Cinemexperience: part deux., Some more filums you saw. Options

[maian]

The Science of Sleep

I kind of wanted to hate it since it just sounded like it would consist of suffocating levels of whimsy, but it was pitched just perfectly. Gael Garcia Bernal is Stephane, a half-Mexican, half-French graphic artist who returns to Paris following the death of his father and winds up in a job he hates. Ever since he was a child, Stephane has used his dreams to escape from the drudgery of everyday life and this tendency goes into overdrive when he falls for his neighbour, Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg, who seems much nicer when she's not performing an auto-clitoridectomy).

Michel Gondry fully explores his fetish for physical, in-camera effects in the film, using large props (fans of his video for 'Everlong' will appreciate the giant hands), stop-motion animation and expressionistic set design to create Stephane's dream world, which he interweaves beautifully with the real world to such an extent that the line between the two becomes very blurry indeed.

Bernal and Gainsbourg are both thoroughly charming as Stephane and Stephanie, both playing parts that could very easily go the wrong way; as an over-grown dreamer, Stephane could have just been a petulant child, whilst Stephanie could have become an archetypal 'quirky' idealised figure of the hero's affections. It's to their eternal credit that both the performers and Gondry manage to ground the story so well, providing an emotional base from which the whimsy can spread.

I couldn't help comparing it to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is still my favourite of Gondry's feature films, since both revolve around emotionally stunted men finding some solace in the realm of their own mind. The Science of Sleep manages to be a much warmer film than Eternal Sunshine, thanks to the absence of Charlie Kaufman's depressive tendencies, but this same absence means that the film lacks the mournful, heartbreaking quality that endeared the earlier film to me.

Far better than I thought it would be, I have to admit.

[Starscream`s Gho...]

Nigel Hawthorne's great in it, too.

[logger]

The Day After Tomorrow

The type of film I like to have on whilst exercising. Dumb plot that I don't have to pay any attention to, plenty of events and heroic characters doing the right thing in a funny, corny way.

[dandan]

The Science of Sleep

it's ace.

i much prefer it to 'eternal sunshine' which, i don't really like... or think is very good...

[Jessopjessopjess...]

I am also fairly sure I am accurate. But then I have had a blood test this afternoon so am a little lightheaded.

Sorted, yeah. I'd say it was quite irresponsible of a reviewer to include such information, but that's why I don't read reviews...

It was the bit about a clone being sent to rescue him which isn't right... hundreds of clones are in stasis underneath the base ready to be animated when the current Sam 'degrades'.

[Jessopjessopjess...]

Bernal and Gainsbourg are both thoroughly charming as Stephane and Stephanie

*Also features Antoine De Caunes's very hot daughter, Emma.

[Shack]

Sorted, yeah. I'd say it was quite irresponsible of a reviewer to include such information, but that's why I don't read reviews...

It was the bit about a clone being sent to rescue him which isn't right... hundreds of clones are in stasis underneath the base ready to be animated when the current Sam 'degrades'.

Ahhhhhhh.

In the reviews (and possibly even from Kermode) they said that a clone was awakened to save old Sam. Which watching the film I didn't quite get because the new clone had been generated because of the accident and not specifically to save old Sam.

[maian]

Breaking The Waves

I probably should have just asked someone else to watch it then describe it to me.

[dandan]

so, you didn't enjoy it?

[Sostie]

ZOMBIE DIARIES
Not bad. Marred by some terrible acting. Who are the real monsters maaan? The zombies or humanity? Less hippy shit more gore next time please.

MAN ON WIRE
Good, entertaining & interesting. Yet not as wonderful as I expected it to be.

[dandan]

MAN ON WIRE
Good, entertaining & interesting. Yet not as wonderful as I expected it to be.

for me, the power was, if you'll excuse me for quoting myself...

"the walk itself, even though it is mostly shown through photographs, is a thing of extreme beauty, whilst the reactions it evokes are quite amazing. it also made me miss the towers, as a piece of architecture, for the first time. something which isn't mentioned in the film is just how unpopular the towers were, until philippe did what he did; this enchanted people and allowed them to see the beauty of the towers. i found it very moving that, thirty-four years later, i felt the same as the people who read about it this act and saw the pictures in the next day's newspapers, but that the towers are no longer there..."

[Sostie]

The walk was amazing - I can't comprehend how someone could even take one step let alone stay on the cable for 45 minutes. The element of realising that those buildings are no longer there hits me most times I see them - standing on top of them during sunset is not something you forget easily. I certainly didn't feel unsatisfied after watching the film, just kind of expected a little more of something I can't put my finger on.

[logger]

I certainly didn't feel unsatisfied after watching the film, just kind of expected a little more of something I can't put my finger on.

Pretty much sums it up for me.

[maian]

so, you didn't enjoy it?

I was being glib more than anything. I was impressed by it, I just didn't care for it much.

I did giggle at the reference to Anthony Dod Mantle, though.

[Serafina_Pekkala]

Bernal and Gainsbourg are both thoroughly charming as Stephane and Stephanie

They remind me so much of my sis and her fella.

It's a lovely film. I still want one of those cat suits.