A Very Long Engagement (2004)
Title: 'A Very Long Engagement' ('Un long dimanche de fianacailles' - 2004)
Genre: Jean Pierre Jeunet goes to war
Rating: 8/10
'Delicatessen' (1991), 'City of Lost Children' (1995), 'Amelie' (2001) and now this. All of these guys films are like warm donuts, and you can never have enough warm donuts. I'm not gonna say it's the best of them all, but it's still a friggin' warm donut. The warmest donut was 'Amelie', everyone knows that. It was like getting a $2,000 tax refund when you were only seventeen years old. Like, 'what the fuck? Did that really just happen? Dude, if you need me, I'll be getting in back in line.' Also, on top of that feeling, there's the hottest slice of pie to ever glaze your eyeballs and warm your innards, Audrey Tautou. You make my heart hurt. That movie was one of those miracles that happen when the forces of the universe align, like a dust tornado on your little league field.
So, I guess I went into 'A Very Long Engagement' with raised expectations, which is alwaaays dumb. It didn't have the same snap and pop as 'Amelie' but was more like getting a nice long body rub. You walk away feeling good, and it stays with you. 'Amelie' made your head spin, but this one is more of a mellow jam. Don't fucking kid yourself though, there are still shots in 'Engagement' that'll blow your face off, they're just nestled in a slower paced movie. Which suits it well, because some of the cutaways to the war and such are really intense. Jeunet's cutaways are awesome. Unlike most movies where a character will just narrate past experiences to whoever, Jeunet always cuts to a beautifully filmed mini-movie of what went down, going down.
Audrey Tautou is always welcome in any film that crosses my path. Toss her in 'White Chicks' or 'Blade: Trinity' and you'd probably find me in the theater. But she seems to play best in the hands of Jeunet. That's nice. Don't stop. In this film she goes by 'Mathilde' and, as always, you want to invite her over for sandwiches. There's another great character in this movie, 'Tina Lombardi'. One of Jeunet's best inventions. She serves to showcase some of his genius contraptions and ideas that make him one of the few French people worth giving money to.
I can't talk about this movie without mentioning Jodie Foster. She shows up as a French woman in a fair sized role. I don't speak French, but that doesn't mean I can't tell you that her French is perfect. She does all that 's'vous de mignon a'la bastion duAvignonn', like, so fast the words bleed into each other. So it must be even more impressive to a French person. I'm not sure I really understand Jodie Foster, is she of elfish descent or something? It kinda feels like she's Eliza Doolittle out'a 'My Fair Lady'. Or the 'Manchurian Candidate' of Hollywood. Like someone put a crapload of money into making Jodie. She's super intense and you can totally tell that her brain is full, if it wasn't for the confines of her skull she would have memorized the internet and also be able to levitate a little bit.
My top 3 Jodie Foster Movies:
1. Candleshoe (1977), This is one of two movies that my grandparents purchased to help babysit me while my parents were out trying to remember what life was like without children. Awesome movie. Foster is a hot tomboy who is yanked out of Brooklyn by a conman and delivered to Candleshoe Mansion because she looks just like this rich lady's grand daughter. Only the rich lady is not as rich as she appears, the treasure hunting begins along with the ladies adopted children. Meanwhile, the conman and the taxman threaten to bring the whole thing to a tragic ending... Totally rad.
(The other movie they purchased was 'Water Babies' (1978), which is so fucked up. Because on the surface it looks like a kids fantasy movie about children that live underwater, but it's really about all these children that were drowned in London. It still gives me the jibblies.)
2. 'The Silence of the Lambs' (1991) "He won't come after me. He won't. I can't explain it. He would consider that... rude.", Holy Molars, pass the awesome sauce, there's some exploding magic in my bowl and I'm getting speckles of 'greatest thriller ever' on my shirt.
3. 'Taxi Driver' (1976) Wha? Did Disney look at her previous work before they made that 'Candleshoe' movie, 'cause she's kind of a HOOKER in this movie. Did her mom read the script? I mean, I know she's already thirteen and all, but she's a HOOKER who gets splattered with people chunks and gravy while DeNiro walks around scaring the crap out of everything. Some guy watched this and decided to shoot the fucking President of the United States just for Jodie. She is HARD. CORE.
I haven't seen 'Nell' (1994) yet, but everytime I see pieces of it I start laughing when I'm not supposed to, so I'm just going to wait until I'm a grown-up.
Look, they can't all be winners folks. But come on, fuckin A, Jodie Foster. You have anything to say?
