The City of Lost Children [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of The City of Lost Children [VHS]
Movie Review: Fascinating, haunting...nearly perfect
Summary: 3 Stars
I've always been interested with avante-garde films. My DVD collection includes "Brazil," (my all-time favorite film) "Ichi the Killer," and "Pink Floyd The Wall." Seeing this at an EB Games I was immediately captivated by the front cover of a scientist with the strange mechanical helmet, and after reading about the visual effects and unique style I bought it. What did I think upon seeing it? Well, it was "a jaw-dropping movie" as Stephen Saban brags on the back cover, but I also found it a bit flawed.
The plot consists of a madman, Krank, who lives in a lab in the middle of the ocean with six clones of his brother, a midget version of his wife, and their Uncle Irvin who is now a living brain in a fish tank. Krank works with a cult of blind men who see through contraptions (known as the "Cyclops") who kidnap young children on the mainland and give to Krank, who uses a large contraption to try and steal their dreams, as he himself cannot. The Cyclops, doing their thing, happen upon a tender hearted strongman, One, and steal his "little brother." While running after them One stumbles across a young girl, Miette, and her young friends, all of whom work for Fagan-like siamese twins known as "The Octopus." Miette and One bond together and share the adventure to find Little Brother and the other children.
The style is pretty impressive, I must say. The world is a surreal, warped version of a turn-of-the-century European port village, something you might find in a German expressionist film. Krank's lab is a nightmare world of strange mechanisms, nuts and bolts. The characters are all somehow bizarre, from the Cyclops cult to the clones to the female Siamese twins. Special effects of all kinds are used, from models to CG to film morphing.
The cast is pretty solid. Daniel Emilfork is great as the evil Krank, Dominique Pinon is fantastic playing the clones, and Ron Perlman does a fine job in his role. (I have respect for anyone who can speak French in a Russian accent) My two biggest surprises were Judith Vittet as Miette and Jean-Louis Trintignant as Uncle Irvin, the brain in the fish tank. Judith Vittet, for a girl 9 years old at the time, comes out amazingly strong and professional, and is very captivating in her role - unfortunately, she seems to have only done one or two other films after this and then disappeared from the scene. Jean-Louis Trintignant made Uncle Irvin my favorite character, making sarcastic comments to the villains and controlling the fate of things from his fish tank.
Before writing this review I briefed through the other reviews to see what other people thought. I noticed many negative reviewers said they turned it off midway through. Now, I didn't do that, but I have to admit...I don't really blame them. Some of the script tends to really drag, especially in the middle of the story. The Octopus subplot seemed to be the biggest offender, and I don't know if it was because it was present or merely dragged out. Particularly in the dock sequence and an extended boat smashing-into-the-dock sequence that gave me bad memories about "Speed 2." The main plot of a mad scientist stealing dreams takes a side-seat, and the storyline seems to come to standstill. I have to also admit I was a bit turned off by some of the darker moments of the film. A Cyclops member gets bitten by a flea and is taken over by the organ-grinder, stabbing one of his accomplices in the eye then strangling the other. (making sure to transplant his eye-plug into his victim so that he can watch himself die) There is a scene later where a character is harpooned through the stomach, with blood dripping from their mouth. And to add a bit of adult humor, rats go into a whorehouse with some topless prostitutes running out. Now, I'm not saying I'm against violence (I own "Ichi the Killer" for crying out loud) and it's not really that bad in the film as I'm making it out to be, but it was very unsettling to go from this child-like fantasy dream world involving a young girl and a simple-minded strongman to "Hey you get to watch yourself get strangled to death" kind of mood. Also, there should have been some serious editing. The tear sequence was a good idea but could have been done better if the shots had been tighter and quicker rather than as long as they were. I thought during it, "Shouldn't Miette be dead by now?" Another example would be the shot of the Octopus looking up at the boat and laughing as the camera pans back - could that shot have been any longer?
The DVD special features include a commentary by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Ron Pearlman. It's fairly interesting as far as commentaries go, and Pearlman offers some laughs coming across as a pretty modest and laid back guy. There are French, English and Spanish audio, with subtitles for each. Incidentally, I was somewhat suspicious of the subtitles: the audio under the commentary was English, and I soon realized that the dialogue matched the subtitles perfectly. Very rarely, even in the most perfect dubs, is this ever accomplished. It seems they just "dubtitled" it - using the dub script for the subtitles. Other features include some production notes about what every one else has done. I found some humor here since it kept bragging how people went on to do "Alien Resurrection." Any one who can advertise they were involved with that movie with a straight face and full dignity gets some credit from me.
All in all, it's worth at least a rental. This will appeal to many, and it has, but others should be warned to preview before buying. The beginning and end make the film worth watching if you can get through some of the plodding moments in the middle.
Movie Review: La Cité des enfants perdus
Summary: 5 Stars
A frightened child sits helplessly in his crib while numerous, ghastly Santa Clauses invade his home, through the chimney of course. This then segues into the maniacal and senseless screams of six identical men and one seriously demented senior citizen. Only the slaps from an angry, albeit caring, female midget can bring them back to their senses. This is no flashy introduction meant to grab the attention of the viewer; much of the film is just as surreal and inventive.
The City of Lost Children is a French film released in 1995. CoLC is a film noir which takes place in a fictional Victorian era port city in France. While this film is a bit confusing, and certainly bizarre, the viewer will find himself emerged in a richly detailed fantasy with endearing characters and a thought provoking story line. The complexity of the film in fact makes repeated viewings more rewarding. Also to the film's credit are its many endearing and original characters.
