J'ai pas sommeil

I enjoyed this film that had beautiful images of the male body, and a colorful mix of characters. Although the director, Claire Denis is a straight, white, woman, the film is full of homosexuality images. These images are done artfully however, do not limit the films appeal to a wide range of people. Although a serial killer is loose in Paris, this film is not a classic thriller, in the sense that the viewer does not feel on-edge, and actually might feel comfortable with the killer as did I. I would recommend this film as a good peek at what it is like to be an outsider in Paris.

By using any traffic system, you can go anytime, anywhere, anyway you like. This is called evolution. But in other way, that means you may surrounded by many strangers easily no matter what. No consideration if you like it or not. I call it destruction of human relations.

You can't deny thinking about it seeing this film. Cos it has scenes full of it. Distance between people, emptiness of the civilization.

We have to be separated cos they wanted us that way. So they can easily control. We've been cut out from our own lives and pasted on a huge system just to run it.

Not enough lines, but silence speaks. I like these kind of smart film. Hail Ozu.

I can sort of see what (co)writer - director Claire Denis was trying to do here: a serial killer "thriller" minus any of the Hollywood flash, cross-pollinated with a "slice-of-Parisian-life" type of film (there is also a bit of "Pulp Fiction" going on, not in the chronology of events which is straightforward but in the way various characters pop in and out of each others' stories; however, because both films came out at the same year (1994), it's hard to say if there was any actual influence). Unfortunately, the result is boring, meandering and interminable. The Lithuanian girl's sections are marginally more interesting than the rest, mostly because Yekaterina Golubeva is stunningly beautiful. Gotta love that totally inaccurate IMDb plot description! * out of 4.

You might have to be a foreigner to understand the plight of not belonging to the main culture of a country. The characters portrayed are deracine from their native countries, attracted by the promised land of capitalism, functioning mainly in the twilight hours of Paris, where they are mainly prey for sexual predators. Exploitation of these immigrants continue as it was in colonial times, except this time is not so overt. The illusion of freedom is thin. The impossibility of communication thick. Interacial affairs doomed, as are their children. Pretty bleak, but portrayed with sensitivity by Denis who shows us the underside and post effects of colonialism in contemporary Paris.

This is a very strange film, indeed. In the plot there's something about a Latvian immigrant in Paris, a couple of homosexuals, an old lady's murderer, some African immigrants (I think they're from the Maurice Islands), a woman who is a hotel manager and protects the young Latvian, a transvestite who has his own show on a nightclub, and some other crimes and weird stuff.

But it's not a bad movie after all. Despite the confusing plot, the film has some very nice sequences, some shocking scenes and one of the most beautiful actresses I've ever seen, Ms. Katherina Golubeva, whom I'd never heard about before this film. If you have a lot of time to spend, and you're in the mood for an unusual motion picture with a gorgeous young actress, "J'Ai pas Sommeil" is a good pick.