It took writer and co-director Jacques Perrin more than three years of filming around the world to bring "Le Peuple Migrateur" (Traveling Birds) to the big screen. Although the technological feat of following migratory birds around the globe should be enough to leave audiences open-mouthed with admiration, the movie ultimately fails to leave a deep impression.
At first, French moviegoers gave "Peuple" a tepid reception. But over the past few weeks, interest has picked up, with the boxoffice showing healthy admissions.
As with his previous foray into the animal world, producing the award-winning "Microcosmos", all elements are here -- stunning scenery, sharply observed animal behavior, brief moments of humor. Yet to an ornithologically challenged audience, all birds are alike. It's not really the birds that steal the show but the notion that Perrin brought such an awe-inspiring idea to fruition. He is definitely a man with a plan.
Four years ago, he set up five breeding centers, in France, Canada and Iceland, where birds were reared to become accustomed to a human presence. They also became familiar with the machines that Perrin would use to bring about his dream of actually flying with the birds themselves. These included microlights and hot-air balloons.
The movie is not without moments of real drama, like when birds escape an avalanche where huge walls of ice fall into the sea. Perrin filmed other stunning scenes such as dawn over the Great Wall of China or a flock of birds flying down the Hudson River with the famous New York skyline in the background. But most of the time, the movie runs as a wildlife documentary without the illuminating and explanatory background. There are only so many times that an unidentified flock of birds, flying over an unidentified piece of land, can hold a viewer's interest.
The lack of real commentary highlights the absence of any logical sequence to the filming. The movie jumps from species to species and country to country without any rationale. Add to this an eclectic choice of music to accompany the migrating birds, and it's not just the endless aerial shots that leave the audience feeling dizzy.
LE PEUPLE MIGRATEUR
Galatee Films
Credits:
Producer: Christophe Barratier
Director: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzeaud, Michel Debats
Screenwriter: Jacques Perrin
Directors of photography: Thierry Machado, Dominique Bentil, Bernard Lutic, Luc Droin, Laurent Fleutot, Michel Terrasse, Syllvie Carcedo, Laurent Charbonnier, Philippe Guarguil
Music: Bruno Coulais
Editor: Marie-Josephe Yoyotte
Production designer: Regis Nicolino
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 100 minutes...
At first, French moviegoers gave "Peuple" a tepid reception. But over the past few weeks, interest has picked up, with the boxoffice showing healthy admissions.
As with his previous foray into the animal world, producing the award-winning "Microcosmos", all elements are here -- stunning scenery, sharply observed animal behavior, brief moments of humor. Yet to an ornithologically challenged audience, all birds are alike. It's not really the birds that steal the show but the notion that Perrin brought such an awe-inspiring idea to fruition. He is definitely a man with a plan.
Four years ago, he set up five breeding centers, in France, Canada and Iceland, where birds were reared to become accustomed to a human presence. They also became familiar with the machines that Perrin would use to bring about his dream of actually flying with the birds themselves. These included microlights and hot-air balloons.
The movie is not without moments of real drama, like when birds escape an avalanche where huge walls of ice fall into the sea. Perrin filmed other stunning scenes such as dawn over the Great Wall of China or a flock of birds flying down the Hudson River with the famous New York skyline in the background. But most of the time, the movie runs as a wildlife documentary without the illuminating and explanatory background. There are only so many times that an unidentified flock of birds, flying over an unidentified piece of land, can hold a viewer's interest.
The lack of real commentary highlights the absence of any logical sequence to the filming. The movie jumps from species to species and country to country without any rationale. Add to this an eclectic choice of music to accompany the migrating birds, and it's not just the endless aerial shots that leave the audience feeling dizzy.
LE PEUPLE MIGRATEUR
Galatee Films
Credits:
Producer: Christophe Barratier
Director: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzeaud, Michel Debats
Screenwriter: Jacques Perrin
Directors of photography: Thierry Machado, Dominique Bentil, Bernard Lutic, Luc Droin, Laurent Fleutot, Michel Terrasse, Syllvie Carcedo, Laurent Charbonnier, Philippe Guarguil
Music: Bruno Coulais
Editor: Marie-Josephe Yoyotte
Production designer: Regis Nicolino
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 100 minutes...
