Mars and April

I saw this film at the Imagine film festival 2013 in Amsterdam. I was disappointed while watching this movie, probably because of the high praises it received from all sources I consulted beforehand. No one complained that we had to wait at least half an hour before some story made its appearance, leaving us all that time wondering whether some sort of plot would came up, or even some message that the film makers wanted to get across. Even worse, after the plot emerges, the pace is still very slow and developments miss a logical binding element. The impression remains that visualizing a future society proved much more important for the film makers than presenting us a consistent story with characters we could identify ourselves with.

The music is wonderful. The visualizations we see with possible future variations on our society, is very nice indeed. For instance, the interviews with the astronauts before and during their voyage to Mars, are brought in a beautiful and promising format, different from what we see on our TV channels, and still very believable as a future setup. Also, the holographic figure we see giving a lecture and even eating in a restaurant, is also a nice way to liven up the movie, and to provoke ideas about future technical developments. I'm less certain about medical advancements, and certainly not in psychology if we can believe this film.

A definite role in the story has the futuristic public transporter mechanism (variation on the "beam me up" devices from the Star Trek series) shown in the film. Also a nice find is combining these devices with an implicit reference to the still living conspiracy theories about the moon landings we saw from 1969 to 1972, alleging that these were faked, and that the astronauts never left earth but were filmed in a moon-like décor. We see something similar happening here, and is an integral component in the story when Avril gets lost in the transporter while traveling together with aging musician Jacob.

Avril's love for retro devices is remarkable (black box camera, turntable with LP vinyl records, telephone with a dialer). It attracts our attention in this futuristic context. Her hobby forms a stark contrast with all other props in the film, and may be a bit far fetched. I see it as an indication that the film makers exaggerate in their attempts to be different. Avril's methods to make photographs of people who were asked to talk about themselves during the exposure time an old camera needs (as per her explanation), is a needless attempt to be different too.

All in all, I was disappointed in this movie, possibly (as said before) caused by all the positive comments I've read beforehand. Not everything is bad, however. There were nice attempts to picture what a possible future society may look like, places where other social conventions may exist, and of course that yet uninvented devices will be commodities, just as normal as our mobile phones are nowadays. Music will also be different, of course; we can expect different instruments to appear, producing sounds we cannot imagine at this moment.

Given all the above on the positive side, the narrative and the characters that were supposed to carry the story line, were unclear for at least half the running time. Only in hindsight could we construct some logic in what happened. That should not be necessary and better made apparent not after but rather during the movie. For the first half hour I felt a bit lost, and was wondering where all this was heading. When leaving the theater, I scored only a 3 (out of 5) for the audience award, considering too much emphasis on format and appearances, and too little (and too late) clarity about story and characters. Many will disagree, but so be it.

I saw this sci-fi film at the Mill Valley Festival when it came out, watched it again recently on Amazon and thought it was refreshing, poetic, inspiring, intelligent and highly imaginative. A living comic book that doesn't take itself too seriously, or a modern Georges Méliès' film, a futuristic, steam-punk audiovisual feast! It's an amazing accomplishment and you can see that the filmmaker put a whole lot of love in every frame. Everything about it is different from the regular type of films that are out there and it has some rather unusual ideas about the soul and person that completes us. At its core, it's a love story, a poetic tale, a dream on celluloid. To me, this film is of the same genre as those of two favourite filmmakers of mine: Terry Gilliam and Luc Besson.

I can't say enough what an incredible feat in filmmaking I think "Mars & Avril" is. It's stunningly beautiful and haunting, and like nothing I've ever seen. I grew up reading Carl Sagan so I'm an easy target for themes of spiritualism and space. His point was always that humanism and astrophysics aren't mutually exclusive, and this film says this in a very unique way. I'm really amazed at how completely the filmmaker realized this future culture, down to the architecture, fashion and music. The way he conceived the idea of music in the future, informed by and informing physics and science as we know it; the evolution of musical instruments and sounds; the cosmic, almost religious implications of music that have taken hold in this future society; it was all so beautifully imagined. The way he took science fiction and used it not to create wild action sequences and wars, but an emotional love story, really changed the way I now think about the genre.

Heavily relying on green screens, "Mars & Avril" is set in a futuristic Montreal, a place that greatly resembles "Blade Runner"'s Los Angeles or "The Fifth Element"'s NYC, a dreamy future city reminiscent of comics anthology 'Metal Hurlant', yet with something new. On a purely aural and visual level, I wouldn't hesitate to call this film visionary. Some of the images made me feel transported to the furthest depths of an alien realm. It's a mirror, a tilted cheval glass, a digital reflection of a damaged dimension, surreal and moving. For English-speaking audiences, I found watching the film with subtitles actually enhanced the French and Belgian-inspired "bande dessinée" aspect of it, so it didn't bug me at all. Worth watching more than once to catch all the subtleties of the plot and visual details.

What's most incredible is that the director, Martin Villeneuve (yes, Denis Villeneuve's younger brother), managed to achieve such a quality with a budget of only 2 million... and it was his first feature! It took him seven years. "How I made an impossible film" is a TED Talk by Martin, also worth watching. His talk details the walls he hit with budget and other creative constraints. But he survived, and so did "Mars & Avril", thankfully. I can't wait to see his next films! In my opinion, this one deserves a wider distribution (including a Blu-Ray, please!) and to score above 8 on IMDb. This little gem of a film will be rediscovered once the director has made his first Hollywood hit.

