Tuvalu

A strange film starring one of cinema's greatest weirdos, Denis Lavant... Tuvalu is hard to describe. I kind of want to call it steampunk Charlie Chaplin and leave it at that, but it's also not really sci-fi.

Maybe it's dystopian? Just because everything's so rundown, and because people don't communicate beyond saying a few words and their names, for the most part, as if language has just broken down.

It's not entirely a silent film, with people grunting and sort of speaking, and there being plenty of sound effects, but the comedic moments and lots of the acting feel silent movie-ish.

Don't know how to segue, but there's also a joke taken straight from the first Naked Gun (outline of a body floating on the water), which I appreciated. Or it was a coincidence, I don't know.

I don't know anything.

I don't know how to describe the plot, and similarly unsure about genre(s). It looks cool and provides a unique experience, not wasting much time and being fairly entertaining. A good film to be watched for anyone in the mood for something completely different.

I enjoyed Tuvalu immensely. I found it to be a very touching and heart-warming look into the life of an ordinary man living in an extraordinary world. The story was great. It had elements of suspense, romance, tragedy and quirky humour. The actors also did an excellent job of bringing to life the odd and endearing characters. I also found that the film really succeeded in bringing across a mood with exquisitely bleak scenery and visuals which I found reminiscent of both "City of Lost Children" and "Brazil". Tuvalu is an incredible surrealistic journey through a world full of fantasy and wonder. I highly recommend it.

It's been a couple of years since I saw, but would like to see it again. I remember it being magical. Everything works well in this film: the acting carries the film without dialogue, the color of the film (sepia) gives it a surrealistic, fairy-tale quality. Great story, focusing on saving a family-operated bathouse from evil developers. Many memorable scenes, including fooling the blind father that the place is full of customers. Another example of a film that Hollywood/USA could never make.

I had the chance to see this movie in the Porto, Portugal film festival Fantasporto 2000. The story revolves around a decadent public swimming pool, run by a blind old man who's mind still lives in the building's days of glory. It focuses on the people still using it, and on the persons still working there: a woman with a fixation on buttons and one of the old man's sons, who struggles to keep the building alive. The antagonist is the old man's other son who eagerly waits for the destruction of the building so he can build condo's.

I found the concept of making a film without dialogs very interesting. Although people might think this could make the film boring and hard to follow, this doesn't happen at all. Merit goes to the actors, who deliver a very expressive and quality performance, without falling into ridicule, and to the rhythm given to the plot.

Regarding directing and photography, all is presented neatly, but I can't help mentioning the similarities to Emir Kusturica's (namely in the portraying of the 'post-apocalyptic' universe and the nonsense touch of the plot) and to Jeunet & Caro's work (the building and the 'impossible romance' between the main characters is shown very similarly to Delicatessen). Although this impairs a bit the final result, I believe that in the end it is a nice movie which most people will enjoy and be surprised with (specially if they haven't seen any Kusturica or Jeunet & Caro movie).

I love this movie! It's funny, it gives you material for hours of discussion and it makes you think and dream. my favourite scene is when Eva goes swimming with her pet-fish. Not only that her naked body looks very beautiful in the blue light - what impressed me most was the fact, that the fish believed to be free although it was imprisoned in a bigger vessel. A good film to reflect about your dreams and how to realize the ones that are no pipe dreams.