale (1981), un court muet de 35 minutes, quasiment huis-clos, oppressant, terriblement stylisé, et dont la fin est géniale. Parallèlement Jeunet fait ses propres courts, dont Foutaises (1989), où Dominique Pinon débite face caméra ce qu’il n’aime ou n’aime pas, un style que l’on retrouvera dans Amélie Poulain.

La collaboration avec Caro continue avec un premier long-métrage, Delicatessen (1991). Dans un monde étrange (en guerre ?), un jeune homme est engagé comme concierge dans un immeuble où le boucher fait la loi. On ne sort quasiment pas de l’immeuble, en tous cas pas dans les rues qui restent désespérément vides, ce qui donne à nouveau une atmosphère de huis-clos oppressante. Le film est sympathique, et on trouve déjà l’atmosphère ou les personnages caricaturaux que l’on retrouvera régulièrement dans les films suivants. Au niveau des acteurs : Dominique Pinon, Rufus, Ticky Holgado qui eux aussi retrouveront très souvent le réalisateur.
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Puis, en 1995 sort le deuxième long métrage de “Caro-Jeunet”, comme on les appelle. La cité des enfants perdus ; du grand art. Dans une ville portuaire étrange, des enfants disparaissent régulièrement. Un grand taciturne se lie d’amitié avec une jeune gamine, qui à son tour disparaît ; il part alors à sa recherche. L’histoire est presque secondaire à côté de l’atmosphère sublime de ce film ; encore des “gueules” parmi les personnages, des couleurs géniales, et un côté un peu steampunk qui n’est pas pour me déplaire. Le film fait un carton, notamment aux États-Unis, et ce n’est sans doute pas un hasard si le jeu vidéo de 2007, Bioshock, est si proche en ambiance, couleurs, et décors.
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C’est la fin de la collaboration de Caro et Jeunet. Je ne sais pas pourquoi. Caro, qui apportait toute l’ambiance fantastique des films, retournera dans l’ombre : une ou deux collaborations artistiques à des films (Vidocq et Blueberry), un album aux huma… Début 2008, il réalise Dante 01, science-fiction à la française. Sorti à peu près en même temps qu’Eden Log (lui réalisé par Franck Vestiel), qui est sur le même marché et du même scénariste (Pierre Bordage), les deux films ne marchent pas bien, à ma connaissance. Dommage. Fleur.

1997 ; Jeunet, un peu pour rigoler, postule alors à l’appel à candidature pour réaliser le prochain Alien : la résurrection. Sans doute porté par le succès de la cité.., il décroche le rôle. Dan Boyle et Peter Jackson étaient également pressentis ; et pour info, le script du film est de.. Joss Whedon ! Comparer les Aliens est difficile, chacun porte la marque de son réalisateur : Ridley Scott, James Cameron, David Fincher (même s’il renie son enfant car il n’a pas eu le dernier mot sur la réalisation) ; et celui de Jeunet ne déroge pas à la règle : outre sa réalisation, sa maîtrise des couleurs, Jeunet emporte avec lui ses acteurs fétiches (dont Pinon) et les gens avec lesquels il travaille régulièrement, comme Pitof pour les effets spéciaux.
En 2007, on lui proposera à nouveau de réaliser un blockbuster, mais il refusera (parce qu’il a trop peu de marge de manœuvre dans la réalisation) : Harry Potter et l’ordre du Phoenix !

