Ciao Maschio

The premise quite catches one's attention, as well as the attachment of esteemed actors, not to mention the fact that the title was received well at Cannes. As the film first begins one is perhaps indirectly reminded of other creative oddball works, like 1973's 'La grande bouffe' or 1982 bizarrerie 'Liquid sky,' and one carries high hopes for what filmmaker Marco Ferreri, and/or co-writers Gérard Brach and Rafael Azcona, might do with the concept at large or with the setting. However, as the length draws on, the idiosyncratic scene writing increasingly seems to be part of not a wildly inventive narrative, or a presentation with something big and important to say, but a tapestry of incohesive randomness that goes nowhere in particular and says nothing substantive. There are many kernels of ideas scattered throughout, kernels that could have been latched upon to shape 'Bye bye monkey' (also known as 'Rêve de singe' or 'Ciao maschio') into something significant and entertaining. What it feels like, instead, is scene after scene of Christopher Walken's infamous few lines in Martin Brest's 2003 misfire 'Gigli' - quizzical, baffling, and nonsensical. The difference is that despite its outward appearance the latter scene actually does make sense in context, whereas so far as I can determine, there's ultimately not truly anything to be gleaned from this.

There is no actor herein who does not suffer from that perplexing tenor, and between young Frenchman Gérard Depardieu - well before he would be accused in real life of sexually assaulting many women - and Italian icon Marco Mastroianni in his supporting part, I don't know who bears more of the brunt of it. The dialogue fails just as surely as the scene writing to produce anything enduring and meaningful, and no few instances of nudity rather just raise a skeptical eyebrow. I suppose we could commend the cast for embracing the inanity and bringing it to fruition, though I don't know why we would, and the same goes for Ferreri with his direction. The highest compliments I think this is likely to deserve are for its production design, art direction, costume design, hair, and makeup; the harshest criticism definitely belongs to Ferreri, Brach, and Azcona as writers, primarily for the lack of any cogency or real, discernible purpose, but also for passing, unnecessary expression of regressive social values (e.g., here a homophobic slur, there a flummoxing line of toxic paternalism and gender enforcement). In no time 'Bye bye monkey' becomes a picture that we continue to watch only out a sense of commitment, for it bears no strength of its own to hold our attention or drive engagement. As far as I'm concerned these two hours are a waste for any given viewer, and all the time, energy, and resources that were devoted to the production would have been better off going elsewhere; it's well made by contemporary standards, but so what?

I guess I'm glad for those who get more out of this movie than I do. I just don't know how they manage to do it. I sat with no foreknowledge or expectations but anticipated enjoying it in some measure; instead it was so dull and trifling, squandering any possible potential, that it put me to sleep. After I awoke and continued watching, I think continuing to sleep would have been the better use of my time. Whatever it is you want out of this flick, may you find it, but in my opinion you should really just watch something else in the first place.

This is not a real movie in terms of a story but rather a collection of impressions about the life of a lonely guy living somewhere in a future New York slum during an apocalyptic virus wave that caused the death of thousands of people. He's surviving by taking bizarre jobs for a living, and finally he's finding a small monkey as a buddy.

The whole atmosphere is disturbing and sinister, but the "story" is a bit lame sometimes. The photography is stunning and occasionally reminds of the famous apocalyptic paintings of Hieronimus Bosch to the shadowy impressions of Enrico de Chirico. A really disturbing, surreal French movie featuring a young Gerard Depardieu.

You know how foreign movies have the reputation for being extremely weird and full of naked people? Well, if you've ever seen a foreign movie from the 1970s, you know why. They're weird! Everybody takes their clothes off!

In Bye Bye Monkey, a bunch of disconnected stories are all joined together. And everyone takes their clothes off. An independent girls' theater troupe discusses whether or not it's possible for a man to be raped, then decides to put the question to the test. James Coco makes wax replicas of Ancient Rome, then decides to make the faces likenesses of American presidents. Geraldine Fitzgerald longs for love she's never experienced. And finally, Gérard Depardieu finds a baby monkey on the beach and adopts him. Marcello Mastroianni tags along in various scenes, but it's not really clear why, and Abigail Clayton falls in love with Gérard, even though he's never without his pet monkey and constantly blows through a metal whistle when he breathes. Yes, he's gorgeous, but nothing in this movie makes sense.

In an inarguably adorable scene, Gérard tries to leave the baby monkey in the park and walk away. The monkey shrieks and runs after him, then climbs up his body to nestle in the crook of his arm. In the next scene, Gérard gives the monkey a little bed, and you can see the animal smiling. That's about as cute as it gets. The rest of the movie is either weird or upsetting, but if you really like 1970s foreign movies or have never seen one, this is a perfect example. Ironically, the entire movie is spoken in English, and Gérard speaks more English in this movie than he did in Green Card!

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to nudity, graphic sex scenes, and an upsetting scene involving an animal, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

Strange, and it has some interesting bits, but it's dull and nonsensically plotted. Gerard Depardieu and Marcello Mastroinanni make asses of themselves, and Gail Lawrence, better known under her porn name, Abigail Clayton, is naked for about 50% of the film. Depardieu plays a boy toy in New York City. One day his friend, played by Mastroianni, is walking along the beach when he discovers the corpse of King Kong, whose orphaned baby he gets Depardieu to adopt. The themes involve the ever-changing gender roles, and this could have been very interesting. Unfortunately, it has no real plot to speak of, and it just meanders from weird scene to weird scene. Sometimes, the visuals are quite haunting, especially when the characters are on the beach with the New York cityscape towering over them and the giant ape corpse dominating the bottom of the frame. 5/10.

What film involves a beach in New York City, apes and a very famous New York landmark? Yeah, well Planet of the Apes does, but I mean Ciao Maschio.

This is a pretty bad film, there is no story to explain, the relationships between the characters are sometimes puzzling, the occurrences are sometimes impossible and the people's reactions unreal. Then comes the acting, the very, very bad acting.

But if you love films set in New York City and just like a calm atmospheric and weird film set in parts of New York you don't often see then you can't miss this.

The entire film takes place among a few block radius in a residential neighborhood just a few blocks north of the World Trade Center. It seems to be shot in a hurry as many scenes could have used another take or two. I wonder if they had all the necessary permits of if it was, umm "guerilla" filmmaking. It seems like they may have shot it all on a few Sunday or Holiday mornings as you never see another soul walking the streets during any scenes.

But here is the most fascinating part. This was shot, I assume in 1977, and at the time they were building landfill or extending that part of Manhattan out into the East River to create a man-made neighborhood on which they would build expensive condos. But at this brief point in history it was a vast beach, it was all sand. It was blocked by a weak fence with a warning sign but they ignored it and several scenes, long scenes, take place on this yet -to-be-finished landfill area just under the Twin Towers. It is actually quite beautiful and I doubt another film exists that would show this. In fact I doubt you could even find an old newsreel type video on youtube that might show this.

For that reason alone i would recommend this.