The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos (2009)

basics...
A documentary from the recently created Disneynature brand, the film focuses on the lives of the unusual lesser flamingos of the Lake Natron in Tanzania.

brilliant...
Part documentary, part nature-porn, with a life-span narrative to hang it all on, Crimson Wing started out slow with lots of pretty shots of landscapes and soon became an enveloping, pleasurable experience, combining the silky tones of Mariella Frostrup's poetic narration with stunning photography and genuinely interesting creatures. These flamingos fly back to Natron every year to breed - what's weird is that Natron is incredibly salty and not much survives here, yet the flamingos build nests from the salt and bring up their chicks on it. This leads to some of the chicks' downfall as they wander about in the water, get coated in salty crud which then hardens on dry land, weighing them down like concrete ugg boots and leaving them prey to various carnivores. There's less information here than in an Attenborough documentary and the pace is more relaxed, with a quirky soundtrack that makes Crimson Wing stand out as more than just a documentary about pink birds. The images of running flamingos was rivettingly hypnotic and awe-inspiring.

but...
There's an argument to be made that the flowery script is too airy fairy at times, and that more importance is given to the lives of the flamingos than is appropriate. And sometimes the images are not just nature-porn wonderous but computer wallpaper placeholders. I find it a bit odd that this is being released by Disney as there's nothing particularly Disnified about it, it's a UK/US/French co-production with the Disney name slapped on the DVD box. Although honestly, would I have picked this up if it hadn't?

briefly...
An uplifting, beautiful story of a surprisingly fascinating creature and its equally intriguing habitat.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010)

basics...
A French action-comedy-drama-fantasy-sci-fi hybrid based on a comic book series, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec shares sees our titular heroine going all Tomb Raider in early twentieth century Egypt before chasing a pteradactyl around Paris in the search for a cure to revive her tragically-injured sister.

brilliant...
There's nothing that extraordinary or adventurous about this film, other than the opening 15 minutes in Egypt, which borrows liberally from Indiana Jones and director Luc Besson's own The Fifth Element. It's an exciting beginning, preceded by a typically French prologue featuring narration that wouldn't be out of place in Amelié. Where the movie comes into its own is when Adèle returns to her home town, Paris, to find her one hope for saving her sister's life, a barmy professor, is being put to death for unwittingly bringing a prehistoric monster back to life which is now terrorising the city's residents. What follows is a quirky, oddly subdued and suprisingly emotional tale of sisterly love and unfortunate coincidence, backed up by some amusing fish-out-of-water comedy moments from a revived Pharoah and his minions. Wacky, inventive and with a particularly gallic Besson sensibility, Blanc-Sec is a charming movie, with a plucky, interesting heroine at the centre of it all. 

but...
It seems churlish to complain that the film is not adventurous enough, but the title promises more than the film delivers - this is no country-hopping travelogue movie, but it certainly whets the appetite for any possible further adventures. I didn't really need to see Louise Bourgoin's boobs though, as pretty as they were. 

briefly...
Not reaching the dizzy heights of confection that made Amelié dazzle, Adèle Blanc-Sec's Diverting Adventure is still more exciting and inventive than many of its peers.

Hugo (2011) & The Artist (2011)

basics...
I have decided that were I able to travel back in space and time to any period, I'd choose to go back to twenties Hollywood to witness the spectacle of the movies - the birth of sound, of animation, Walt Disney, a time when movie stars were Stars, not celebrities, when they retained a mystique and weren't like mere mortals like you or I. And through Hugo and The Artist, two critically acclaimed movies set around the period I'm talking about, my dream came true, for a few hours at a time at least. 

Hugo is an atypical Martin Scorcese fantasy about a young boy (Asa Butterfield) who lives in a Paris train station with a broken clockwork man for company. Through his friendship with Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz) he discovers silent-movie pioneer George Mélies (Sir Ben Kinglsey) working in his station.

