zazoomovie Reviews

Young, Beautiful and Screwed Up (2003)

A tiny little slow to start, but entertaining, moving show

[7/10 · 11 July 2004]

This comedy was a tiny little slow to start, but it turned out to be a funny, plaisant and moving moment to share with those excellent actors on the screen.

Maurice lives with his single mom in a humble house and works on a farm and has a gift : his ability to communicate with animals. He is simple, honest and has a lot of integrity, although more "sophisticated" people living in the village enjoy mocking him.

One evening he "borrows" his employer's car to drive to a party where he and his hair stylist friend have committed to play the music and sing. And here comes trouble... The employer's brand new car is damaged by a drunk, racist Parisian yuppie lacking manners who drives away. Fortunately, the yuppie's Parisian girlfriend has left Maurice her business card.

Maurice and his hairstylist friend decide to go to the capitale to get money from the Parisian crazy driver to fix the damaged car. That's when the movie starts cruising nicely, full of gags, misunderstandings and imbroglios around the Parisian couple, Maurice's employer's son, who happens to be a "medical" student taking drama classes, and youngster crossing their path.

The movie is about lifestyles (countryside vs urban), value systems (pursuing personal goals vs respecting others and solidarity) and generation conflicts (lack of real communication).

Light, entertaining and healthy nutty evening. 7/10

Corps à corps (2003)

Interesting concept but be willing to be disturbed

[13 May 2003]

I went to see the movie because a friend told me that I would like it...

Well, it's an interesting concept : Laura (Emmanuelle Seignier), a stripper meets Marco (Philippe Torreton), a seemingly Prince Charming who is willing to marry her and take her away from her miserable life, giving her hopes for a decent future. But as she leaves the nightclub on her last night of work, she has a car accident and wakes up in a hospital room, deaf and severely injured. Prince Charming has not let her down though, as he comes for regular visits, then sticks to the original plan. He takes her to his mansion where he teaches her signs language and help her get back on her feet. They get married, and have a baby.

Six years later, an incident at school involving their son, Jeannot (Clement Brilland) triggers Laura's curiosity about the real identity of her now husband and the origin of her scars. She starts an investigation on her own in order to uncover the terrible truth...

I can't tell more here, but it's kind of haunting and as if coming from a disturbed mind, one is entitled to wonder. It reminded me somehow of Dead Ringers directed by David Cronenberg, with Jeremy Irons. (6/10)

Fear and Trembling (2003)

Reality surpasses fiction

[7/10 · 18 March 2003]

A friend of mine was wondering aloud whether the story could actually have happened in Japan. Well, I have no answer for that. All I can say is that to me, every detail was truthful to my not-so-in-depth knowledge of the Japanese culture. Only the gathering of them all in a single story line might yield such a surprising and delightful scenario worth being made into a movie.

All the Japanese characters were speaking to me in a moving way, for they were crafted according to real, human beings from everyday life. The casting was excellent and listening to the musicality of a once learned with enthusiasm and now forgotten foreign language was a treat. Casting was excellent and the Japanese actors all embodied perfectly their characters.

I missed seeing more Japanese female characters, especially those "office ladies" that would contrast with the leading Japanese lady (Fubuki-san) though, and help understand where she came from. I also missed seeing the French leading lady (Amelie-san) immersed in the Japanese very codified everyday life out of work : the kind of place where she lived, the kind of food she ate, the kind of places where she used to hang around when not spending her nights at the office, how she related with her co-workers, neighbors, friends during her spare time...

Have a wonderful time!

Mille millièmes (2002)

A look into not so glamorous Parisian home owners' way of life.

[4/10 · 24 August 2002]

The movie offers a look into a not so glamorous Parisian home owners' way of life and revolves around a myriad of characters whose opposite personalities and values sometimes have to and other times can't put up with each other.

French director Remi Waterhouse has chosen to tell the story by going back and forth between scenes taken from the home owner's association meeting (40 minutes) and scenes taken from some characters' lives outside the meeting. Mille Milliemes is his second feature film as a director, after his most welcome "Je regle mon pas sur le pas de mon pere" (1999); he also co-wrote the script of the very well received Ridicule (1996).

The story portrays the good and the bad in each and everyone, the self-interest versus the interest of the community and the rational and irrational in the decision-making process during the home owner association meeting of a small condominium - about 15 to 20 home owners were sitting at the meeting, the respect and the looking down upon renters, homeless people and the "concierge".

Bigger and smaller things in the life of a condominium are brought up, discussed and voted on when it applies, from the new elevator to be installed to the amount (over)spent on cleaning products, including the authorization to build an indoor staircase between two apartments, to park bicycles in the courtyard, the time to turn the phone entry system on in the evening, who should be fined for graffiti on the walls in the courtyard, how to prevent people from relieving themselves in the common areas, complains about a couple making loud, passionate love at night in the courtyard, etc.

Apart from Jean-Pierre Darroussin (Un Air de Famille - 1996) who plays Patrick Bertil, the unpopular, withdrawn, boring medal-making company man, I was not impressed with the performances of the other actors in this movie, including Irene Jacob (Trois Couleurs Rouge - 1994, La Double Vie de Veronique - 1991) whose acting has never stirred many emotions in me whenever I see her on the screen.

