ziquemu

... or whatever the French equivalent would be ("mec, que est-ce qu'ils ont pense quand ils ont cree cette film?"). I was actually in Paris when this premiered. It's like six stories in one, and every time you think it ends, it just keeps on going on. We even get Knights Templar thrown in at what we think is the end, but then we move on to historic events.

The idea is great -- the gentleman thief. It's just over-over-over explained. Cinematography is quite good -- nice look and feel for old Paris. However, editing leaves something to be desired. And yes, Kristen Scott Thomas speaks very good French (well, actually, I'm not one to really judge -- sounded good to me). A nice effort that could have been a truly entertaining film if not written by a team of seven writers not in communication with each other (or so it seemed).

And one last thing -- the thief thing is a little ridiculous. The guy goes into a room, women are wearing enormous ostentatious necklaces and earrings, and they never notice him basically ripping these off of them. I think there was some sort of sensory deprivation problem back then (perhaps "touch" hadn't yet been discovered), so that might have made it easier for our pal Arsene. Otherwise, I have no explanation.

So, if you want to see a recent French film with good production value and practice your French, enjoy. If you want to see a good French film, there are many many other films more worth your time.

... Jewish or not. First off, thank goodness my make-pretend girlfriend Sabrina Lloyd has a job, though it's a little too supporting (note how she didn't stop the killer or solve the case -- she had the stereotypically "womanly" job of comforting the tied up victim). No combat for her. Too bad about the blond highlights, but you can't have everything ...

Anyway, show is decent, not great, but a lot of very good actors (Morrow, Hirsch, MacNichol, Lloyd, Krumholtz) who work well as an ensemble. Even Anthony Heald (the mean prison warden in "Silence of the Lambs") as the bad FBI bureaucrat. Overall pretty formulaic and predictable (even "Silence of the Lambs" had the "random -- too random" thing with the evenly spaced incidents), but good enough to stay on for a while and work on characters.

Really could use some subtlety -- such as when Morrow unnecessarily hustles to help the cutie unnamed grad student hang up charts because, well, she's hot. However, most of the show is very straightforward, which is a shame, because this is a cast that can handle subtlety and subplot. Otherwise we've just got CSI West, with more math and less evidence.

... films (not just "foreign films" ) out there. I think the word "haunting" was invented just to describe it. It is poignant, moving, deep and more without being overly heavy. Betty Blue/37.2 is a very good example of directing mood without being stupid -- scenes do make sense, characters do get revealed. So it's not like one of those arty "ambience" films your friends drag you off to every so often.

First time viewers, don't be put off by the first scene -- I think they just did it to prove they could.

To explain how powerful it is, even now if I hear the stupid song Zorg plays on piano, I still feel the film. The book is great as well.