The Artist is a French-made movie set in Hollywood, in black and white, full-screen, and silent. They really don't make them like that anymore! The stars and director of the OSS 117 spoofs reunite to create a film that doesn't parody early silent movies, rather it celebrates the ingenuity of the form and uses the same story-telling devices to construct a plot akin to Singin' in the Rain (talkies coming along to make silent stars redundant) that still manages to feel fresh and involving in a world of CGI and special effects.

brilliant...
Both movies are utterly magical - but I'd have to say that Hugo was suprisingly the one I found most enjoyable. Hugo looks beautiful, the train station set is gorgeous and Scorcese's camera-work, even in 2D, is breath-taking. Butterfield and Moretz are charming and surrounded by some fantastic English actors, including Kinglsey and Richard Griffiths, and the fantastic 'villain' played by Sacha Baron Cohen, who turns out to actually have a heart in a very real way. Once the young protagonist discovers who Mélies is, or was, the movie becomes more than an adventurous fantasy and turns into a love-letter to the filmmakers of the early 20th Century, and the whole thing becomes even more magical and exciting. 

The Artist is less about spectacle and history than it is proof that special effects do not make a movie more exciting, and that you don't need a honed speech to present emotion on screen. A lot of plaudits have been given to Jean Dujardin for his star turn as George Valentin, yet the person who made the film come alive even more than he is the stunning Bérénice Bejo as superbly named Peppy Miller. Every moment she is on screen is a sheer joy, there is so much enthusiasm and warmth emanating from her. Together, Dujardin and Bejo are a formidable double-act, and they are complemented by brilliant mime-work from James Cromwell and John Goodman. There are some ingeniuous sequences, including one of Valentin's dreams in which he can hear sound effects but not speak, and the final frenetic tap number. A clip of Safety Last! is shown at one point, with the audience reacting to the tense yet funny aspect of the final climbing scene, and the spirit of this edge-of-the-seat emotion that early movies strived for is replicated in the potentially bleak final act of The Artist. I really wasn't sure if either lead character would survive. It was nice too that the movie shied away from a traditional romance - Valentin never really reciprocates the adoration that Miller feels for her hero, and this is to the film's credit and it's ability to subvert expectation.

briefly...
Two beacons of originality and creativity in a medium awash with remakes, star-vehicles and trash, Hugo and The Artist are easily the best movies I've seen or expect to see for some time.

The Name of the Rose (1986)

basics...
A curious movie, set in the 1300's, in which monk William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) and his novice Adso (Christian Slater) find themselves in an abbey where a series of murders seems to be linked to a mysterious book. 

brilliant...
I've not seen a film quite like The Name of the Rose. It has a serious crime story coupled with comedy from Sir Sean, alongside a host of grotesque supporting turns from the likes of Ron Perlman's hunchback, with a bit of sex and gore thrown in. Oh and there's a great sequence within the labyrinthe passages and MC Escher-like stairways within the abbey. Somehow these disperate elements combine to form an intriguing whole. The mystery works for the most part, although the revelation of how the murders have been committed and why isn't particularly exciting. The film looks pretty stunning, with the German and Italian countryside doing a good job alongside the massive sets to make Rose look gritty, cold and fairly grim. 17 year old Slater looks mighty fine, despite the pudding bowl haircut, in a completely unnecessary seducation scene too. 

but...
Connery keeps his Scottish burr, Slater is American, and the other monks spout a variety of European accents. This is a bit jarring, particularly as Shir Shean plays everything with an effortless grin which makes his investigations look all too easy. There were some rather unpleasant effects involving blood and guts too. 

briefly...
An oddly likable movie with some neat ideas and authentic-seeming settings, even if the accents are a bit wide ranging.

Parlez-moi de la pluie / Let's Talk About the Rain (2008)

basics...

