L'écume des jours (Mood Indigo)

A friend just walked out of a Mood Indigo screening, here in summer 2014, which led me to discover that my reviews for the last few days of Fantastic Fest 2013 were missing.  I'm trying to piece together my reviews from memory.

The thing about Mood Indigo is that it is very pretty.  The film starts in the happy, whimsical way typical of French film.  Batchelor Colin is in love, life is good, and he lives in a magical house with a mouse and live in chef.  The world is colorful and dancing as he woos Chlöe his future bride.

But a rare illness - a water lily growing in her lungs - strikes Chlöe on their honeymoon, and things begin to go awry.  The great part of this film is how the cinematography adapts to the mood.  The colorful is replaced with the grey, the animated world starts to decay, and darkness literally grows into their home and life.  The sad part of the film is just how damned depressing it is to see things go so badly for this happy young couple.  I think this film epitomizes French cinema - sentient mouse, claymation, live in chef, and horribly depressing ending of death and decay.  No thanks.

L'écume des jours (Mood Indigo)
2013, 94 minutes, directed by Michel Gondry

Intruders

This is a tale of two children, separate but alike, haunted by Hollowface, who comes in the night. He steals their faces to wear as his own, for his face is long, long gone. But he does not realize how far parents will strive to keep their children safe and alive.

Intruders
2011, 93 minutes, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

Red Riding Hood

Another SXSW is here, and this one starts off early with a midnight premiere of Red Riding Hood.  Ahem, actually we are just the "first audience to see the film" since studios like to co-opt the term "world premiere".  I guess then technically we were the "first audience to see the film after having to empty our pockets and be swept by a metal detector" as well.  Thanks Warner Bros.

The film is beautiful, in that much of it consists of images of the snowy village and close-ups of Amanda Seyfried's face.  I did get the impression that there was a driving force to create a vision for the camera.  Alas, what I didn't feel was any immersion in the plot.  There's a love triangle which barely goes anywhere, a few family secrets laid bare, and lots of suspicion about who the werewolf might be.  And of course there's Solomon, the killed-my-own-wife werewolf hunter who acts in the name of the Holy Church but of course fails to act very holy at all.  Yes, they even run through all the major points of the modern version of the fairy tale.

But all is not lost.  As director Catherine Hardwicke said before the film began, "Luckily I didn't have to have any grown men sparkle in this movie."  For that, I truly feel lucky as well.

Catch it on Netflix.

Red Riding Hood
2011, 102 minutes, directed by Catherine Hardwicke

Hogfather

I haven't actually read this book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and I found myself using Wikipedia a few times during the movie to check on an assumed character relation.  That said, the story was enjoyable and funny in the usual Terry Pratchett way.

Hogfather
2006, 185 minutes, directed by Vadim Jean

Ink

This film strives to tell what it feels is an important story through imagery, art, and imagination.  It's high-concept premise is simple: what if dreams are not of our own making, but introduced by outsiders?  Good and bad forces strive to inject happy dreams and nightmares, while battling out unseen in our rooms and on the streets.  In this case, a young girl's spirit kidnapped by a third party - Ink - who wants to sell her for acceptance with the nightmare-givers, while the girl's physical form languishes in a coma.

It reminds me of several other "high fantasy" films I've seen recently - most notably Pan's Labrynth and The Fountain (both from Fantastic Fest 2006, before I started this blog).  The Fountain, in particular, gripped me in a way that few films do, in that its story fit with my own struggles.  Ink, like Pan's Labrynth, doesn't relate as well, and so the message is diluted.  Still, it is an enjoyable film for the story and imagery.

Ink
2009,  107 minutes, directed by Jamin Winans

Buratino, Son of Pinocchio

"Whether you're made of wood or plastic, when love is in the air you make it for sure."

This kooky musical narrative of growing up on the wrong side of town is a modern whimsical fairy tale crafted as an Estonian/Russian co-production. It's light and buoyant in a fanciful world even when confronted with the grime and poverty of Badville.

Buratino, Son of Pinocchio
2009, 76 minutes, directed by Rasmus Merivoo