La lune dans le caniveau

I saw this movie in the early '80s and found it artsy and messy yet with staying charm. Have just seen it again on DVD and still like it. The disregard of reality and logic are almost Lynch-like. The cast is quite good, and the messy households are like something from A Streetcar Named Desire.

I dimly recall that director Beineix was going to follow this movie with an extravagant production of Marc Behm's vampire novel "The Ice Maiden." (Behm a favorite writer of mine.) But "Moon" bit the dust at the box office, and as a result, the "Ice" project got scrapped. Maybe it'll get made someday.

Per the 'Net, "Moon"'s much-in-evidence red car is an early '60s Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder.

Most printed words regarding this film is usually all negative. Criticisms for story and lack of coherence are usually the main issues. The film has has a sad reputation overall, but the atmosphere and cinematography makes up for any shortcomings in the script. The cast-particularly Kinski and Abril really make the film. Depardieu's dedication is serious enough as the lead protagonist. Check the works of Kinski and you'll find no other film of hers giving the aura and beguiling beauty display in The Moon In the Gutter. Regardless,the movie is better than most coming out these days. I would rank it highly with films like "Betty Blue" and the works of Almodovar and Polanski.Hopefully, a proper DVD issue of some kind is imminent.

One would imagine that any film staring Depardieu, Kinski and Abril would be worth watching for their performances alone... but not in this case. The pace of the story was slow, and its premise was instantly forgettable. NOT recommended.

I have to say that this was a pretty bad movie. The acting was bad, the editing was bad, the story was bad. I can see, however, how a movie like this can pave the way for something like Delicatessen, La cité des enfants perdus, and even Les amants du Pont-Neuf.

Actually, this reminded me of Carax's Mauvais Sang, which was really horrible but paved the way to his masterpiece Les amants du Pont-Neuf. Similarly, this is a precursor to Beineix's masterpiece, 37•2 le matin (version integrale). The focus on tormented relationships and uncertain geographies can be interesting, but really, not in this movie. The music was good, but not always well-adapted to the scenes it accompanied. Then again, by no means does this movie aim to be realistic (which explains the acting). Too bad. Interesting elements but boring results.

It's a pity we were unable to watch the complete version of the movie, that lasts nearly 5 hours. It might give us a complete story that is too short here. Maybe one day Beineix will release it on dvd...