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Review request: City of Lost Children.

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Review request: City of Lost Children.

Old 01-18-00, 05:53 PM
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I have bought most, if not all, of the main stream titles I want that are currently available. Now I am looking to expand my horizons and have heard this is a really good movie but I really dont know what to expect. Any thoughts would be welcome.
Old 01-18-00, 07:22 PM
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Its a very strange film but well done in terms of the transfer and extras. Hard to say if I would actually say to buy it to you not knowing what kind of movies you like but if you are looking for something strange I would say this might be it.
Old 01-19-00, 09:15 AM
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Rather strange and enjoyable film. One online review I saw summed it up about as well as it can be: "sort of a grunge fairy tale for grown-ups".

If you've seen Terry Gilliam's earlier films (he's not responsible for this one--just a point of comparison), it's vaguely similar in weirdness-tone to them. A bit darker than Baron Munchausen, a good bit lighter than Brazil. It has such memorable characters as The Octopus, who is/are an evil pair of siamese twins who rules a gang of orphan thieves by terror; Uncle Irving, who is a giant brain floating in an aquarium; and a nameless but very skilled flea.

This was one of the first of the free block of NetFlix rentals I used, and I was sufficiently impressed to immediately turn around and buy a copy (using a coupon deal, of course).

[This message has been edited by Drastic (edited January 19, 2000).]
Old 01-19-00, 01:17 PM
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I liked this movie because it is different. Visually very interesting. The charactors play it a little too slap-stick for my taste but over-all a fine little movie. I would call it a fantasy with dark under-tones. I did enjoy the commentary very much.
Old 01-19-00, 08:38 PM
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Visually this was a great movie and at times I found myself getting into the movie, but I found it overall to be very boring and a waste of my time.
Old 01-19-00, 09:27 PM
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It is definately boring. I watched it on with a full room of people, by the end of it, I was the only one left. I was expecting a good movie too since I kind of enjoyed Delicatessen. It was just a dissapointing experience.
Old 01-20-00, 05:20 AM
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At IMDB and Amazon, everyone seems to be raving about it -- one of the best films ever, some say (I haven't seen it yet, but my copy's in the mail now). I bought it based on these reviews alone, so you may want to give them a look.
Old 01-24-00, 01:08 PM
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"La Cité des enfants perdus" is an amazing movie. Great DVD too! Good extras except I hoped for a new 5.1 soundtrack. Commentary is worth listening too.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro are masters when it comes to visuals and storytelling. Director Luc Besson is a Jeunet wanna be. This movie is NOT boring unless you have A.D.D. Please only watch the original french track! Dominique Pinon is great and funny. Judith Vittet, who plays Miette, is also very good. WORTH CHECKING OUT OR BUYING!
Old 01-24-00, 02:18 PM
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I mean this respectfully, but could Muishkin or someone who agrees with him explain how a person could like Delicatessen and not City? I like them both and they seem so similar to me, with City just having a bigger budget. I mean it's practically the same cast, with just a bit more fantastic fantasy evil-carnival atmosphere. I listened to the commentary track this weekend and loved it. It frustrates me though, that this director apparently has no clue just how awful his Alien Resurrection movie was, and if Ron Pearlman knows, he's not telling.
Old 01-24-00, 02:51 PM
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In my opinion, Alien Ressurection is visually the best in the alien series with ALIEN in a close second. Its not Jeanut's fault that the script/screenplay of A:R was a complete disaster!! Also, FOX forced Jeanut to make massive cuts to his picture and made him put more action! They wanted him to make ALIENS all over again. So, don't blame Jeanut. BLAME FOX!
Old 01-24-00, 05:17 PM
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Okay THX 1138, I will agree that visually (set-wise) the film has a lot going for it. It's in the commentary of City he sites how disappointed he was in some of the CGI shots of of the flea. Now correct me if you think I'm wrong, but Alien Resurrection has some of the worst CGI shots ever done in a major picture, much worse than the flea in City which one can accept in a fantasy. The only CGI I've seen worse lately is Deep Blue Sea where the swimmers look like Playstation characters.

I'm well aware of the problems in the "development" of the script. Four years ago I worked for a toy company and we got the script in-progress with storyboards, models, etc. This is true for most big action movies, but it revealed how the whole "story" is just a series of events that have to happen (i.e. guy gets sucked through bullet hole in window, guy holds up another person to his chest so alien busts through) which can then be rearranged in any order, happening to any character, in order to fit the pre-approved running time-no logic needed.

Jeanut could have turned it down once he realized he was just Fox's tool. That's what the Trainspotting director did.
Old 01-25-00, 11:10 PM
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Speaking of City of Lost Children and Delicatessen, does anyone know of any other films with Dominique Pinon that are available in the US? I have only seen 3 of them (the two above and Alien 4), and I think he is terrific, a very funny actor.

