Reviews
Le déménagement (1997)
Gentle comedy
Alain and his girlfriend are going to move into a new apartment in Paris. So they call a set of friends to help them carry the furniture and soon realise that they shouldn't have. Their friends are not evil or malevolent but stupid and messy... (Yes, it looks like the Friends series.) The movie is entertaining but I doubt anyone that hasn't lived in Paris will fully enjoy it.
The Blackout (1997)
No actual plot but something to say
The storyline of this film is not really easy to follow and understand as usual with Ferrara. Actually, he has something very sad to communicate: the end of movies and movie theaters he thinks will be replaced by video. (Internet should help the video killing the movie.) Ferrara does not see it as a bad thing (as I understood) but points it out as a natural evolution of the 'moving pictures' arts. Denis Hopper finally has a great role.
Le poulpe (1998)
Cheap movie
Adapted from the thriller book series. Each book is written by a different author but the detective (nicknamed Le Poulpe=The Octopus). The film is longer than it takes to read one of them. I never laughed but always smiled for the black humor. You can see it if you are interested by France in the 80's.
Tokyo Eyes (1998)
Serial shooter
The man shoots people but never kills them. This is not a thriller, it's a Tokyo life slices showing... with French eyes. It's amazing, sensual and incredibly modern.
Central do Brasil (1998)
Beautiful road movie
I'm a Brazilian born French and I learned some things about Brazil seeing this movie. It's interesting but also beautiful and well casted. At first, I thought of a remake of Gloria by John Cassavetes because the main characters are alike in both films. But Walter Salles emphasises on the road and the country, he's full of hopes about his own nation... and Brazil just needs hope. The characters find hope in Jesus: the one we all know and also, Jesus is the name of the orphan kid's father they are looking for.
Lost in Space (1998)
Too slow
I didn't expect an interesting plot but a fast paced action movie. But no. This is slow and it never ends, nothing happens. Besides, we're at the end of the millennium and the spaceship is the same old flying saucer, the robot does not have a newer design than Forbidden World, aliens still look like spiders. And female characters still await for male doing the stuff. The most depressing is Gary Oldman: I hope he will do anything but sci-fi evil in the future... it would be a waste!
Crna machka, beli machor (1998)
Lovely
I loved Chat noir, chat blanc. The story, the music, the cast and the cut are perfect. It tells the life of central European tsiganes: music, no-work life and magic. One of the best Kusturica's.