Billed as a French 'comedy' alongside a 4/5 star review in Radio Times, Let's Talk About the Rain was a typically leisurely comedy-drama where very little happened. A young guy and his mentor decide to make a film about strong women, and interview a local political candidate. 

brilliant...

Certain bits of the film were funny. And the scenery was beautiful. There was some really good character work as well - which is a good job as there was little plot. 

but...

Less pretentious and navel-gazey than a lot of French fare, Rain was still ponderous, plotless and ultimately pointless. The main thing you take away is 'was that it?'. And to bill this as a comedy is stretching things a bit. More like a drama with a few funny lines. 

briefly...

A missable movie whose title is as divorced from the story as the laughs.

OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions / OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006)

Another one of those 'pot luck' movies, that I recorded knowing little about other than the Radio Times star rating and description, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies was yet another success! A spot-on hilarious spoof of sixties spy drama, James Bond being a particular 'victim', although the source material is a real 'OSS 117' adventure, a French movie from the same period. This I learned after seeing the film, while I watched I figured it was Sean Connery's Bond they were spoofing because that's my cultural reference point!

Played much straighter than Austin Powers spoofery, OSS 117 sees Jean Dujardin play Agent Jack Jefferson as he is tasked with, among other things, solving peace in the middle East, and he travels to Egypt to do so. Dujardin could easily play a straight French Bond, he's the definition of Connery in the sixties, although his performance is aided by cinematography that makes the whole film look fifty years old. The 60's feel continues in the use of grainy rear projection footage when Jack drives anywhere. 

Jack is such a preening poseur he could be unlikable, but the whole thing is packed with a real love for the source material, and the scipt is peppered with sub-Roger Moore level one liners. The treatment of women, the casual mysogeny of Connery's Bond, is mimicked and shown up, while Jack's lack of knowledge about the cultures he mixes in (at one point he beats up a Muslim calling others to prayer as he's disturbing his sleep) is not just funny, it provides comment on the situation the world finds it in now, with invading Western armies involved in Iraq and Afghanistan and finding a cultural mismatch. 

The film had me laughing all the way through, and marked Dujardin out as a (French)man to watch. There's a sequel out there, Lost in Rio, which I'll have to hunt down. If it's anywhere near as good as this one I'm in for a treat, as Cairo, Nest of Spies is easily the best Bond spoof there is.

Persepolis (2007)

A French animation about the Iranian revolution, Persepolis is based on a graphic novel, an autobiographical account of Majane Satrapi's child hood during the 1970's and 80's. It's a surprisingly funny and engaging movie, given the subject matter, and rooting the tale in Satrapi's daily life makes the plot accessible and brings a needed human element. Nearly everything reported in the news nowadays about Iran is negative, so it's good to see some positivity amongst the otherwise life-changing events that surrounded the Iranian revolution and the war with Iraq. 

I know embarrassing little about the country, then and now, so it was fascinating to see from a first person perspective (kinda) what life was like. The animation doesn't create a barrier to the story, it helps tell events with a great sweep, in a way that would cost far too much for a non-Hollywood live action movie. It also doesn't shy away from depicting the hardships, sexuality and bad language that Majane experiences as she moves from childhood to teenage years through to adulthood, all the while seeing how political events impact upon her life. It's not just a political movie though, as Majane's loves and family are also included, particularly her strong grandmother, voiced by Catherine Deneuve.

Persepolis is the latest in a line of 'different' animated movies I've seen, that don't conform to Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks rules. As much as I like those big studios, it's good to see animation taken in a different direction, be it artistic or political or anything else. Persepolis might not have been as beautiful to look at as The Secret of Kells, but the black and white animation (colour for present day) really worked in the film's favour. It also strangely reinforced that events that occurred did not just exist in black and white. 

The Secret of Kells (2009)

The second animated movie co-produced in Belgium I've seen in the past few weeks, The Secret of Kells couldn't be less like A Town Called Panic. The latter was a madcap, stop-motion animated laugh-fest, whereas Kells features gorgeous 2D animation, only a few laughs, and a story about a load of monks and a book. Where the two movies compare is in how original and enjoyable they both are.