For the record, it's worth mentioning that Martin did "violence-free, philosophical sci-fi" with "Mars & Avril" four years before his older brother Denis did with "Arrival", and for 25 times less money, stretching each dollar to unbelievable heights. And for all those wowed by Denis' "Blade Runner 2049", I highly recommend his younger brother's equally mind-blowing sci-fi epic "Mars & Avril".

A love story of purity, expressions of perception inverted from reality, Misunderstood emotions, immature minds mixing with old souls. Substitution, simulacra and discovery. Personification, possibility, Potential.

The child, caught up in materialism, The father with eyes towards the "impossible"; the lovers, avatars for everything and nothing at the same time caught in a triangle of the mistaken witness, an iteration of soul out of time and place, yet required to bridge the connection now.

A pursuit of an experience, beyond the mundane, the ordinary. Simple mechanics, yet unexpected results; but what is possible, if you just believe. Or, failing that, just sit and allow what is, to unfold. However, be-careful what you wish for, You may not understand how to cope with the results. A being such, a moment when, a thought unspoken, create the unexpected, within the realms of the expected impossibility.

If you believe, you may be blessed with the witness to see, or else the comfort of knowing you contributed to the next iteration.

In a pique of contrasting thought; As much as DUNE is about a Saviour role, this is about the individual. With no group expectation. What is possible for a single soul, with few constraints and a lost purpose? A bitter sweet ending for a love unknown, recently discovered and forever lost except to impossible memory... and that's not even right way to express the messy triangle....

*Triangle; doesn't play as the typical dynamic until the *scoff* just before the subconscious feedback.

*I found the discourse between father and son, a little forced at points. To do justice to their relationship, they needed more screen time.

The 'disbelief' factor .... lost me at about 1hr10 minutes.... i get lost with the technical (visual storytelling) 'subconscious' interpretations of 'unconscious' interpretations by others.

Though the following instrument scene at least is anchored well, and gave me a point to anchor myself to again.

Thank you for doing this story. Though it introduces choices I'm still not familiar with, nor ready to contemplate; and thus, leaves me as confused as when i began... the expression of that moment, is enough to sooth my soul a little. A reminder of what was, what is, what will be. The story of connection, of recognition beyond the basic story line. The power of potential. ::hugs:: now i have to go find a box of klenex or a roll of toilet paper, or my shirt if it comes to that. I'm not crying, You're crying! 😛

It might not have had the same budget (as Dune, and other Big Budget films), with sets and scenery at moments reminiscent of an Art House project, but its arguably just as important in the histories of SciFi gospels. (I need to find my copy and watch it again, in fact; now that i have found the story again. See where it fits, so i may better discuss its contents.)

But there is a key within, for those who find, that unlocks the most wonderful and frightening doorway of the mind/soul. We need these keys to be continually produced, for there are many who would have them destroyed, for the freedom such keys give to a person. This freedom is scary to any form of uniformity and homogeneity. Yet it allows all things to be possible, if you so desire and your desire is true.

---- Slow burn intro, especially if one is not familiar with the different schools of philosophical thought and unable to pickup the subtly blunt almost too on the nose interpretations of the characters roots. But pacing, is a personal thing; so never take a reviewers opinion about such things, unless you're familiar with and agree with their previous or existing expressions. I myself, enjoy a slow burn. As cold as I may be, one thing i learned from nearly freezing to death, a slow burn is better than a flash burn, if you want to get through every bit of fuel to heat energy ratio. If you're used to tossing aside unspent moments, disregarded and unappreciated. Like spare change from a transaction; you may not enjoy this story. But, if you're familiar with the amount of effort it takes to deliver quality, take this one for a spin. At the very least, its some time spent watching a fun scifi story.

It was luck that led me to discover this movie, a few years ago, as if it came to me in a strange way. I approached it without expecting anything, only driven by my curiosity for Quebec science-fiction cinema. What a confusing and beautiful experience it is to dive into the universe of Mars et Avril.

This first feature film from director Martin Villeneuve is a dreamy and poetic experience, juggling with so many philosophical and artistic references without ever falling into the free quote. It is easy to feel the deep love the director has for science fiction cinema and Franco-Belgian comics and there is something very touching about it, as he managed to work with the legendary François Schuiten (The Dark Cities).

It is certain that this film will not appeal to everyone, because it is a contemplative experience, which does not give the viewer all the keys to understanding, but if you let yourself be carried away by its strange and dreamy atmosphere, the experience will be wonderful.

What is really amazing about Mars et Avril is the fact that Martin Villeneuve and his teams managed to create such a visually impressive production with only 2.3 millions USD's budget. This great tour-de-force led him to the TED scene to talk about the creative process.

I highly recommend watching this first great Quebec science fiction film. Mars et Avril is rich, intriguing, fascinating and refreshingly poetic !

Embarrassingly bad, especially for a Quebecois film with Robert Lepage. Flat, uninteresting characters, weak story, weak and simple dialogue masquerading as profound, no plot to speak of...looks a lot of attention was paid to the bartenders' outfits, though....

I realize making a sci-fi on a limited budget is an immense challenge, but this seems like someone's vanity project; maybe they should have tried a short film to start.

And for a film with the main focus on music and musicians, it's a totally unremarkable, forgettable score.

Sometimes films remain obscure and off-the-radar for a good reason!! Pass, unless you're looking for s "hoot-fest"....