Devenu riche (je déconne), ayant arrêté sa collaboration avec Caro-l’ambiance-fantastique, Jeunet se lance alors dans LE film qu’il veut faire depuis longtemps, dans SON style, celui que l’on trouve dans son court Foutaises par exemple : Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (2001). Je pense qu’on peut dire que ce film a marqué la France. A mon avis plus que les chtis, mais pourtant c’était le même phénomène : sans qu’on s’y attende, les entrées ne cessent d’augmenter, et les gens vont le voir deux, trois fois… (Et contrairement au chtis, ce n’est pas du nivellement par le bas, et personne ne ressort déçu, mais je m’égare :p).  Soutenu par la musique de Yann Tiersen, dont le cousin était mon prof d’histoire en seconde, mais je sens que vous vous en foutez, le film va bouleverser des milliers de gens, touchés par cette histoire d’amour, cette narration hors du commun, et cette héroïne un peu gauche qui attache tant d’importance aux petits détails du quotidien. “Elle ramasse son sucre avec le doigt, comme _MOI_”. Et c’est aussi le début d’Audrey Tautou, dont à mon avis le cinéma français voire mondial se serait bien passé. Je n’irai pas plus loin sur Amélie Poulain : la réalisation est superbe, et Jeunet excelle dans son art de conteur, je ne vois pas quoi dire d’autre.

En 2004, Jeunet ressort un film, Un long dimanche de fiançailles. Adapté d’un roman, une histoire d’amour qui se passe pendant la guerre de 14-18, il est attendu au tournant par la presse et le public, et à mon avis beaucoup sont déçus. Moi, je suis comblé. Ce film est tout ce que j’attendais de Jeunet (sauf Audrey Tautou) : une ambiance soignée, une belle réalisation, et un film agréable, tout en douceur, un ton calme et juste après le rouleau compresseur Amélie Poulain qui tire un peu à l’indigestion.
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Après un temps d’absence, Jeunet remet ça : Micmacs à tire-larigot. Annoncé et attendu depuis plusieurs années, il sortira dans les salles la semaine prochaine. Tourné avant les chtis, le rôle principal est tenu par Dany Boon, dans un rôle dans un sens similaire, et j’espère qu’on ne lui reprochera pas ça (soyons clair, on le lui reprochera). D’autres acteurs habituels : Pinon, Moreau, Dussolier, Marielle…
Je ne vous en dirai pas plus parce que :
-je ne l’ai pas vu car je ne suis pas encore invité aux avant-premières
-je ne lis rien sur les films que je vais voir _avant_ de les avoir vu
-la critique de ce film fera sans doute l’objet d’un prochain article par un de mes collaborateurs ^^

Dante 01

Outro dia recebi por e-mail uma dessas listas de piores filmes. Este “Dante 01″ estava lá. Fui ver do que se tratava, descobri que é dirigido pelo Marc Caro, que fez, nos anos 90, em parceria com Jean-Pierre Jeunet, dois filmes que gosto muito, “Delicatessen” e “Ladrão de Sonhos”. Como assim, um cara que fez dois filmes muito legais ter dirigido um filme digno de estar numa lista de piores? Baixei o filme para ver qualé.

“Dante 01″ mostra uma prisão numa estação espacial, na órbita de um planeta distante. É uma prisão experimental, onde psiquiatras fazem experiências em presos perigosos. Uma nova médica chega com um novo tratamento, baseado em nanotecnologia. Junto com ela, chega um novo prisioneiro, com misteriosos poderes.

No elenco, temos Lambert Wilson, o Merovigian de “Matrix” 2 e 3, como o prisioneiro misterioso, e, claro, Dominique Pinon, que estava em “Delicatessen” e “Ladrão de Sonhos”, e também nos outros filmes de Jeunet, “Alien 4″, “O Fabuloso Destino de Amelie Poulan” e “Eterno Amor”.

O clima do filme é bem interessante, claustrofóbico, todo dentro da estação espacial. As cores e os ângulos inusitados lembram o estilo dos filmes anteriores de Caro. Tudo funciona bem por quase todo o filme.

Mas… O filme está presente em listas de piores filmes por um bom motivo. Tudo anda muito bem, até que, de repente, uns dez minutos antes do final, o filme se perde completamente. Sei lá o que aconteceu, me parece que a produção deve ter tido problemas e não terminaram o filme como era previsto. Eventos inexplicados acontecem, rola uma certa psicodelia na tela e uma narração tenta explicar o que era pra ter acontecido pelas imagens.

