Below is part of a review I did for this film that is somehow de-linked I'll have to comb through the back pages to find it. But this post is a temporary link. True link here
Here is a fantastical visual display of style combined with the highest studio stagecraft arts creating a very fascinating film. It has a Rube Goldberg-ish modus operandi that is part Sci-Fi, part Fantasy, part Steampunk i.e. The Wild Wild West (TV Series 1965–1969), part Head/Graphic Comix artist influence (i.e. Jean Giraud, Jordi Bernet, R. Crumb, Spain Rodriquez, Caro himself, etc., etc.) part Sergio Leone in the grotesque close ups. I also see a bit of Dicken's Oliver Twist, and films Seconds (1966), The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962), and La Strada (1954).with a dash of another French Kid Noir, L’enfer des anges (1939) in the mix.
There is so much coming at you that it's not humanly possible to take it in at one time because you are just not expecting it. It's like trying to tell somebody what it's like to be hit by a wave who has never been to a beach. Yeah, you can imagine what its like but you are not expecting a total assault on your senses. You have no concept that the water is going to weigh so much that it will knock you on your ass nor of the force of the spinning turbulence on your body, nor the crashing pounding sound of the surf, or the feel and after-taste of salt water. It's overwhelming even when you are prepared.
In La Cité des enfants perdus you are getting hit with a complex story, with fantastically weird characters, and a plethora of visuals, immensely interesting visuals and short vignettes that may or may not be important to the story. Stuff like a few second sequence of a reference to the blind leading the blind, or an elaborate burglary involving a mouse attracted to grated cheese with a string tied to its tail. The mouse pulls a magnet trolling for the key to the door. One getting drunk and hitting on a B-Girl in a dive bar. A raft of mice floating into the backstage doorway of a burlesque house. And they delightfully go on and on and on.
No comments:
Post a Comment