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Old 01-27-00, 03:11 AM
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Delicatessen was one of its kind when it was first released. As a kid who was new to this unique genre of film, watching it for the first time was a treat. It was a film full of wacky comedic ideas featuring some deliciously eccentric acting.


Now my opinion of City might've somewhat been swayed by the people whom I saw it with. As I said, they found it shockingly bad. While I don't quite share their hatred for the film, I did find it more bland than Delicatessen. I felt the former had some terrific atmosphere, and was especially surprised at how much I enjoyed the lightheartedness behind its dark humor. City failed for me exactly becuase of the reason it was too similar to Delicatessen. I felt as if the directors were just making a high budget rehash of their old material. IMHO, City tried to showoff too much. What really made it quite unwatchable was the cheap melodrama between the girl and the giant. It might have been a neat little homage to La Strada, nonetheless, it absolutely ruined my film-watching experience.


I do admit City might be an interesting movie to see for those who've not seen Delicatessen. But I would really recommend seeing Delicatessen first, as watching one of them will probably ruin the other, and Delicatessenn is just too good of a film to be ruined.


[This message has been edited by Muishkin (edited January 27, 2000).]
Old 01-29-00, 02:12 PM
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Thanks for all the replies. I guess this one is a renter first.
Old 01-30-00, 01:31 AM
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Ford Prefect,

A young Dominique Pinon plays a sunglasses totin' hoodlum in the French film Diva, an eye-candy sort of thriller that I thought was a little slow and tiresome but others think is extraordinary (especially for its visuals. Argh...it's released by Fox Lorber.

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Old 01-30-00, 02:56 AM
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I took the risk and bought this one upon recomendations at IMDB...I loved it. THX1138 about summed up what I had to say. Miette is a wonderful child actress. However, since you are a fan of mainstream titles...you may dislike it. It is very interesting, clever, and creative...and quite quirky.

Robert Jason

Trivia: Does anyone know what the license plate on the main car (the yellow one) in "american graffiti" reads?

Robert Jason
Old 01-30-00, 11:45 PM
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I agree, it's not for everyone. I watched it for the first time last night, having bought the DVD entirely from people's recommendations. My husband loved it and said it was the best thing I bought yet, as for me? So-so. Maybe I had expected too much after reading those glowing reviews.

Visually, yes, it is fantastic -- reminds me very much of Myst and Riven -- those types of industrial 19th-c. antique contraptions and location sets. Strange costumes, queer characters, great production overall. Plot-wise however, it's a simple, uncomplicated story (Girl + Giant rescue children from mad scientists). I understand why some people may have walked out of the theater in the beginning. The first 20 minutes were very confusing: a constant stream of weird characters are introduced, with no apparent relation to each other. I had to watch it again, in the English track, to understand what was going on, then switched back to French after getting the hang of it.

Anyway, bottomline is: if you have a taste for the obscure and twisted, and like extravagant sets and dark fairy-tale cities, you'll love this. If you're more at home with mainstream action/drama types, then you might regret buying it. It's not for everyone.
Old 01-31-00, 12:31 PM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by RJason:
However, since you are a fan of mainstream titles...you may dislike it.<HR>


Wow, that's some harsh language... Just because he likes "mainstream titles", he may be too shallow to like this one, eh?
Old 01-31-00, 06:57 PM
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I came upon this posting again being the first persom to reply to the orignal post, I was thinking what did the City Of Lost Childern remind me of most, and its Oliver!, its a musical, but damn good. Won Six Academy Awards including Best Picture.
Old 01-31-00, 08:04 PM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by eyrie:
he may be too shallow to like this one, eh?<HR>


Shallow?? But the movie isn't that deep, really.
Old 03-15-00, 09:15 PM
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FYI:

Dominique Pinon played a small role in "Frantic", by Polanski, with Harrison Ford. He even speaks English in that film!
Old 03-16-00, 02:54 PM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by RJason:


Trivia: Does anyone know what the license plate on the main car (the yellow one) in "american graffiti" reads?

<HR>


Okay, I'll bite. It was THX 138. CA License plates did not allow for seven characters till the 80s, otherwise I'm sure it would have read THX1138.

Anyhoo, as for City of Lost Children, it's a hit or miss. A friend played his laserdisk for me a couple years ago, and I was enchanted by the imagery of the film and the acting. Yes, there is some slapstick in the film, but that isn't a bad thing. The visual effects were fantastic, the relationship built between Miette and One was a little disturbing at times, and the dark fantasy atmosphere is reminiscent of movies like Dark City, Brazil, and Baron Munchausen.

It's basically a dark fairy tale.

I bought this DVD and played it for my fiancee. He didn't like the movie the first time we watched it (english dub). He then watched the subtitled version a week later and decided it was a much better film than he'd realised.

The film definitely grows on you.

Marianne

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