Chicago – Couples making plans to start a family may get a kick out of “Babies,” the lyrical new documentary from French filmmaker Thomas Balmès. Everyone else may find themselves bored stiff. The film is an intriguing experiment with varying degrees of success. It’s as tedious as it is compelling and as annoying as it is insightful.
Universal marketed the picture as the next “March of the Penguins,” with the key exception that it features humans. The film also doesn’t include narration by Morgan Freeman, which may be a plus, considering how hackneyed it would be to hear The Actor Frequently Known as God pontificating on the profundity of infant behavior. In fact, “Babies” contains no narration whatsoever. It simply observes four babies in different parts of the world during their first year of life. Balmès and his team of collaborators have constructed a portrait that plays like cinematic poetry at best,...
Universal marketed the picture as the next “March of the Penguins,” with the key exception that it features humans. The film also doesn’t include narration by Morgan Freeman, which may be a plus, considering how hackneyed it would be to hear The Actor Frequently Known as God pontificating on the profundity of infant behavior. In fact, “Babies” contains no narration whatsoever. It simply observes four babies in different parts of the world during their first year of life. Balmès and his team of collaborators have constructed a portrait that plays like cinematic poetry at best,...
- 10/5/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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