Chris and Janet are not due back until well after 11pm, so I treated myself to a jaunt to the Scala
Seven years ago I fell in love with Slyvian Chomet's French animation movie Belleville Rendez-vous. It was quirky, uplifting and had an elderly heroine with a personality and deadpan humour to die for.
Chomet's latest animated feature (The Illusionist (L'Illusionniste) is a very different kettle of fish. It is a sombre , melancholy and at times rather beautiful tale of loneliness and the inevitability of change as experienced by a french illusionist in 1959 Scotland ( of all places!)
The unnamed magician ( picture Jacques Tati crossed with an aged James Stewart) befriends a young girl called Alice in a tiny Scottish village. They forge a platonic relationship before moving to Edinburgh where Alice out grows her benefactor, whose employment and that of other variety artists are on the wane.
I must admit, I did miss the humour and warmth of Belleville Rendezvous (who indeed would not), but having said this the visual depiction of a vintage Edinburgh is so lovingly created in this movie .- The swooping overhead shot of a misty,surreal city at night literally takes your breath away- I can forgive the movie that tiny flicker of warmth and heart
8/10
Yes, not quite as great as BELLEVILLE. But still very, very good.
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ReplyDeleteI love the blend of animation and melancholy. It makes the sadness seem simpler and easier to touch for some reason. I'll have to look for Belleville...it sounds delightful!
ReplyDeleteI like animation, doubt it will be shown around here, I believe I would like it.
ReplyDeleteSounds good. Although I'm sure it would not be found around here to watch. So thanks for the visual with your words. :)
ReplyDeleteI looked this film up on the web and was impressed by the gallery of images, the clever use of sombre background colours contrasted by small amounts of central 'stand-out' colour - mostly darker shades to lighter shades of red , blue or yellow.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting technique.
Certainly not a "Mary Poppins" animation!
john you summed it up......
ReplyDeletewonderful hand painted backgrounds!
give it a go.......
Ahhhh. Something else to hound our library ordering staff about. Thank you for the review.
ReplyDeleteAnd I too loved Belleville. :)
You are so wayyyy over my head when it comes to most movies. Never even heard of this one, but it sounds good. Oh, btw, your garden veggies look fabulous! Good work Farmer John!!
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