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claudette-flint
Reviews
Babel (2006)
Three fascinating stories providing entertainment and food for thought.
When a film has extremely good and extremely bad reviews, it's bound to be original, controversial and certainly not politically correct. When I went to see the film, I was slightly apprehensive. In fact it was 2 hours of sheer enjoyment. The film is three stories taking place far away from each other but linked: one in Mexico, one is Marocco and one in Japan.Those who did not like the film and/or did not understand it wrote spoiling reviews that reveal every thing in a boring way. All along the film, you know something wrong is going to happen to the characters but it is never what you expected! There is no fairy like happy ending but neither the tragic ending one thinks necessary for a great film. Despite what some critics said, the endings are 'natural'. I think it is also one of those films who make the spectator aware of the human conditionÂ… of the others! The cinema, in general, has gone too far in sheer entertainment and nothing else. BABEL is entertainment and food for thought. All along I was asking myself " Why?Â…How?Â…Where?Â…Who?..No!Â…Yes!!!! And the puzzle comes into place with the answers: sheer pleasure and mind broadening. Saying any more would ruin these unpredictable stories. Oh I forgot, the acting is outstanding. Ought to be seen on big screen to get maximum emotion. And if it had Ennio Moricone's music, it would have been a master piece!
Mon meilleur ami (2006)
You are told you have no friends. You don't believe it and want to prove the opposite. You didn't expect the challenge would be so tough!
I'll be brief because I doubt if Britain or US will see it before long. I saw it in France. It is the latest Patrice Leconte's film. This film comes after L'Homme du Train and is called MON MEILLEUR AMI (My Best Friend). Daniel Auteuil is an antique dealer who has no friend. His business partner challenges him to find a single friend. The most refreshing feature of this film is its total lack of political correctness (but is there any PC French among my compatriots?) They all say what they think without a second thought and this generates delightful dialogues full of Gallic humour and embarrassingly funny situations. What's more, this desperate quest for a friend and Auteuil trying to define friendship, make you ask yourself uncomfortable questions about your own friends!
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
The Perfume: how a genius nose can lead you to Heaven and Hell...on earth
This film was run down before it came out. One critic said the voice off exasperated him. So I went into the cinema expecting the rubbish of the year. I was exasperated but not by the film, but by the people who condemned it, because someone dares to touch their favourite book; because they can't face or admit it is a very good film, because it is the intellectual fashion to run down some kinds of films. Tom Tykwer managed to recreate the dark side of the atmosphere of the XVIIth century (17th) in France; then you understand how it could have produced a "creature" like JB Grenouille. I had for him the same compassion and pity I had for Gollum: human beings growing without any love but with great intelligence or power. The voice over felt normal, even necessary as it is a tale after all: the tale of the perfume that will make you control the world through love. The black magic operated by the story is that you can't help being on the side of Evil. Some scenes seem to come out of a Dutch or a Jerome Bosch's painting. The thing I found odd, but this is personal, is the film speaking English with French subtitles whereas the story takes place in France! It is an interpretation of the book and I found it original, quite faithful, as disturbing as the story and definitely worth seeing. I could not have done better ;-)
Callas Forever (2002)
The last 40 days of Maria Callas
I've just seen one of those films that will never come in ordinary cinemas unfortunately. LA CALLAS FOR EVER with Jeremy Iron and Fanny Ardant. It was soooooo beautiful, moving and sometimes funny. I don't like opera and yet I enjoyed it for the first time. I am going to buy some opera extracts on CD!!! J. Iron is an underestimated actor. He is even better than his role! In this film he is a gay producer and he plays the part of the homosexual with such a finesse and distinction that one feels homosexuality must be a refinment (rafinement?)of the personality. Fanny Ardant is a typical passionate diva who can bring tears of love or anger to your eyes. At the end of the film someone in the cinema said "It's a bit too self-indulgent"!!!!! What a stupid comment! That's one of the things people want at the cinema! A cocktail of emotions you are not likely to get every week in your own life!
Blind Flight (2003)
An entertaining film where you learn a lot without realising it.
How to convey five years captivity in one hour and a half with the whole range of contradictory feelings. This is what Blind Flight is about: Beirut 1985, the true story of Keenan and McCarthy kidnapped by a militant Muslim fundamentalist group. One expects immediately a vision of "baddies V Goodies" but the film is a lot more subtle and fairer than that. The Muslim guardians, despite their violence (Lebanon was in a state of war), remain human, and not stereotyped. In fact they appear as victims of politics and in the same time they reproduce the system they are fighting. What is remarkable is the way John Furse maintains your interest throughout an almost static film; for instance one of the kidnapper is proud to show them his new born baby but he is also proud of his new kalachnikof. The film is intelligent, moving, funny and thought provoking. My thought was "what would I do in their place?". McCarthy and Keenan give us a lesson of courage and wisdom we have been longing for for decades. They don't save the world, they broaden its mind by undergoing the kind of test that enlightens what is important in life.
We were very lucky to meet John Furse the director and McCarthy at the end of the show. They were as genuine, interesting and lucid as their film. John Furse's talent makes me look forward for his next film.