Kells looked amazing on Blu-ray, and the animation is reminiscent of book illustrations and paintings from bygone ages. I had heard of the Book of Kells, but I didn't really know what it was, and the movie doesn't do much to enlighten you, for this is a tale of the book's creation as seen through the eyes of young Brendan. According to Wikipedia, the Book is 'an illuminated manuscript and known today as one of Ireland's greatest national treasures', so there you go.

The movie opens with Brendan and an assortment of monks of different shapes, sizes and colours giving chase to a goose in order to pluck feathers for use as quill pens. So far so Disney, it particularly put me in mind of Mulan for some reason, and then Brendan later gets a feline sidekick (non-speaking though) who tags along on his adventures. Here's where the Disney comparisons end, although you could say the animation is similar to the stylised work in the opening credits of classics such as Sleeping Beauty. Kells' plot about Brendan, trapped in the Abbey of Kells by his uncle Abbot Cellach who is building high walls all around to protect the abbey from marauding Vikings (rendered as demonic, square-bodied demons, and really quite scary), and Brendan's relationship with master book artist Aidan of Iona is not exactly what dreams are made of.

Brendan does escape the walls into the forest where he meets a sprite named Aisling, who helps him to find berries to make a particular ink for the Book of Kells. Further into the movie, Brendan must find a special crystal and enters an angular world where a snake begins eating itself... It's very strange. Then the Vikings attack, killing many, and despite shooting an arrow into him and slicing him through with a sword, Abbot Cellach lives to see another day while Brendan and Aidan escape. Thinking back, there's actually not a lot of plot, and what there is centres around drawing illustrations in a book of gospel. Now, if Pixar had told the same tale in the same style, I'm sure it would have drawn crowds in millions, for Up had an unconventional old man and child pairing, with a grown up storyline, but sadly The Secret of Kells didn't have the same studios behind it.

I'm glad that I found the movie (in the pages of Empire, where I also read about Panic), as it's a beautiful piece of work. The animation is the best part of the movie, it is the artwork that grips you and pulls you into the story, and it is the stylistic appeal that would make me watch the movie again. That's not to say the story and characters have nothing to recommend them, they're all well and good, it makes sense that a movie that is all about the beautifully rendered pages of the Book of Kells should look so pretty itself.

A Town Called Panic (2009)

One of the weirdest, funniest animations I've seen all year, A Town Called Panic is a bizarre stop-motion movie co-produced by Belgium, France and Luxembourg. It sees the characters Cowboy and Indian accidentally ordering millions of bricks over the internet for their friend Horse's birthday present, undersea creatures stealing their walls, Horse having romantic feelings for music teacher Madame Longray (also a horse)... and a heck of a lot of other weirdness inbetween.

From the beginning I was laughing out loud at the quirky, jerky movements and the low-tech stop-motion. The movie's setting and population look like what a child's playtime may look like, a mish-mash of different creatures, a bit like Toy Story in that respect, but as the Empire quote on the DVD cover says 'like Toy Story on absinthe'. The film isn't just a load of craziness, there's a plot or two, including the aformentioned equine romance. Although the characters have hilarious French voices (it's a subtitled animation, not a dubbed one), farmer Stephen's being my favourite, they also have personalities and although they have no facial expressions, you can tell what the characters are feeling - mostly panic! Especially for Cowboy, the more antsy one. Cowboy and Indian share a room and are a very dim pair, like children, and Horse is in a paternal role.

A Town Called Panic is simply hilarious and an utter joy. Even the trailer, one of only a couple of DVD extras, is absolutle gold, with captions comparing the movie to other live-action classics. I hope that the pair of directors who made this go on to do more of this refreshingly original work (not just the Cravendale adverts), and that it gets released over here!

