OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies

We chose this movie as a back up to getting into a film festival film (The Fall, which actually opens next week in wide release here in Seattle) which was sold out and we didn't make it into and we picked OSS 117 because it started a half-hour later. We both knew it would be silly and light, we didn't know it would also be boring and dumb.

Mister Lonely

Weirdo Harmony Korine is at it again and, if you can believe it, it seems like he has refined his technique. Far from the offensive, uncomfortable tales of Gummo and the troublesome morals of Kids, this is a fairy tale with 10 years on Gummo and a world apart.

Celebrity impersonators live in a commune is Scotland. Michael Jackson is asked to join the group by Marilyn Monroe (the voluptuous and amazing Samantha Morton) who is married to Charlie Chaplain. The stooges are there too along with Buckwheat and Abe Lincoln (whose foul mouth adds to the fun.) Non sequitur scenes (some named by Jackson's songs) ramble along beautifully and take you to another reality. There is a culminating scene and "plot" but it didn't really matter to me. The gorgeous colors, bizarro events and a completely unrelated (as best as I can tell) story line about nuns in South America who can fly (encouraged by none other than Father Wener Hertzog) are the stars of this show.

Du Levande (You, the Living)

Surreal and drably lit, this black comedy highlighted the ups and downs of human existence...love, dogs, tubas and the fact that there is always someone observing you.

Roman de gare

The title is taken from the trashy pulp novels that one used to buy in French train stations. That suits this movie - there's not much substance, but it's not an altogether bad read, either.

My complaint is there is too much going on. Some scenes/characters/events only appear to plant a seed of confusion or doubt about what is really happening, and then they disappear. There are plot lines headed every which-way and only one or two of the really matter. I was disappointed by the ending. There is a lot of deus ex machina going on.

My highest compliments go to Dominique Pinon (City of Lost Children, Amelie, Delicatessen) whose rubbery face really saves this movie.

Mio fratello è figlio unico (My Brother is an Only Child)

Part coming of age comedy, part political drama -- two brothers wind up on opposite sides of the fascist/communist divide in Italy in the 60s and 70s. This was a part of history that I knew nothing about and don't feel much more educated for having watched the movie, but I really did enjoy the performances by the two actors who played the brothers.

Voyage du ballon rouge, Le (The Flight of the Red Balloon)

I can't tell you how much I love Juliette Binoche. She is flawless. She completely inhabits her characters in a way that other actors cannot. I am always blown away by her -- even in mediocre movies. She is almost upstaged in this movie by the little boy who plays Simon, but not quite.

This is a "remake" of the 1950's original The Red Balloon, but it's not necessary to be familiar with the original to enjoy this movie -- in fact, I remember very little of except that the red balloon follows the boy and then floats away (?) maybe I don't remember as well as I thought.

Anyway, this is a very sweet and detailed film...it's about outsiders and imagination and the minutia of life that makes us all tick.

Young at Heart

I knew we would laugh and cry, but I had no idea...this was an amazingly touching, funny and respectful look at a performing troupe of senior citizens who sing The Rolling Stones, The Ramones, and Coldplay. That's really all you need to know.