Voila, parlez vous francias? Did I spell that correctly?
Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Jeunet; 2001) [France]
...or, "Amelie" as some others may know the film. If you don't know the plot, check imdb.com because I can't be bothered writing it out here.
Audrey Tatou is such a terrific casting choice for this film. She has the ability to pull of a sense of innocence and curiosity within Amelie, but is able to portray her strengths at the same time. It may sound easy, but it isn't, and only a handful of actors/actresses can pull it off well. Given the fantastic nature of the film's storyline and cinematography, her ability to pull something like this off works very well in conjuction with the rest of the plot. The wacky and unusual characters, blah blah blah.
The rest of the cast is fine. I particularly liked Serge Merlin.
And yes, Audrey. I forgive you for the Da Vinci Code.
Jeunet, or rather, Bruno Delbonnel, keeps a fantastic tone throughout the film, lacing the frames with either red or green. Amelie's costumes are either red or green, her apartment is laced with these colours. I suspect the camera filters have a green tinge to them as well. This method gives the cinematography a very concise and particular sense of vision and coherency - traits a film like this absolutely requires, or it just comes across as way, way too much and ruins the blend between exaggerated detail and keeping a simple story.
But what I really enjoy about this film, is that Jeunet isn't afraid to grab the viewer's attention through an unusual narrative style. I mean, from the get-go, this film is just different. He makes the ordinary, extraordinary. E.g., each character's likes and dislikes are described from the beginning. Jeunet exposes the gritty detail of a film so much that it almost reads as a book. The editing during this "prologue", if you will, is snappy enough that it keeps our attention, but is lengthy enough between shots to give us enough breathing room to soak it all in. Which is essential, given the colour tone theme I wrote about earlier. This film is about the micro, but Jeunet puts a lot in to admire.
And that's all I can be bothered writing.
5/5
...or, "Amelie" as some others may know the film. If you don't know the plot, check imdb.com because I can't be bothered writing it out here.
Audrey Tatou is such a terrific casting choice for this film. She has the ability to pull of a sense of innocence and curiosity within Amelie, but is able to portray her strengths at the same time. It may sound easy, but it isn't, and only a handful of actors/actresses can pull it off well. Given the fantastic nature of the film's storyline and cinematography, her ability to pull something like this off works very well in conjuction with the rest of the plot. The wacky and unusual characters, blah blah blah.
The rest of the cast is fine. I particularly liked Serge Merlin.
And yes, Audrey. I forgive you for the Da Vinci Code.
Jeunet, or rather, Bruno Delbonnel, keeps a fantastic tone throughout the film, lacing the frames with either red or green. Amelie's costumes are either red or green, her apartment is laced with these colours. I suspect the camera filters have a green tinge to them as well. This method gives the cinematography a very concise and particular sense of vision and coherency - traits a film like this absolutely requires, or it just comes across as way, way too much and ruins the blend between exaggerated detail and keeping a simple story.
But what I really enjoy about this film, is that Jeunet isn't afraid to grab the viewer's attention through an unusual narrative style. I mean, from the get-go, this film is just different. He makes the ordinary, extraordinary. E.g., each character's likes and dislikes are described from the beginning. Jeunet exposes the gritty detail of a film so much that it almost reads as a book. The editing during this "prologue", if you will, is snappy enough that it keeps our attention, but is lengthy enough between shots to give us enough breathing room to soak it all in. Which is essential, given the colour tone theme I wrote about earlier. This film is about the micro, but Jeunet puts a lot in to admire.
And that's all I can be bothered writing.
5/5
posted by CelestialScribe | 11:00 PM
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