We are introduced early on, to Krank, an evil-genius who kidnaps children and uses an anachronistic device to monitor and enter into the children's dreams. Irvin, a brain submerged in an aquarium, informs the viewer that his motive for doing this is because he cannot dream, and thus he is growing old at a highly expedited rate.
In another burst of events One, a circus strongman, finds his boss murdered. Before he can even properly mourn his dead, he finds his `little brother,' Denree, kidnapped by the Cyclopes, a quasi-religious cult that is napping the children for the evil genius. The Cyclopes, though blind, have been granted artificial sight from Opticons, another of the fantastical mechanical devices found in the film. He finds some unexpected help from Miette, a young, street-smart girl from a local orphanage. Although more realistically minded than One, a man many years her senior, Miette can't help but feel sorry for him after hearing his story and decides to join him, even tough doing so means leaving the orphanage and angering the Octopus, a pair of Siamese twins that run the orphanage, adding yet another enemy to the duo's list.
All this is a shock to the senses and can be a bit too much for the first time viewer. CoLC is a rare experience in lieu of the by-the-book filmmaking that makes up the film industry today. Therefore, when the unexpecting viewer mentally assaulted by these images, it is expected that he will emerge with mixed emotions. This is certainly how I felt when I first experienced it. The images, though, stuck with me and I knew I had to buy the DVD and watch it again. The cinematography is undoubtedly breathtaking. A gritty urban setting is the stage for most of the film's events. Other aesthetic locations are the inside of the Scientist's laboratory and the cloud covered night Sea that our heroes must traverse in a rowboat to reach it. The CG special effects are also nice to look at and are used sparingly and in unconventional and inventive ways.
The movie has a bit of a controversial aspect in the fact that ultimately the movie is about the love that develops between the two mismatched characters, the little girl and the strongman. While their relationship is certainly platonic and mostly alluded to, the ambiguity of the film can lead to less innocent interpretations. Of course within the zany context of the film it barely seems out of place. Other plotlines involve the interrelations of a trio of sinister organizations - the genius and his underlings who need the children, the Cyclops who are kidnapping them for him, and the orphanage that forces children to steal for them.
The film is filled with the fascinating, yet fictional, Victorian inventions that are ubiquitous in Steampunk: clockwork, steam, and analog devices. Besides the aforementioned Optacons, other inventions include: mirror security cameras, sound amplifiers, cloning tubes, scuba gear, and many others.
The music is a beautiful and original classical suite of music composed by Angelo Badalamenti. The score perfectly fits the dark and rarely cheerful world of the film.
CoLC is the brainchild of French directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, whose work also include the experimental film, Delicatessen. Jeunet has since moved on to direct the international hit Amelie. The two started work together on short films, cartoons, and advertisements after meeting at a film festival in 1974. They perhaps worked well together due to a shared dark outlook that is signature to their films. After the relative success of Delicatessen, the two were able to make CoLC, the masterpiece that they had wanted to make for some time. Sadly, these films were the only two feature length films the two produced as a team. They did however work together to a lesser extent on Jeunet's Hollywood film, Alien: Resurrection. Their teamwork is reminiscent of that of another pair of experimental filmmakers - Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.
CoLC is available on DVD with three language tracks and subtitles. Also included is a commentary by Jeunet and Ron Perlman, trailer, and some concept art. The film is rated R but for little reason. There is not really any nudity of profanity. The occasional violence is mostly responsible. Certainly appropriate for children, although they doubtfully would understand it.
Movie Review: Different
Summary: 3 Stars
This film isn't your typical movie! Althought I didn't like it, I know many people who love it. I'm glad that I did watch it b/c the characters are very interesting. The movie is frightening and made me think way too much!Movie Review: Visually interesting, boring otherwise.
Summary: 2 Stars
I really liked most of the visuals and quirky style. There was a little annoying CGI but done in at least reasonable amounts.
As far as being stylized, it was very interesting. I wish it could have been applied to a better story.
The acting also was pretty poor by many of the main actors which caused the story to drag even more.
It was very nice to look at but the story just bored me.
Seeing how popular garbage like the Matrix is just for visual style (with its combination innovative camera work and crappy CGI) minus content, I guess how I can see how this gets such rave reviews.
It's visually far superior to the Matrix but at the same level storywise.
Movie Review: Beautifully Bizarre
Summary: 5 Stars
This will capture you from the first scene to the last. Judith Vittet as Miette` is Captivating to watch. She is an Adorable Child. She was nine when this was made and chosen out of a huge group of girls that tried-out. You will see why. She has so much natural talent. Daniel Emilfork is Great . His facial expressions are Incredible and show tremendous emotion. Ron Perelman is Great and convincing. You will probably like the voice of Uncle Irvin, the "poor migraine-ridden brain" in a fishtank.The movie is very highly detailed and if you have a dvd and a really good surround-sound system you will really Experience this movie. I have seen it about 8 times and I have started to look around the screen at places you usually don`t look at during the first few times of viewing. There is such intricate detail it is mezmerizing.I highly recommend setting the language to English with English sub-titles. They are not that distracting. There are a lot of phrases that are difficult to understand with the translation from French. It is Definately worth putting up with these two things and follow the journey into the dark, archaic, bizarre world. It is humorous too.The first time I saw this without subtitles I didn`t have much of an idea what was going on. Gary Coladonato