- 1/22/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As with "The Talented Mr. Ripley", Marion Hansel's slow-paced thriller depicts murder as the most expedient way to provide oneself with a personal makeover. Winner of the Grand Prize of the Americas at last year's Montreal World Film Festival, "The Quarry" stars Irish actor John Lynch as a mysterious drifter who murders a Baptist minister and assumes his identity and position in a rural town.
A reasonably intriguing situation for a thriller, to be sure, but director-screenwriter Hansel downplays the noirish elements in favor of ambiguity and a languorous depiction of the often-silent protagonist's spiritual malaise. When we first see the Man (Lynch), he is wandering through the desert in a state of desperation, though we're not given a clue as to how he arrived there. He is given a lift and a free meal by the Reverend (Serge-Henri Valcke), but when it turns out that the man of the cloth has a distinctly earthly side -- revealed in a clumsy sexual proposition -- the Man reacts violently, and the minister winds up dead.
Seizing the opportunity, the Man steals his van and assumes his position as town pastor, where his decidedly uncommunicative preaching style puzzles his new landlord (Sylvia Esau) and congregation. Only when the body is found and the town's white police captain arrests two local thieves for the crime does the Man's plan begin to fall apart. He's forced to decide whether to confess or let them take the blame and face the death penalty.
Although "Quarry", filmed in South Africa, displays a real sense of atmosphere and has been photographed elegantly by Bernard Lutic, Hansel's assiduously arty approach robs the material of its suspense and resonance. Not helping matters is Lynch's repressed performance, which leaves us totally in the dark as to his character's motivations. The only figure who displays any sign of life is Capt. Mong, the racist cop; as played by the charismatic Jonny Phillips, his every appearance becomes riveting.
THE QUARRY
First Run Features
Director-screenwriter-producer: Marion Hansel
Director of photography: Bernard Lutic
Editor: Michele Hubinon
Music: Takashi Kako
Color/stereo
Cast:
The Man: John Lynch
Capt. Mong: Jonny Phillips
The Reverend: Serge-Henri Valcke
Valentine: Oscar Petersen
Small: Jody Abrahams
The Woman: Sylvia Esau
Running time -- 112 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A reasonably intriguing situation for a thriller, to be sure, but director-screenwriter Hansel downplays the noirish elements in favor of ambiguity and a languorous depiction of the often-silent protagonist's spiritual malaise. When we first see the Man (Lynch), he is wandering through the desert in a state of desperation, though we're not given a clue as to how he arrived there. He is given a lift and a free meal by the Reverend (Serge-Henri Valcke), but when it turns out that the man of the cloth has a distinctly earthly side -- revealed in a clumsy sexual proposition -- the Man reacts violently, and the minister winds up dead.
Seizing the opportunity, the Man steals his van and assumes his position as town pastor, where his decidedly uncommunicative preaching style puzzles his new landlord (Sylvia Esau) and congregation. Only when the body is found and the town's white police captain arrests two local thieves for the crime does the Man's plan begin to fall apart. He's forced to decide whether to confess or let them take the blame and face the death penalty.
Although "Quarry", filmed in South Africa, displays a real sense of atmosphere and has been photographed elegantly by Bernard Lutic, Hansel's assiduously arty approach robs the material of its suspense and resonance. Not helping matters is Lynch's repressed performance, which leaves us totally in the dark as to his character's motivations. The only figure who displays any sign of life is Capt. Mong, the racist cop; as played by the charismatic Jonny Phillips, his every appearance becomes riveting.
THE QUARRY
First Run Features
Director-screenwriter-producer: Marion Hansel
Director of photography: Bernard Lutic
Editor: Michele Hubinon
Music: Takashi Kako
Color/stereo
Cast:
The Man: John Lynch
Capt. Mong: Jonny Phillips
The Reverend: Serge-Henri Valcke
Valentine: Oscar Petersen
Small: Jody Abrahams
The Woman: Sylvia Esau
Running time -- 112 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/20/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"My Life So Far" is a gem. Magical and wise, witty and sentimental, this film from producer David Puttnam and director Hugh Hudson is one of the most engaging pictures about British family life since John Boorman's 1987 autobiographical tale "Hope and Glory".
Miramax Films may have a boxoffice hit here that could cross over from the specialty market into mainstream venues.
This film marks a triumphant reunion for Puttnam and Hudson, who collaborated on the 1981 Oscar-winning best picture "Chariots of Fire". Right from the opening shot -- of a bright-eyed baby grinning in a crib -- the film casts its spell. Within moments, an enchanted world in the misty Scottish Highlands opens up to the viewer.