Não recomendo o filme. Só para aqueles que não se importam em ver algo sem fim…

Moon | Duncan Jones, 2009

Despite the scope and relative newness of the science fiction genre, it seems today increasingly unlikely that any new addition to it can exist without drawing heavily from its predecessors. Of course, most of the great and/or successful Sci-fi films have their roots in the efforts that came before them – The Matrix can thank Dark City, which can in turn thank Blade Runner – but most of them branched out in some way so as to defy convention. Recent additions to the genre such as Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, Joss Whedon’s Serenity or Marc Caro’s Dante 01 have all paraded their ambitious nature yet ultimately barely challenged the genre or indeed their viewers. Moon, the new film from David Bowie’s son Duncan Jones (a connection he wishes to play down despite its obvious advantages) falls squarely into this new and lacklustre group – a group that in general isn’t afraid to pilfer elements from more iconic Sci-fi films yet often stumbles when choosing its own direction. Moon doesn’t hide its striking similarities to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, either, and instead almost plays up this obvious influence. The film centers around a talented young astronaut named Sam Bell, played by Sam Rockwell, as he nears the end of a 3-year solo contract overseeing affairs on one of Lunar Industries’ moon stations. As the date of his return journey looms closer, Sam’s loneliness finally begins to take its toll in the form of vivid hallucinations that cause him to crash his roaming lunar vehicle and consequently slip into unconsciousness. Upon waking from this sleep, Sam unwittingly discovers the terrible truth about his job and his very existence.

Sam Rockwell’s character, Sam, is joined on his lonely lunar outpost by a talking robot named GERTY – voiced by Kevin Spacey – who we are encouraged to mistrust from the very beginning. Spacey utilises his best monotone voice (last heard in David Fincher’s Se7en) to turn GERTY into the film’s only sinister element, and thus drives home what is perhaps the most striking of all the film’s 2001 traits – artificial intelligence turned evil and the Big Brother effect. As with all the potentially interesting themes it deals with, however, Moon doesn’t address this particular idea with much conviction – the sinister robot idea is used to breed mistrust and aid suspense but little more than that. The film takes on such broad and important subjects as human psychology, the negative effects of solitude, perils of cloning, and idea of artificial human memories in a similarly shallow and blasé manner, as if these topics are mere products of the plot rather than doors to rooms that can be explored further. Moon also goes out of its way to exhibit more glaring plot-holes than you can shake a stick of Rockwell’s favourite gum at: why, with the international reputation of Lunar Industries at stake, was Sam allowed to contact Earth so easily and then leave at a moment’s notice, ready to spill his employer’s secrets to the world? We’ll never know the answer to such a question. It should be noted that I’m a fan of Rockwell’s work and am glad that he’s finally being considered/considering himself for leading roles, but if anything this performance only highlights his lack of range rather than convince us he’s actually growing as an actor.

Our Rating:

The film is set in an post-apocalyptic apartment building in France in an unknow time period. The story surrounds the tenants of the apartment building and their desperate bids to survive. A newly arrived tenant arrives to replace a tenant whose reason for departure is initially unclear. The butcher, Clapet, is the leader of the apartment who strives to keep control and balance in the apartment.

When I first watched this film I felt like I personally owed the director. So much time and effort went into producing it ,from the story line to the sound track and the sounds it is all synchronised and choreographed beautifully.

Directed By: Marc Caro

Written By: Marc Caro & Pierre Bordage

Cinematography By: Jean Poisson

Editor: Linda Attib & Sebastien Prangere

CAST: Lambert Wilson, Doninique Pinion, Lin Dan Pham, Francois Hadji-Lazaro

It’s probably me but I am getting a little tired of these science fiction films that have some sort of religious allegory. I understand that space is the final frontier but for a certain number of films it seems like it is also some sort of spiritual netherworld where your soul can go any which way and once you are stripped of peers you reveal your true self of maybe it just feels that way. 

Don’t forget this is a French film a culture that loves philosophy.

The film is a visual feast the images are burned into your brin with a number of memorable sequences. But as a whole I can’t say that I loved it or even liked it it is more a film that is great in theory then follow through. It would have been great with a better story that could have been a little easier to follow.