Trois Couleurs: Bleu / Three Colours: Blue (1993)

I was going to wait until we'd watched the other films in the Three Colours Trilogy, White and Red, before I posted about them, but so far we've only watched Blue and we've got loads of stuff on the DVD recorder to watch before we get round to them. 

I was looking forward to the Three Colours, as I'd read nothing but good things about them, so I was a bit disappointed when Blue turned out to be a bit, well, boring, and somewhat pretentious. That's always the danger when a foreign movie (particularly a French one!) is given high praise by critics, so I should have been ready. Juliette Binoche stars as a woman who's famous composer husband and child are killed in a car crash that she manages to walk away from, and from what I could figure out, the movie is a depiction of her grief. It typical French style though, this is done through minimal dialogue, random shots of not very much and scenes that don't seem to have much of a purpose. 

The movie did look good, and Binoche was achingly sad and I liked her performance. I have to admit that I was nodding off towards the end, never a sign that I'm really into a movie (Blade Runner had the same effect on me). I am looking forward to the next one in the trilogy, which I believe is White, as I know it's a comedy, so at least if there's not much plot, there should be some laughs.

Le Silence de Lorna / Lorna's Silence (2008)

I think that Lorna's Silence is the first Belgian movie I've ever seen. In Bruges was set there, but Lorna's Silence is set there and originated there. It stars the lovely Jérémie Renier and newcomer Arta Dobroshi, who is great as the titular Lorna. The drama involves Albanian-born Lorna, who marries Renier's drug-addicted Claudy in order to become a Belgian national, she then intends to make Claudy overdose so that, widowed, she can marry a Russian, to allow him to become a Belgian national. Money motivates Lorna to get involved with these marriages of convenience, but she unexpectedly begins to have feelings for Claudy and tries to help him kick his drug habit. This doesn't go over well with Lorna's associate, Fabio. Lorna wishes to divorce Claudy rather than have him killed, but unforunately she is unable to stop Fabio carrying out the original plan. 

The silence of the title I presume refers to how Lorna must suffer along with Fabio's plan, particularly after Claudy is unexpectedly killed off screen - the first the viewer is alerted to Claudy's death is through Lorna taking clothes to the morgue for him to be buried in. It's clear that the money that motivated Lorna and her boyfriend is not match for the emotions that her grief and guilt over Claudy awakens. This is a heavy film, with strong performances from the cast, particularly Dobroshi, who puts a lot into Lorna's silences. Naturally there is no real happy ending, and I wouldn't watch the movie again, but it was a strong, effective movie all the same. 

Micmacs (2009)

Andrew's favourtie movie is Jean-Pierre Jeunet's excellent Amelié, and I have to say it's one of mine too. He's seen all of Jeunet's work, while I've watched A Very Long Engagement and, um, Alien: Resurrection. The former is great, the latter... not so much. So we both looked forward to Jeunet's newest film, Micmacs (or Micmacs à tire-larigot as it's called in France) which we caught a couple of weeks ago at Vue. 

Micmacs is a surreal comedy-cum-heist movie, a bit like a mix between Ocean's Eleven and Amelié, although there's no robbery, the group of misfits at the heart of the film are involved in an intricate plot to get revenge on a couple of (rival) arms manufacturers. The leader of the group is Bazil (Dany Boon), a dopey looking guy who gets shot in the head before the opening credits - in a very funny, typically-Jeunet scene, the doctors operating on Bazil flip a coin to decide whether to operate or not - with the result that Bazil retains the bullet in his brain and the prospect of it killing him looms over him. This is a curious plot device as it sparks the plot of revenge, but doesn't get utilised enough over the film to make much of an impression - once or twice when stressed Bazil recites some thought exercises to prevent his brain exploding, but these are explored enough. 

