La Cage aux folles II

This movie is worth a look, even though it lacks the same spark as its supremely hilarious predecessor.

(N.B., Michel Serrault who plays Albin in the La Cage movies plays the equally fey hairdresser in "The King of Hearts" starring Alan Bates)

I love this movie, the scenery, the music etc... But old foreign movie critic friend of mine back in the early '80s suggested to me that Michel playing the haggard Italian lady was a salute to Ana Magnani. I've seena few movies of her. And Michel really did a great job.

I'm from Avellino Italy and I came over in 1956. So. In our Italian American villages we didn't have running water so we had to pump the drinking water and have rain barrels around our houses to save it for washing clothes. It was great for your hair too.

My Italian grandmother and mother would act like him when they were toiling with their chores.

When this film was released on VHS worldwide, the voices had been dubbed in English; since then, I've only found subtitled in English versions. That said, the dubbed version, for those of us not fluent in French, was absolutely excellent--hats off to the producers of such an entertaining film. We find our "heroes" all embroiled in all kinds of shenanigans, but mainly: they're in trouble with the Mob. Terrifically funny and clever, it backs off the social statement that La Cage I went to great pains to present. Cage II seems to have set social significance aside, for the most part, and then panders to the "funny bone" to get laughs, albeit good ones. Both I and II were (are) trailblazers in the gay movement around the world (well, perhaps not so much in Uganda, Nigeria, or Kenya or in some Mid-Eastern countries, alas). Cage III is something else.

I really laugh when I saw this second episode of La Cage aux Folles. Some say it's too exaggerated, that it's unbelievable. But what about Tootsie, Mrs Doubtfire or Some Like it Hot? It's in the same spirit. It's a comedy and when you forget the plausibility, you can have a LOT of fun! Zaza, the main character is unbelievalbe, a drama queen like there's never been on screen. She pups up from a birthday cake, she has to wear men's cloctes (yes! desesperatly still look like a woman!), she seduces an half-witted Italian peasant, absolutely hilarious! Eveything is great, the images, the costumes, the acting, the action. Not to be missed!

Although some have said they like this sequel better than part one, this follow-up to C.A.F. is a little more forced than the first one. Albin does plenty of high pitched shrieks to keep us chuckling and involved, but this story isn't as solid as the first. As long as you keep your expectations in check, you'll have fun. The story starts at the nightclub, but there are mixups and shenanigans in hotel rooms, and running around France. With the good guys and the bad guys both chasing after them, they go into hiding at Renato's family home in Italy. The in-laws, the Deputy of the Moral Committee is in this one briefly, and Jacob the over-emotional maid, but not the son. It's also not the safe, happy-go-lucky world of the nightclub that we saw in Part 1. In this one, there are plenty of gags and jokes, but also a fair amount of hateful name calling and street fighting that we didn't see in part 1. There's also a subplot of Luigi the farm hand falling for one of them, but you'll have to watch it for yourself.