Like "Hope and Glory", "My Life So Far" derives from personal history. The film is based on a memoir, "Son of Adam", by British television executive Denis Forman. He relates the story of a tumultuous year in the life of a wide-eyed 10-year-old in which he sees his world and his family change forever.
Young Fraser Pettigrew -- played with charm and spunk by newcomer Robert Norman -- lives on a bucolic Scottish estate in the early 1930s where a storybook castle named Kiloran House crowns a verdant hill. This kingdom of animals and crazy gizmos is benignly ruled by Fraser's eccentric inventor-father Edward (a buoyant Colin Firth).
"It's just bedlam -- like a zoo!" grouses Fraser's more practical-minded Uncle Morris (a debonair Malcolm McDowell), making one of his frequent visits to the ancestral home. It is indeed bedlam, but what a place to grow up!
Edward, a lover of Beethoven and hater of jazz, forever pursues hopeless schemes and a passionate belief in the medicinal properties of sphagnum moss. He has turned the estate into Europe's only moss factory, much to the distress of Uncle Morris, who would plant Norwegian pine for the publishing industry.
Indeed, Uncle Morris hints darkly he will throw Fraser's family off the estate once he inherits it. Holding Kiloran House together are twin towers of feminine strength: the family matriarch, Gamma Macintosh (a serenely handsome Rosemary Harris), and Edward's wife, Moira (lovely Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio).
Into this idyllic world comes Uncle Morris' "child bride," the utterly beautiful and utterly exotic Heloise (Irene Jacob), a French musician who brings with her a whiff of continental sophistication. What's more, she likes jazz.
Everyone falls in love with Heloise, especially young Fraser. Unbeknownst to the others, however, the highly moralistic Edward has also succumbed to her charms, which nearly leads to disastrous consequences.
The story is narrated by the 10-year-old whose sensibilities grow more adult as the year skips by. Events force him to alter his image of his seemingly God-like father whereby Edward becomes more of a flesh-and-blood man and less of a role model for his adoring, impressionable son.
British playwright Simon Donald has crafted a wry screenplay from Forman's memoir, filled with surprises and rich in the details of extraordinary lives. Donald, Hudson and Puttnam along with the terrific cast make certain the story contains no villains. People may behave in less than perfect ways, but they remain true to their passions.
Young Norman's performance is a miracle, but the entire cast is a complete delight. This extends to even smaller roles such as Tcheky Karyo's "Emperor of the Air", an aviator who literally drops onto the estate to amaze the Pettigrews, and Kelly MacDonald as the eldest daughter who is bewitched by the Emperor.
French cinematographer Bernard Lutic fills the screen with the beauty of misty Scotland and a country house that designer Andy Harris has turned into an ancient family seat. One senses the Pettigrew ancestors still inhabit this dwelling whose large rooms remain somehow homelike.
Young Fraser's childhood is filled with enchantment -- the wild man lurks in the nearby woods, devils allegedly dwell in the attic, bizarre inventions (all designed by Alain Chennaux) clutter the lawns. But most fantastic of all are the secret books and drawings of naked women belonging to Fraser's late grandfather, which the young lad devours without fully comprehending their implications.
Hanging over this idyllic world is the specter of the coming world war that will forever shatter its splendid isolation. This specter gives the comic events a gentle scent of nostalgia for what has been lost. Such innocence could never have lasted. But this magical story celebrates the memory of that innocence as few films have done.
MY LIFE SO FAR
Miramax Films
Enigma Prods. in association_with Hudson Film
Producers: David Puttnam, Steve Norris
Director: Hugh Hudson
Writer: Simon Donald
Based on the book "Son of Adam" by: Denis Forman
Executive producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Paul Webster
Director of photography: Bernard Lutic
Production designer: Andy Harris
Music: Howard Blake
Costumer: Emma Porteous
Editor: Scott Thomas
Color/stereo
Cast:
Edward: Colin Firth
Gamma: Rosemary Harris
Heloise: Irene Jacob
Moira: Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Uncle Morris: Malcolm McDowell
Fraser: Robert Norman
Gabriel Chenoux: Tcheky Karyo
Elspeth: Kelly MacDonald
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Miramax Films may have a boxoffice hit here that could cross over from the specialty market into mainstream venues.