Bazil's contortionist friend is a curious and flexible character, and the other misfits are a bit hit and miss, but they're all a likable bunch. The two arms dealers at the centre of the revenge plot are deliciously evil and there ultimate come-uppance is satisfying. The movie overall is not as charming as Amelié, yet it still has laughs and looks fantastic. One of the funniest in-jokes are the scenes where Bazil's van drives past billboards that depict the scene itself. Micmacs is a sweetly surreal movie with an unexpected emotional heart and message about how Western arms deals impact on the developing world.

Priceless / Hors de prix (2006)

Andrew loves Audrey Tautou and we've seen her in A Very Long Engagement (2004), Coco Before Chanel (2009), and of course the magical Amélie (2001). I think she's a wonderfully gifted actress, particularly in comedies, and she has a distinctive look that is both classy and attractive in an offbeat sort of way. There's no one quite like her in Hollywood. 

On the basis that Audrey Tautou is excellent, therefore, I bought Andrew the 2006 comedy Priceless, which looked in the posters and promos like it was a modern French take on Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). It's not though. It's utterly different, and utterly French! The plot is one I couldn't see working in a Hollywood movie - Jean (Gad Elmaleh) is a waiter who falls for Tautou's Irene, who turns out to be a con artist that finds wealthy men and bleeds them dry. Thinking that Jean is another rich picking, she flees to his arms when her latest lover throws her out. When Jean learns of her lifestyle, he joins in her game, by finding his own sugar 'mummy' to keep him in smart suits and mopeds, all the while chasing Irene to try and win her heart. 

It's an interesting concept, and when you think about it incredibly seedy! Our heroes are basically high class prostitutes, yet they're so 'French' and gorgeous with it - the movie looks simple sumptuous with the beautiful hotel locations and Tautou's wardrobe - that you forget about it and enjoy the fantasy.

While not as fantastical or imaginative as Amélie or A Very Long Engagement, and less serious than Coco Before Chanel, I enjoyed Priceless, and continue to admire Tautou's comedic ability, and the way she's not simply playing Amélie in each movie! Her co-star, Gad Elmaleh is apprently a comedian in France, and he's good, but sometimes I wasn't sure if he was being enigmatic, or just looking blank because he's not that good an actor. As this is French movie, I'm assuming it was the former! I do enjoy a French film, and this one I'd enjoy over again.

Cockles and Muscles / Crustacés et Coquillages (2005)

The clocks went back last night. Everyone says you get an extra hour in bed. If you've got a body clock like mine though, it just means you're up an hour earlier. So I used my extra hour usefully and watched the French movie, Cockles and Muscles.

I like a French movie - a lot of the ones I've seen have not much plot, but lots of interesting characters. Not to mention a liberal attitude to nudity and sexuality. I recorded this one from a graveyard showing on BBC2 last week, and it was well worth it. Why do all the good little movies get tucked away?

Cockles and Muscles is a farce of sorts, featuring an initially rather normal family on holiday on the French coast (I'm not sure where exactly). Slowly we discover that the mother is having an affair, the son (who mother suspects is gay) is straight, but his sexy best friend isn't, and maybe the father isn't either... The humour is mostly subtle and plays off the interactions of the characters as they cheat and lie about relationships and sexuality. Despite the deceit, the movie has a happy (musical) ending and there is no malice or nastiness going on. 

I particularly like that the son is happy for his parents to think he's gay, just because it pisses his dad off, and the fact that his best friend (played by the skinny but beautiful Édouard Collin, in shower on left...) yearns for his friend quite openly is lovely. Every actor is brilliant, but Valeria Bruni Tedeschi as the mother is a stand out, as is Collin. I've not seen any of these actors in anything before, but I'd happily watch them in something again. 

One of the repeated themes in the movie involves the shower, where every male character gets to have a masturbation scene! The father turns off the hot water at one point to dampen everyone's libidos, to comic effect. 

A very funny film, with a pretty cast and a nice upbeat tone that is kept up all the way til the end. A hidden gem.