Thi is one of the first films I have seen directed by Marc Caro. Who for years made films with his directing partner Jean Pierre-Jenut together they made the films DELICATESSEN and THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN both masterpieces but after that jean Pierre seemed to branch off on his own and marc I’m guessing is making his comeback or trying to start his own reputation of talent with this film.

The story involves a Space station that has taken the supposed worst prisoners on earth who have signed up to be test subjects for experimental procedures and drugs until one day a unknown passenger is taken aboard and slowly starts to heal all of them it gets a lot more confusing after that. But it is a film that I don’t think anyone will agree on it’s a film that leaves a lot to the audience and there belief system. Sort of like the film DONNIE DARKO but this film is more hardcore and less sweet then that film.

Some Scenes are hard to make out because of the dark lighting but at least he brings one of the actors him and his ex partner like to put in all of there films Domonique pinion

I can’t entirely suggest this film but if you are looking for a more experimental film in a traditional genre setting I would suggest this one.

 GRADE: C-

Adapted from the novel by Jeanne DuPrau and directed by Gil Kenan (Monster House), City of Ember is a family orientated science-fiction/fantasy about an underground city powered by a dying generator. While trying to save the generator, teenagers Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan from Atonement) and Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway from Control) discover that the inhabitants of Ember were supposed to have returned to the surface long ago. However, the city’s corrupt officials have a vested interest in keeping such information quiet.

There aren’t too many original ideas for fans of the genre and the climatic scenes lack a sense of urgency but by being such a visually exciting film, City of Ember compensates for these faults. Its wondrous steampunk production design evokes the films of Terry Gilliam (Brazil and Twelve Monkeys) and Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children).

Tim Robbins, Bill Murray and Martin Landau lead a terrific supporting cast and the idea of a society where the younger generation are fighting for a future that the older generation have either given up on, deny or wish to prevent for personal gain, is timely.

Originally appeared in The Big Issue, No. 318, 2008

© Thomas Caldwell, 2008

Uno de los directores que ya es un clásico de los más interesantes del cine francés es, sin duda, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, creador de delicias para los que, como la que escribe, disfrutan con ese cine “oscurito“, pero al que le exigimos cierta dosis de imaginación, talento y originalidad. Poco antes de su genial “Delicatesen“, que fue la primera película del director junto a su inseparable Marc Caro, Jeunet dirige en solitario este cortometraje (entre otros) en el que ya se vislumbran las bases de su cine posterior: ese característico estilo narrativo y visual que impregna a sus personajes del particular mundo de fobias e imaginería del que Jeunet consigue dotarlos.

Todos estos ingredientes se hallan en este corto, rodado en 1989, en blanco y negro, cuyo protagonista no es otro que el que posteriormente se convertiría en su actor fetiche, Dominique Pinon, con guión del propio Jeunet en colaboración con Bruno Delbonnel, quien con los años será otro de sus inseparables.

Un cortometraje que merece la pena revisar porque, además de entretenido, presenta una curiosa y elaborada fotografía, y maneja con asombrosa soltura las ideas propias del personaje con insólitos efectos de cámara; ingredientes que le convierten en una joya del pequeño formato a la que, el hecho ser corta, no le resta calidad o la hace menos importante.

Delicatessen

In a post-apocalyptic world, the residents of an apartment above the butcher shop receive an occasional delicacy of meat, something that is in low supply. A young man new in town falls in love with the butcher’s daughter, which causes conflicts in her family, who need the young man for other business-related purposes.

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C’era una volta Marc Caro, che in coppia con Jean-Pierre Jeunet, co-dirigeva film come “Delicatessen” e “La Città dei Bambini Perduti”. Ma per questo Dante 01, Caro torna alla regia en solitaire, scegliendo (ancora) un soggetto di genere fantascientifico, dimostrando così di rimanere affezionato a tematiche ed atmosfere ricorrenti nel suo percorso artistico.

