Reviews

Vinh, a boat-people refugee, who was adopted 20 years ago by a Swiss family, is going to marry. His birth mother, who stayed in Vietnam, takes the opportunity to take the trip and finally go meet this perfect family who raised her son. But it's been long since that the family Depierraz has exploded. The unexpected visit of Mrs Nguyen will create a turmoil. This will be the occasion for everyone to dive back into their forgotten roles of father, spouse, brother and sister, to become an ideal family, loving and full of complicity, to stage the fragile comedy of happiness. I took this out of a cinema festival program originally written in French, so excuse the imperfections. Personally this film was a bit too bizarre for me to enjoy but it was an interesting viewing.

I translated this from the movie festival brochure, it was originally in Greek, so sorry for any mistakes. Mykonos is the 'capital' of Greek cosmopolitan life, especially in the summer. In one of the most luxurious villas on the island, which belongs to a rich businessman, a group of elite people spend their holidays. Amongst them, a newly wed couple.Andreas, an architect who is designing the owner's new exotic house, and Rea his impressive wife. In a unique scenic setting that Agios Pelagos offers with it's strong wind and blinding light, this group of people will intersect with unexpected results. Things become even more complicated when Rea's love for Andreas gradually turns into contempt.

The scenery was beautiful, but the film just didn't click for me.

Noooooo. Stop right there french/spanish/italian film industry. Do not pass go, and forget the 200 quid. This was generally an awful film, I went to see it for the staring husband and wife, because they generally play in intersting films/roles, but this one was soo...empty. It's about these two people, in a sort of loose relationship, who are secret agents, and how their zeal for what they do is slowly fading, but how they are trapped in the 'company' until the company decides they can be dismissed. But the dialogue was awful (I know its cool to be minimalist these days but I have to draw the line on this one) the filming wasnt anything special (I guess it was kinda cool that they shot in 4 different locations/countries). And the acting was..well nothing extraordinary. They've made a whole fuss about it in Paris so I rushed over to see it but just like Monica Belucci says in the last scene "Je me sens vide, completement vide" (I feel empty, completely empty) I left my local UGC cinema feeling the same way.

Aye I think the user before me, was quite aggrieved by this program. Maybe its because french humour and british humour is just worlds apart (i'll voice that i'm of both nationalities and quite frankly, they both just arent in the same boat.) Im just here to smoothen out the creases. It isnt that its funny as such. It's...a bit clever. Laurent Ruquier, known for his 'grand gueule' (big mouth) and for his associations to Thierry Ardisson, another big mouth, already gives him the reputation for not minding to speak their minds. He's gay and publicly announces it, he's leftist, and doesnt ever hold his tongue to bitch about the president. He's also a writer, as well as a t.v and radio host. And if you had heard what him and Dave (dutch singer who's huge in france) said during the 2000 eurovision commentaries. Hilarious. Point is, even if on this show they tend to laugh a lot more than they make jokes, it's a smidge cleverer than most of the crap that gets shown on t.v.

As the previous commentator said, Leos Carax's style did change, although I do not know why. I wouldn't say he has become a German romantic, because I still think Pierre, the protagonist is a man searching for an aesthetic truth within a self-destructing world. He is a newly disillusioned man, who goes through a psychological adventure bitter at the hypocrisy of his old life, striving to strike and lash at the world with the bitter truth he has acquired. Although one could see this as a clear-cut razor sharp character, I find I cannot help but see him as a poet-like figure, in a Paris as stark as it really is, but this isn't new because his depiction of Paris in his last film was far from idealistic..

the truth of society's hypocrisy shoved in everyone's faces; this film is made by a director too great to have his oevres d'art ripped into little analytical pieces that wouldn't even begin to describe that dimensional-essence this film carries. <not to be seen by people that don't want to watch a movie about truths>