Moi César, 10 ans 1/2, 1m39

I have just seen this film as part of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts French Film Festival. The last film that I saw as part of the festival, Red Lights, was resented by me for being that worst of things, a thriller with an implausible plot, full of holes, and not worth seeing. "Moi, cesar", however, has thoroughly healed those wounds!

This is a delightful, entertaining,fun ride through the world of a disaffected 10 year old Parisian boy whose sole passions are for pastries and a lovely girl classmate. In tone, cinematography and pacing, this film feels a lot like Amelie, and I really enjoyed all the pleasurable laughs it provided. I bought the whole story; the screenplay is very well written and all the actors do an excellent job. The film kicks up a notch when Cesar and his girl and his best friend all hatch a clever ruse, and manage to get themselves to London to help the best friend find his birth father. Just when they need help the most, an older punk fairy godmother, Gloria( in a nod to Tina Turner and Gina Rowlands) appears and things improve. Al is pulled together in a great fun finale. An easy 9 out of 10. Enjoy!

This new work of Berry is exceptional and as it's only his second, you can be sure it's a director to follow. Maybe it's because he seems to have a excellent memory or the fact that he's super-kind to cast his daughter in all his movies, but he knows exactly what is-it to be a child: a world that is high, that is not totally clear, sometimes painful and frightening but always the best time to share with your friends.

Thus, watching this movie makes you remember your old past as well because we all shared the same experiences: the love of the mother, the authority of the father, the big situation of school (mine was to keep silent the trip to Germany from my parents), the dangerous expedition (mine was to explore a vacant hospital with dead cat), the alienating vacations and family (same farm with grandparents, nothing around and silly cousins), the lessons of biology and the first beats of our heart (unfortunately, my "sarah" dumped me before our date could even exist when I just give my homework with her name on it! I have always been absent-minded if I'm troubled.).

So, Berry manages to bottle all those moments in a fresh and funny story and find an admirable cast and production to tell it: the adults and kids are really top, the sets are full of colors or have amazing light for the locations in Paris, London. The music is perfect and sounds very nostalgic.

If "Home alone" is the best about being kid and family, "Moi, César" is best about friendship among kids! Please, Josephine & Richard, go on with more movies like this !

"Moi Cesar" is a charming movie about the growing pains of a plump, insecure boy, wonderfully embodied by Jules Sitruk. He and his two best pals form a strong friendship that reaches its apex when they run off to London to look for Cesar's friend's British father. They are aided by Anna Karina in a rare role as an Auntie Mame-like character, a punk pub owner with a Tina Turner hairdo. It's a great cameo by the iconic actress. It's a pity that "Moi Cesar" hasn't been released commercially in the US. The movie can be as popular as "Amelie". Richard Berry, the French actor, directed this comedy and Luc Besson was among its producers. Josephine Berry, Richard's beautiful daughter, plays Cesar's love interest.

Moi, César is a lovely french movie. But it's partly American styled. I liked the music very much. It made me think of Yann Tiersen, the composer of the music of Amélie Poulain and Délicatessen. The music gives you an alternative American feel-good movie-feeling. The film is about the serious worries of a 10 year old boy, not really satisfied with his life and his looks, and in love with Sarah. Together with Gloria (she made me think of a punk-version of Whoopi Goldberg) they're looking for Morgan's father in London. The story is not very complicated, it's just an ideal film for a cost evening. Nice film shooting, brilliant music,good actors... very nice!

This movie's a crack. Obviously, Richard Berry is a poor actor. We discover with this movie, quite logically, that he is a poor author too. Well, actually, he is not an author at all. This 'Amelie Poulain' lookalike product is very boring, unimaginative, full of clichés on childhood (and music ad hoc), and the adults around the main character are just clowns. No direction, no action, just the narrative of this Cesar, very thought actually for an immature adult audience. This is very sad to see how french cinema is getting worst and worst, financing such indigent projects when many young authors are starving. Thank you TF1, Canal + and so on.