cheese_cake

a man is about to get married. he has a beautiful girlfriend and everything is going fine. yet at night he keeps dreaming about a perfect woman who makes love to him. he even thinks about her at day time. what is going on? pre-marriage jitters. something deeper. a simple story but told with nice suspense. set in Greece, which is one of it's charms, i enjoyed watching Greek life, their apartment and other things of that nature. one of the drawbacks of this movie, is the perfect woman. i didn't think she was perfect. she's tall, blonde and skinny...i preferred his girlfriend. but, hey it's a Greek man's dream and probably the director's own fantasy. it has a nice twist at the end. your jaw is gonna drop. wooo, what a pickle! about 30 mins, some nice music, solid acting, some tasteful nudity. recommended.

the movie is about three scoundrelly, starving, yet genuine artists. i loved the acting, rudolfo in particular is perfect to the T, and story of the 3 artists, since i felt i could identify with them, being a poor, un-understood writer/artist myself (yeah i know one among many thousands, but that does not detract). the movie is not too ham handed about this aspect and keeps the first part of the film very lively, with loves and adventures galore. the second part is slightly more serious what with an unexpected ending. the movie did not have the tight ending and core cohesiveness that is required of masterpieces. part of it may be that it is adapted from a book written in 1888, henri munger's - Scenes de la Boheme. by the way the director is flemish!!! highly amusing, the men seem hip to the scene and even when forlorn are in a trendy down-trodden people's bar (without the street thugs/drunks), cigarette's dangling perpetually from their mouths. the black and white cinematography and overall style of visual composition is spot on. the scene where the musician plays his "original" composition is a hoot. i HIGHLY recommend it.

France as we all know is famous for their art-house flicks, the new wave, the new new wave and of course old school gangster flicks. therefore, i was amazed to find this gem of a gangster spoof funny movie. you know a movie is good, when you can't even tell its plot, a. because it too nebulous/zany, b. it would ruin it for you. it has more twists than a road winding along the ocean front of California and it runs like a well oiled Peugeot (i know) from a vintage class. fast and so so smooth.

it starts with a gangster who just got out of jail, named Pomme-Chips (hehehe...french fries, genius)...who's out to get his revenge on the guy who stole his girl. he's got friends, there's gambling, the guy he's after has a cousin who's in a play, his girlfriend gets seduced again...they all meet in a bar, then a play house, an elevator, a party with a general, a huge viola has a significant cameo, skeletons and so on. i really just can't tell you more about the story, but it will not bore you for a second.

the dialog is insanely good, eg, 110 00:10:45,573 --> 00:10:50,442 Did you see her hips sway? Only women who've suffered have that. 111 00:10:50,613 --> 00:10:53,730 Are you talking nonsense now? - Yes.

the title translates to "salad by the roots"...no idea what the analogy is to. the cast is semi-famous from that era and they do a killer job. the girlfriend starts out hot and only keeps on getting into more stylish (cough) outfits. good ole un-feminism. i like the whole french style, direct and to the point. the old uncle is a hoot...i'm laughing just thinking about that scene. the director is unfairly obscure outside of France, despite having made a bunch of comic gems, but the fking french never provide any English subs...la moral superiorite et la frenchies....see my french even got better...tut a laire, aloe, bon nuit (sounds good in my head...hehehe) !!!