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Reviews
Dédales (2003)
A great 6th Sense-style movie with a French twist!
I left the Paris theater hours ago and yet my mind is still haunted by the amazing images and sound design of this French masterpiece (far from being the typical boring and arrogant 'film d'auteur'). It's the story of Claude (played by Sylvie Testut, with a true Oscar-caliber performance here), a 25-year old mentally ill girl who happens to be France's worst ever serial killer (27 victims discovered half decomposed in the 800-year-old maze of Paris' catacombs). Her trial sentencing is pending, for the judge is waiting for Claude's 3-month psychological evaluation. She is sent to a High Security Mental Institution, which Director, Dr. Karl Freud, requires the second opinion of Brennac (played by French star Lambert Wilson, The Merovingian-Cursing-in-French-Virus-Program from 'The Matrix Reloaded'), a subdued psychiatrist, and ask him to figure out the multiple personality disorder that affects Claude beyond belief and to solve the reasons behind her horrifying killing spree in Paris undergrounds. We then enter Claude's dark mind while recurring flash-backs (starting 6 days prior to Claude's arrest) help us to better understand and enjoy the increasingly confusing yet fascinating plot.
Well, this is basically an AMAZING film à la "6th sens" (concerning the completely unexpected final twist) with a GREAT look (the photography is constantly bleached and "grainy") and impressive sound design. I also truly enjoyed the acting, like Frederic Diefenthal, the goofy cop from the "Taxi" action movies, who plays here a moody Paris P.D. freelance Profiler, giving useful tips to the investigators combing the crime scenes in a dark and rainy Paris, far far away from the picture perfect Eiffel Tower or Champs Elysees. The sound design is extremely well developed and comes on cue, at moments you least expect. Not a single shot is useless or redundant and the final twist is not as pointless or predictable as in 90% of today's Hollywood movies of similar genre.
I bet this picture will get the attention of those West coast execs who lack such thing as imagination that they will feel they need to buy this French movie just to get the adaptation rights. Anyway, if you've got that picture playing in a theater near you, it's well worth your $10 !! My vote: 8/10.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
A.I.: Artificial and Irritating
Well, it seems that the negative reviews are overwhelmingly numerous here. What does this means? You bet, A.I. is not that good.
Hey, Steven, you, the genius behind E.T., the Indy Jones saga, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Always and counting, have you lost your mind? Whatever is your answer, A.I. will remain as a somehow flawed, uninspired, cold and pointless motion picture. Yes, pointless, because movies are full stories with sometimes tough endings, ripe with true emotion; movies are life, movies are art, and you failed in giving a point to all of these feelings.
This picture kind of reminds me of Bicentennial Man, about a robot that desperatly wants to become human, hostage of a crual futuristic world where humans have gone ballistic for nothing. As BM, AI looks great but suffers from a very static and "frozen" vision of the future. On the other hand, Janus Kaminski's photography is great as usual (still, Janus, could you use a bit less smoke effect for your interior settings? it kind of dates and gives a cheap look to your otherwise admirable work). The main characters are amazing, I have to concede that, and Joel Haley Osment is purely phenomenal (his separation anxiety burst in the forest is a real Oscar moment). But Gigolo Joe? Come on, what acting is that? That's what professionals call overacting. Period.
Eventually, A.I. is a pop corn movie made for adults, with too few good moments, mixed with inconsistencies and flawed situations, despite the good direction, the great sets and the photography. But that ridiculous, sugar-coated ending is just too much. I yawned at it and could care less about Joel's attitude and the cheap-looking new mechas. Imagine A.I. would have ended with a fade to black as Joel's characters dives in the deep waters of Manhattan, and you have an open ending, leading to an array of numerous questions that make you reflect on many topics well after leaving the theater. Here, that annoying ersatz of a fairy tale is nothing less that insulting.
I can't wait to see Minority Report and find back the great Steven. Oh, and by the way, to those of you who "loooved" A.I. or "weeped at each instant", grow up, get a life and never become film critics, because you obviously missed the point here.
Unbreakable (2000)
a lame 6th Sense and 1/2
Well, I kind of feel bad to add yet another negative review, but, hey, this ain't Florida after all and I want to properly cast my vote (which, by the way, was overrated at 6/10, oops ! should have given Unbreakable not more than 4).
I always thought Buddy Night Shyamalan was an okay director, the kind of smart rookie that really took everybody by surprise last year (me included) with his brilliant yet slow paced 6th Sense. But, man, this time, he REALLY missed his goal, and trust me, he will NOT get another $10 milion + for his next project or I'm out of here. Unbreakable is certainly nicely photographed and loaded with an amazing sound design, but this is supposed to be a MOTION picture, not a slides show with a nice digital sound background. Unbreakable is unbelievable, poorly written, unbearably slow, pretty much senseless AND pointless, for it is (very) loosely based on a weak plot made of comic books memorabilia and vague issues. Worst, Bruce W occasionally articulates some fuzzy phrases out of his static mouth, but that's it, talk about a paper-thin character!
On the other hand, I really liked Samuel L. Jackson mean spirited, aggressive, edgy character, that nobody will root for, but, hey, doesn't the audience love to hate? Besides that, I could not care less about the overrated G versus E stuff, which at least shows that M. Night Shyamalan lacks of real directorial skills, and is completely unable to give consistency and basic believability to such a common, linear plot. Where he shows his great craft in cinematography and original (but sometimes lengthy) shots, he fails in lifting his already fragile story structure with real, consistent characters, all of them who end being trapped in the plot numerous potholes.
Eventually, this movie lacks emotion, real conflict, developed characters (not those paperboard ones, save for Elijah) and A PLOT, for Pete's sake. Where IS the FULL plot??? What the heck is going on here? After 30 minutes, everything comes together, every action becomes annoyingly predictable or redundant, Bruce W. keeps mumbling and giving us this absurd spaniel-like moist, worried look. Then everything else is futile, so why Sir M. Night keeps goin' on? Never heard of story structure that makes... sense? Should have gone to film school man!
Les rivières pourpres (2000)
When Se7en meets The Shining in France
This is truly a very interesting picture. The French Cinema New-New Wave leader Mathieu Kassovitz is directing an edgy film noir that strongly resembles Seven yet goes beyond any predictable cliches of the thriller genre. Moreover, the setting of the cold, snowy French Alps where is nested the unfriendly, dark University campus where the crimes are linked to, reminded me of The Shining's Overlook hotel and the snowcapped Rockies' eerie maze. Every single shot is very well crafted and supports the dark side of the plot, enhancing the great performances by Jean reno and Vincent Cassel and making this movie haunt you well after you left the theater. The story itself, based on the eugenism and genetic manipulations, is complex and mysterious enough to keep you wondering until the end what the hell is going on, and especially who can be sick enough to cut off the hands and remove the eyes of the victims. A great French thriller that has nothing to fear from the American models.