Nella prigione di massima sicurezza Dante 01, arrivano con un volo interstellare una nuova ricercatrice ed un detenuto sopravissuto all’incontro con un’entità aliena che lo ha profondamente cambiato. Nessuno comprende cosa stia accadendo, ma Saint-George (interpretato da Lambert Wilson, il Merovingio della trilogia di Matrix) sembra delirare in una dimensione sensoriale differente. Incapace di parlare, di deambulare, è preda di visioni incomprensibili. Ma il resto dei detenuti vedrà in lui una sorta di redentore spirituale non appena scopriranno il “potere speciale” di cui è in possesso.

A metà tra “Alien Resurrection”, “Matrix” e “Il Cubo”, il film solo inizialmente sembra l’ennesima versione grottesca e surreale (come lo era “Delicatessen”) in salsa sci-fi, in particolare per il look glabro di tutti i protagonisti, le atmosfere consuete da dark movie e l’utilizzo dell’attore feticcio Dominique Pinon, ma in realtà bastano pochi minuti per realizzare che Caro questa volta ha alzato il tiro, e affidandosi a simbolismi e allegorie, gira un film intimista e quasi metafisico. Una pellicola che nel suo percorso filosofico si spinge addirittura alla citazione di “2001 Odissea Nello Spazio”.
Tutti i detenuti hanno nomi ispirati alle credenze religiose e l’astronave-prigione su cui viaggiano (non per coincidenza, evidentemente) ha la forma della croce cristiana. Purtroppo però molti risvolti della sceneggiatura rimangono oscuri, non aiutati da un costrutto narrativo che (non si capisce se volontariamente o no) si fa troppo ermetico, lasciando freddi. 
Alcune sequenze oniriche non sono prive di fascino, ma manca la mano sapiente che sappia far calare nella storia, coinvolgendo ed emozionando lo spettatore. E il messaggio filosofico si perde tra sequenze interessanti ad altre più ostiche e noiose. 

Una sorta di opera incompiuta, graziata dall’usuale bravura registica di Caro che muove con sapienza la macchina da presa tra angusti e claustrofobici corridoi, ma che scricchiola e implode sotto al peso delle velleità fin troppo ambiziose della sceneggiatura. Peccato.

Ron Perlman as Hellboy

I am so going to see this on the big screen,can’t wait.

I want to see this for many reasons,

1:It’s Hellboy II!

2:It’s Hellboy II

3:Its got Ron Perlman in it,the man is a superb actor.

4 :Its a Guillermo del Toro film,the man is a genius.

Does four reasons count as ‘many’?…it does in my book,even if there are only three.
If your a stranger to either Del Toro or Perlman,you should have a look at some of their films..Perlman is one of my favourite actors,he’s brilliant in the much maligned Alien Resurrection and in the dreamlike City Of Lost Children directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro.
Del Toro directed the equally dreamlike and multi-layered Pan’s Labyrinth,the first Hellboy movie and Blade II.
If you visit the Official Site,there’s trailers to watch,downloads etc etc

Dante 01 ( 2008 ) Fragman, Trailer, Teaser, Fragmanı, Sinema, Vizyondaki Filmler, Sinemalar, Sinema Fragman

A Cidade das Crianças Perdidas
“La Cité des Enfants Perdus”
(1995 – 108m)
M/12

SINOPSE: O maléfico Krank e os seus companheiros foram criados por um cientista louco. O problema de Krank é que ele vive atormentado pela sua incapacidade de sonhar. Acha então que o melhor é roubar os sonhos das crianças, mas como as assusta acaba por lhes tirar os pesadelos. Quando o irmãozinho de um homem-forte do circo é raptado, este (One) persegue-o e com a ajuda de outras excêntricas personagens, tenta acabar com o reinado do malvado Kronk e o seu exército de ciclopes.

REALIZADORES: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

INTÉRPRETES: Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork, Judith Vittet, Dominique Pinon, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Geneviève Brunet, Odile Mallet, Mireille Mossé.

LIGAÇÕES:
IMDB

Crítica em português

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