A pity that in spite of a good concept in the first place, the movie failed to be entertaining. Mille Milliemes could have been a good, fast-paced comedy, but it turned out to be lengthy, displaying too many characters we weren't really given the opportunity to care enough for. (4/10)

Seventeen Times Cécile Cassard (2002)

Rather boring, but two wonderful scenes worth seeing

[24 July 2002]

After the death of her husband, Cecile Cassard (Beatrice Dalle) seems unable to cope with her everyday life and fears to be harmful for her young son. She settles down in another town (Toulouse) while the little boy is raised by a woman friend of Cecile. The movie shows "moments" (17, hence the title) in her life. Scene after scene, as she goes along, she comes back to life.

The movie is slow paced, too slow most of the time, and relies on moods created by colors, sets and anecdotes chosen by French director Christophe Honore. The overall atmosphere is rather dark with some touches of bright colors. Dialogue is poor.

Beatrice Dalle, once a sex symbol (37.2 Degrees in the Morning - 1986), was disappointing in her acting and her look didn't help. She was boring to watch and she had a lot of screen time.

Two wonderful scenes were worth seeing though: they were both infused with the talent of Romain Duris, who stole the show each time. The first one was the Merry Christmas scene, when Matthieu (Romain Duris) shows up at Cecile Cassard's new home and offers her to make three wishes; the second one was when he sang "Lola" at the picnic party. Cinematography was absolutely beautiful and Romain Duris so mesmerizing. (5/10).

Zoolander (2001)

Nice directing and performance by Ben Stiller.

[6/10 · 5 February 2002]

I became a fan of Ben Stiller only recently, after watching him as a guest in the program called `Inside The Actor's Studio' produced by James Lipton. He was so likeable and naturally… funny. When asked if being funny was a skill or a gift, he replied that he didn't know how you could teach somebody to be funny. Before that, I had seen him in: There's Something About Mary and Meet The Parents. At that time, I was more interested in watching Cameron Diaz or Robert De Niro's performances.

In his previous movies, Ben Stiller would portray a nice but unlucky guy, so incredibly unlucky that it was unnerving. With Zoolander, he remains a nice guy, but instead of being incredibly unlucky, he becomes a victim. He is no longer the hero - lacking super human powers though - who has to face adverse circumstances to achieve his goal (conquer the woman that he loves, or her family for that matter). In Zoolander, he is a kind of anti-hero who had no goal whatsoever (apart from having absolute FUN – even at the cost of human lives), until his fame shakes and he becomes a target of a dreadful manipulation...

I'd say, if you are NOT a fan of Ben Stiller; or if you are a fan of the Ben Stiller of his previous movies; or if you expect the comedy genre to be witty and high-brow, stay home and wait until it's available on video to rent Zoolander. You'll have a good time if you keep your mind open and want to relax one evening.

Derek Zoolander has only the look for him, and a big heart – but other than that, he is VERY stupid. In fact, he is a caricature, meaning that his character is based on real life traits. But those real traits are found in various persons. For the purpose of the caricature, they are mixed together in one character and distorted with great exaggeration. As a result, people are fooled: they think that someone like Derek Zoolander cannot be found out there in the real world, nor either of the other characters in the movie.

I especially liked the opening scene in the warehouse, where they plan to kill the Malaysian Prime Minister and state the reasons why he is a threat to the industry. I also liked the shots for Derek Zoolander's first appearance, through the journalist Matilda Jeffries. There is a suspense that was nicely built up: what is he going to look like?! Another of my favorite scenes was the brainwashing scene, where he is made to believe that the children themselves claim for their rights to be able to work in the factories. And I found the new historical perspective on Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations very funny.

Because the whole thing is a true FARCE – nobody feels threatened, very rare are the people who will gain a new insight, a fresh outlook on what our everyday world is made of, how we contribute to model it by the choices or non-choices that we make. So all is well, we are safe and we still have fun!

I found the theme of the movie very enticing: the modeling/fashion industry, and featuring a male model in a ridiculous manner is a great idea. The directing by Ben Stiller was good. There was a good pace and the movie moved along smoothly. The only thing I missed was more `insights' on the modeling industry, such as the flashback Derek Zoolander had on pretending to be a monkey during a photo shoot. The David Bowie cameo appearance was very nicely done.

Some people didn't like the fact that Zoolander appeared as a kind of `family movie', with Ben Stiller's Dad (Jerry Stiller as Maury Ballstein) and his wife (Christine Taylor as Matilda Jeffries) play supporting roles. Jerry Stiller was perfect for the role and great in this movie. Christine Taylor was OK, but to me, she failed to inspire a special feeling for this female journalist (good girl/bad girl?). Maybe the script was at fault, but as a talented actress, she should have been able to carve an unforgettable character for Matilda Jeffries. Think about Milla Jovovich's performance as Katinka. She was absolutely fantastic. We need more striking performances for female leads – which are unfortunately still too rare on the screen.

I gave it 7 out of 10.