This film marks a triumphant reunion for Puttnam and Hudson, who collaborated on the 1981 Oscar-winning best picture "Chariots of Fire". Right from the opening shot -- of a bright-eyed baby grinning in a crib -- the film casts its spell. Within moments, an enchanted world in the misty Scottish Highlands opens up to the viewer.
Like "Hope and Glory", "My Life So Far" derives from personal history. The film is based on a memoir, "Son of Adam", by British television executive Denis Forman. He relates the story of a tumultuous year in the life of a wide-eyed 10-year-old in which he sees his world and his family change forever.
Young Fraser Pettigrew -- played with charm and spunk by newcomer Robert Norman -- lives on a bucolic Scottish estate in the early 1930s where a storybook castle named Kiloran House crowns a verdant hill. This kingdom of animals and crazy gizmos is benignly ruled by Fraser's eccentric inventor-father Edward (a buoyant Colin Firth).
"It's just bedlam -- like a zoo!" grouses Fraser's more practical-minded Uncle Morris (a debonair Malcolm McDowell), making one of his frequent visits to the ancestral home. It is indeed bedlam, but what a place to grow up!
Edward, a lover of Beethoven and hater of jazz, forever pursues hopeless schemes and a passionate belief in the medicinal properties of sphagnum moss. He has turned the estate into Europe's only moss factory, much to the distress of Uncle Morris, who would plant Norwegian pine for the publishing industry.
Indeed, Uncle Morris hints darkly he will throw Fraser's family off the estate once he inherits it. Holding Kiloran House together are twin towers of feminine strength: the family matriarch, Gamma Macintosh (a serenely handsome Rosemary Harris), and Edward's wife, Moira (lovely Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio).
Into this idyllic world comes Uncle Morris' "child bride," the utterly beautiful and utterly exotic Heloise (Irene Jacob), a French musician who brings with her a whiff of continental sophistication. What's more, she likes jazz.
Everyone falls in love with Heloise, especially young Fraser. Unbeknownst to the others, however, the highly moralistic Edward has also succumbed to her charms, which nearly leads to disastrous consequences.
The story is narrated by the 10-year-old whose sensibilities grow more adult as the year skips by. Events force him to alter his image of his seemingly God-like father whereby Edward becomes more of a flesh-and-blood man and less of a role model for his adoring, impressionable son.
British playwright Simon Donald has crafted a wry screenplay from Forman's memoir, filled with surprises and rich in the details of extraordinary lives. Donald, Hudson and Puttnam along with the terrific cast make certain the story contains no villains. People may behave in less than perfect ways, but they remain true to their passions.
Young Norman's performance is a miracle, but the entire cast is a complete delight. This extends to even smaller roles such as Tcheky Karyo's "Emperor of the Air", an aviator who literally drops onto the estate to amaze the Pettigrews, and Kelly MacDonald as the eldest daughter who is bewitched by the Emperor.
French cinematographer Bernard Lutic fills the screen with the beauty of misty Scotland and a country house that designer Andy Harris has turned into an ancient family seat. One senses the Pettigrew ancestors still inhabit this dwelling whose large rooms remain somehow homelike.
Young Fraser's childhood is filled with enchantment -- the wild man lurks in the nearby woods, devils allegedly dwell in the attic, bizarre inventions (all designed by Alain Chennaux) clutter the lawns. But most fantastic of all are the secret books and drawings of naked women belonging to Fraser's late grandfather, which the young lad devours without fully comprehending their implications.
Hanging over this idyllic world is the specter of the coming world war that will forever shatter its splendid isolation. This specter gives the comic events a gentle scent of nostalgia for what has been lost. Such innocence could never have lasted. But this magical story celebrates the memory of that innocence as few films have done.
MY LIFE SO FAR
Miramax Films
Enigma Prods. in association_with Hudson Film
Producers: David Puttnam, Steve Norris
Director: Hugh Hudson
Writer: Simon Donald
Based on the book "Son of Adam" by: Denis Forman
Executive producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Paul Webster
Director of photography: Bernard Lutic
Production designer: Andy Harris
Music: Howard Blake
Costumer: Emma Porteous
Editor: Scott Thomas
Color/stereo
Cast:
Edward: Colin Firth
Gamma: Rosemary Harris
Heloise: Irene Jacob
Moira: Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Uncle Morris: Malcolm McDowell
Fraser: Robert Norman
Gabriel Chenoux: Tcheky Karyo
Elspeth: Kelly MacDonald
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 7/14/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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