To summarize, Jeunet, Tautou, Foster.
Recommended.
Genre: Jean Pierre Jeunet goes to war
Rating: 8/10
'Delicatessen' (1991), 'City of Lost Children' (1995), 'Amelie' (2001) and now this. All of these guys films are like warm donuts, and you can never have enough warm donuts. I'm not gonna say it's the best of them all, but it's still a friggin' warm donut. The warmest donut was 'Amelie', everyone knows that. It was like getting a $2,000 tax refund when you were only seventeen years old. Like, 'what the fuck? Did that really just happen? Dude, if you need me, I'll be getting in back in line.' Also, on top of that feeling, there's the hottest slice of pie to ever glaze your eyeballs and warm your innards, Audrey Tautou. You make my heart hurt. That movie was one of those miracles that happen when the forces of the universe align, like a dust tornado on your little league field.
So, I guess I went into 'A Very Long Engagement' with raised expectations, which is alwaaays dumb. It didn't have the same snap and pop as 'Amelie' but was more like getting a nice long body rub. You walk away feeling good, and it stays with you. 'Amelie' made your head spin, but this one is more of a mellow jam. Don't fucking kid yourself though, there are still shots in 'Engagement' that'll blow your face off, they're just nestled in a slower paced movie. Which suits it well, because some of the cutaways to the war and such are really intense. Jeunet's cutaways are awesome. Unlike most movies where a character will just narrate past experiences to whoever, Jeunet always cuts to a beautifully filmed mini-movie of what went down, going down.
Audrey Tautou is always welcome in any film that crosses my path. Toss her in 'White Chicks' or 'Blade: Trinity' and you'd probably find me in the theater. But she seems to play best in the hands of Jeunet. That's nice. Don't stop. In this film she goes by 'Mathilde' and, as always, you want to invite her over for sandwiches. There's another great character in this movie, 'Tina Lombardi'. One of Jeunet's best inventions. She serves to showcase some of his genius contraptions and ideas that make him one of the few French people worth giving money to.
I can't talk about this movie without mentioning Jodie Foster. She shows up as a French woman in a fair sized role. I don't speak French, but that doesn't mean I can't tell you that her French is perfect. She does all that 's'vous de mignon a'la bastion duAvignonn', like, so fast the words bleed into each other. So it must be even more impressive to a French person. I'm not sure I really understand Jodie Foster, is she of elfish descent or something? It kinda feels like she's Eliza Doolittle out'a 'My Fair Lady'. Or the 'Manchurian Candidate' of Hollywood. Like someone put a crapload of money into making Jodie. She's super intense and you can totally tell that her brain is full, if it wasn't for the confines of her skull she would have memorized the internet and also be able to levitate a little bit.
My top 3 Jodie Foster Movies:
1. Candleshoe (1977), This is one of two movies that my grandparents purchased to help babysit me while my parents were out trying to remember what life was like without children. Awesome movie. Foster is a hot tomboy who is yanked out of Brooklyn by a conman and delivered to Candleshoe Mansion because she looks just like this rich lady's grand daughter. Only the rich lady is not as rich as she appears, the treasure hunting begins along with the ladies adopted children. Meanwhile, the conman and the taxman threaten to bring the whole thing to a tragic ending... Totally rad.
(The other movie they purchased was 'Water Babies' (1978), which is so fucked up. Because on the surface it looks like a kids fantasy movie about children that live underwater, but it's really about all these children that were drowned in London. It still gives me the jibblies.)2. 'The Silence of the Lambs' (1991) "He won't come after me. He won't. I can't explain it. He would consider that... rude.", Holy Molars, pass the awesome sauce, there's some exploding magic in my bowl and I'm getting speckles of 'greatest thriller ever' on my shirt.
3. 'Taxi Driver' (1976) Wha? Did Disney look at her previous work before they made that 'Candleshoe' movie, 'cause she's kind of a HOOKER in this movie. Did her mom read the script? I mean, I know she's already thirteen and all, but she's a HOOKER who gets splattered with people chunks and gravy while DeNiro walks around scaring the crap out of everything. Some guy watched this and decided to shoot the fucking President of the United States just for Jodie. She is HARD. CORE.
I haven't seen 'Nell' (1994) yet, but everytime I see pieces of it I start laughing when I'm not supposed to, so I'm just going to wait until I'm a grown-up.
Look, they can't all be winners folks. But come on, fuckin A, Jodie Foster. You have anything to say?
To summarize, Jeunet, Tautou, Foster.
Recommended.
posted by Kong at
11:19 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home