Reviews by johanlefourbe

I have a rather peculiar relationship with Terrence Malick. Indeed, I think the guy and his work is really fascinating but, sometimes, I actually have a really hard time with his movies. Anyway, by now, Malick has directed only 6 movies in almost 40 years and, so far, this movie is his least appreciated one (In fact, everything he made after ‘The Tree of Life’ didn’t get much love either). Anyway, even though this movie wasn’t really well received, it is actually my favorite one. I don’t know, the first time I watched it, I was completely overwhelmed by its beauty and grace. In my opinion, it is the movie with the best poetic feeling ever put on the silver screen. Basically, watching this movie was like watching a poem but not with words but with images and sound. I think the whole thing was really incredible and it’s too bad none of the other movies directed by Terrence Malick managed to impress me as much as this one (‘The Thin Red Line’ was very close though). The weird thing was that the second time I watched it, I wasn’t really impressed and it is as if, the first time around, I was touched by something magical but, the second time around, the magic was gone (The same thing actually occurred with ‘The Thin Red Line’. I loved it the 1st time around but by the 2nd watch, I had a hard time to get into it). Anyway, to conclude, in my opinion, Terrence Malick is one of the most difficult director at work nowadays, his work is definitely an acquired taste, but, in my opinion, it is his best movie so far and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this director’s work.

I remember it very well, I actually saw this movie in the movie theater when it was released. The weird thing is that, even though I really loved the it, I couldn’t helping dozing off a couple of times while watching this. I guess I must have been really tired of maybe just too relaxed. Anyway, it was the first movie directed by James Gray and it is actually his best one, even 20 years later. Basically, it is a great crime movie about the Russian maffia in America (I make it sound like "Eastern Promises" but the plot is completely different). It is about a hit-man coming back to his childhood neighborhood to complete a job and it is just very intense movie with some great performances provided given by Edward Furlong and Tim Roth. This movie started my fascination for James Gray’s work and, by now, I have seen all his movies (except for ‘The Immigrant’) but, I have to admit it, even though the guy was supposed to reach the same level obtained by Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson or Darren Aronofosky,  I’m afraid he never really managed to fulfill his great potential. Anyway, to conclude, I really loved this flick, I think it is a fascinating crime drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

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To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this movie but I still remember it so well. Indeed, somehow, I saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it came out and I was just seriously blown away. Basically, I had absolutely never seen something similar before. It was the 1st movie directed by Michael Winterbottom that I saw and I have been following his career ever since. As a matter of fact, he has became one of the most prolific directors making at least one movie every year. Anyway, it is one of my favorite movies and it is definitely one of the most disturbing I have ever seen (and I have seen some weird sh*t...). I have to admit it, it is actually really difficult to describe the plot but the main character played by Amanda Plummer, in her best performance ever, was just electrifying to watch. So, the plot was not really important as the main focus was on those women who wandered through life like two lost souls. Even though it is an acquired taste as it is a very dark and grim picture, I thought the whole thing was just fascinating to behold and it is definitely worth a look.

It has been a while since I have seen this movie and I would really like to watch it again at some point. In fact, I do have a DVD of this movie but it’s only dubbed in Dutch and I would rather re-watch it in the original French language. Anyway, it’s a movie I watched so many times as a kid and, back then, I thought it was just spellbinding to behold but it’s a movie that I can be appreciated by children and grown-ups alike. It was made when there was still no computer animation and I do believe it’s a shame that the hand-drawn animation has been dropped by most studios because such movies were also quite gorgeous to look at. On top of that, in this case, there was also some humour and adventure and it was probably the most poetic animated feature I have seen so far. It’s such a pity that Paul Grimault  never managed to release another full length feature afterwards because I do believe that the guy was probably one of the best animation directors that ever lived. Anyway, I really loved the damned thing, it is one of my childhood favourites and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in animated features.

I already saw this movie, in fact, I even saw it when it was released in the movie theaters, but since it was ages ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. It is basically an obscure French movie but I thought the whole thing was just spellbinding to behold. The main character was played by Daniel Auteuil, one of the most famous French actors (at least, in France...) and the movie was based on some rather amazing true story and, apparently, except for changing the names, Nicole Garcia mostly followed the actual facts of this case (especially how it ended). The first time around, I mostly focused on the story itself (which also inspired 'L'emploi du temps', another strong French movie) but, with this rewatch, I paid more attention to the rest of the movie. Indeed, it is such a dark and oppressive movie, I was actually surprised by how tough it was to (re)watch the damned thing. Still, the main character was so fascinating. Basically, it was about a guy who wanted to play the 'game' of life but didn't want to follow the rules and it is staggering that he managed to keep this up for almost 20 years. I have to admit that I have always been fascinated by con artists but this movie (and 'Kajillionaire' as well by the way) displayed how incredibly depressing this kind of lifestyle could be. In this case, the guy was so lonely, it seemed to be unbearable, even to me who is not actually really fond of people in general. Anyway, the whole thing was just so intense and I thought it was just fascinating to behold. To conclude, I thought it was one of the best French thrillers I have seen and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.