Change Your Image
ajharper-2
Reviews
Les invasions barbares (2003)
I was surprised that, by the end of the film, I had softened my attitude towards Remy and several of the other characters.
At the beginning of the film I felt very unsympathetic towards Remy. I felt he was merely a self-centered old womanizer whose biggest claim to fame was that he had seduced so many of the students he purported to have "professored". I could totally identify with the scorn shown by his estranged son, but also could identify with the concern of the ex-wife because of my own personal experience with both situations. I feel that the director has done an excellent job of merging all the emotions and differences among all the characters and leaving me with a feeling of properly "finished business". My only problem is that I did not see the original film, so I have next to no idea what the title is all about.
Festival in Cannes (2001)
I don't remember when I have cared less...
I don't remember a movie where I have cared less about where the characters have come from, what happens to them or where they are going. I realize that Hollywood's greatest pastime is navel-gazing, but these people are either too despicable or too boring to take up time with. For what it's worth, though, the discussion that followed the showing, under the auspices of the Key Sunday Cinema series, did make allowance that possibly the three women did show some redeeming characteristics. I disagree.
Chocolat (2000)
Following in the great tradition of sensual food movies
I thoroughly enjoyed Chocolat. And I consider myself a very critical viewer. But occasionally I enjoy a beautifully executed "puff" piece, and I am a real devotee of food movies. Just thinking about all that chocolate immediately triggers all those "feel-good" neuro-transmiters that I love to eat for, and I'm perfectly willing to overlook quirks in the plot and the casting as a result. I came away from this film feeling more Christmas spirit than any Ho-Ho-Ho's have ever been able to rouse in me, and I felt sorry for the two or three people in our discussion group (I saw it as part of the Key Cinema Series with an after filming discussion)who detested it. Made me wonder what they like for turn-ons.