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Our First Look At Jeunet's A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT!!!!
Hey folks, Harry here... wow! Now I'm crazy with envy, this is one of my top of the year, can not wait, must see now films! Jeunet, when working in his native tongue, is one of the absolute best directors on the planet Earth and after AMELIE, I'd suffer through 30 terrible films from him hoping for another as bright, but looks like no fate so dire awaits us. Seems A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is exactly what it promised us!!! Beware of spoilers... Here ya go...
Hey Harry,
About two weeks ago I caught a test screening of "A
Very Long Engagement", the next Jeun Pierre Jeunet
film. I've been a huge of him fan for years, loved
Delicatessen, the quirky humor, and all of his
subsequent films (even most of Alien Resurrection).
And of course, "Amelie" sealed the deal.
I was extremely curious to see if he could pull off a
film of "Amelie"'s effervescence and loveliness (Audey
Tatou's and the movie's) in a war movie that is every
bit as brutal and graphic as any war movie I've seen.
I wanted to love this movie, sing it's praises to all
my friends and to anyone else who'd listen.
And I can, because it's darn near the most perfect
movie I've ever seen.
This movie is certainly not for the faint of heart. We
start out marching with a group of court martialed
soldiers through the sickly grey mudholes that were
the French trenches during WWI. Every one of them has
been sentenced to execution for self mutilation. The
method of execution is certainly cruel, unusual, and
mighty inventive, and I'm not gonna be the one to
spoil it. In classic Jeunet style, the quick back
stories of each person is told, how they got into the
military, how they ended up here, and it's every bit
as endearing as the opening sequence from 'Amelie'. I
loved these characters from the moment I laid eyes on
them. They aren't heros, or the most virtuous of
people, nor are they even anti-heros. They're just
ordinary men who went to war with everybody else.
Rather than sentimentalizing this, however, Jeunet
just lets their stories be introduced without
judgement about people's actions or the war as a
whole.
Among these guys is Manech (Gaspard Ulliel),
Mathilde's (Audrey Tautou's) fiance, who shot himself
while trying to kill a rat in his sleep. The rest of
the movie involves Mathilde's attempt to find Manech,
to find if he's dead or alive, and what happened to
him.
This is a wonderful spine for the rest of the film.
All of the quirks, vignettes, small character moments,
and touches of humor Jeunet can muster are in full
force here as we see her struggle. Each time she
receives new information, we see more of the story
unfold back in the trenches, often the same event from
different points of view. Audrey's Tatou's limp, the
mailman on the bicycle, the little dog, the cook, and
innumerable other vignettes are wildly entertaining
and still add to the story at every turn. A sequence
involving a hospital, a hydrogen filled zeppelin, and
a bomb nearly made me have a seizure . . .
Many of the actors from his previous films make a
reappearance (such as the great! Dominique Pinon), and
everybody does a stellar job. Audrey convey's
seething, incredible, and dense emotion without
overstating herself, and shines in scene after scene,
moment after moment. Like Amelie, the undercurrents of
eroticism she convey's are amazing for their
truthfulness. She's not filled with boundless
optimism, she struggles and doubts and nearly gives up
many, many times, and I loved her for it. A lot.
Bruno Delbonnels cinematography creates these
beautifully rendered scenes, startlingly vibrant in
one scene, horrifyingly grey in another. It's clear
that a lot of post work has been done to every shot,
with every last object, tone, color, and texture
adding to the atmosphere and to the story. It doesn't
overwhelm the story at all (as it certainly would in a
lesser movie). I don't know how in the hell he and
Jeunet found the locations in this movie, because
every last frame is beautiful.
Like in Amelie, the special effects blend so well with
the footage, with such good reasons for it to be
there, I was totally dazzled. They said they hadn't
finished everything when I saw it, but I don't see
how. The effects were seamless, and were used to
reinforce a scenes resonance (the wheat simulatenously
waving in the same direction) or add a bit of
inventive humor.
The film is long, over two hours (I'm not exactly sure
by how much), but is expertly paced There is a scene
towards the very end, in fact, where the film slows
down for a minute, and the waiting is lovingly
excruciating, intentionally played to twist your heart
out like a piece of fruit held just out of reach.
The only complaint, the one minor, tiny complaint, is
Jodie Foster. She's a wonderful actress, she does a
stellar job, perfect French. If I didn't know who she
was, it would have been perfect. Because she?s so
recognizable, she broke me out of the film a little
when she was on-screen. This is a movie that exists so
much as its own world, having the one Hollywood star
there was a little strange. Again, very minor.
Fate, love, war, infidelity, cruelty, humanity,
revenge, government secrets, quirky crafted
characters, I had to hold on to the railing of the
stairs walking out of the theater. I can't wait to see
it again when it comes out.
If you decide to use this, call me Vertigo.
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+ Expand All
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Love Jeunet, too
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I'm looking forward to this, Jeunet is one of my favorite directors. _______ BTW, I'm LAST!!!! I never thought I'd ever be last, but now I am .... until someone else posts, then I'm no longer last. How that for an outdated overused joke, eh?
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I just saw the ad in variety "this can not be considered for BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM (for some reason I don't know) but can be considered for all other categories including BEST PICTURE)"........i kinda thought they were full of shit until i read this review and was reminded how good this director (and lead actress) is....if this talkback is used, call me "dregmobile"....
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Anyway, can't wait for this one. Jeunet's films have always been great (well not Alien: Resurrection, it was average at best, but at least he had the balls to end it like that). I don't care about the Fantastic Four's, Superman's or Sky Captain's, because Jeunet has made another film starring Audrey Tautou (you would, wouldn't you), and I want to see it now. If you don't share my (or apparantly, Harry's) enthusiasm then you need to see Amelie, now! One of the best films ever! Fact(well, opinion)! Hopefully A Very Long Engagement will be as good as Amelie, but if it was even a tenth as good, it would most likely be one of the films of the year. Jesus, I have high expectations for this one.
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Cause it has to play in its home country by September 30, but this one won't play till October.
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"RADIATOOOOORRRRRR."
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tommy is the last original left
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Delicatessen is one of my all time favorite films. I noticed noone mentioned City of Lost Children though? Anyway I am looking forward to seeing this film with great impatience. Nobody tells a story quite like Jeunet.
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My heart is broke -- he and Tautou were so perfect in Amelie. I guess he was too busy putzing around with Halle Berry to do this film.
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After watching Alien3 Assembly cut, it is pretty clear that Resurrection is the weakest of the 4. This is NOT Jeunets fault though... David Giler seems to want to put a stake into the franchise, and has been trying to do so since 3.
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Bamf!!, you're an idiot. Now shut up.
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The French didn't support the war in Iraq. Screw them. They won't see a dime of my money.
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