July 09, 2007

Paris, Je T'aime

Greetings. I am back from Portland, so I will be back to blogging for the next few days. I don't know when Binky and Baltar will be posting again, but hopefully that'll be sooner rather than later - though it might be later, as I don't know when/where they will/won't have internet access.

I'll likely post a little note on my latest trip in a bit (touching on the ghastly US Airways and pain in the ass that is McCarran airport), but for now I'll just want to recommend Paris, Je T'Aime to you. I think Carina Chocano's review in the Los Angeles Times does a nice job of describing the film. I didn't know much about it before walking into the theater. But it really is quite engaging and for the most part quite enjoyable. The directing and acting talent assembled for these 18 shorts is extraordinary, and I really liked all the different moods and shifts in style that were represented in the project. Happily most of the weakest (relatively speaking) works are early in the film, and it ends on a rather wonderful, wistful and funny note with Alexander Payne's film starring Margo Martindale. While the pieces by the Coen brothers (starring a perfectly cast Steve Buscemi), Christopher Doyle, and Sylvain Chomet were hilarious, I probably laughed most at that last entry, which is really rather surprising given its plot and tone - and I suppose that speaks to what a gem of a short film it is. Anyway, this is not a perfect movie, but except for the Gus Van Sant piece (which is predictable a bit boring ... and why does he always name Elias McConnell Eli in his films?) and maybe that vampire number with Elijah Wood there aren't really weak parts to this, and the highs are really quite strong. So if you are in the mood to fall in love with the moods of Paris or an interesting combination of shorts by top filmmakers, I happily recommend this. I quite liked it.

Posted by armand at July 9, 2007 12:29 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Movies


Comments

I was in McCarran last November. It reminded me very much of an industrial-scale cattle slaughterhouse, only a lot less organized and efficient. What a headache.

Posted by: jacflash at July 9, 2007 04:26 PM | PERMALINK

That probably says it better than I can. But I'll give it a go. McCarran is ugly. Poorly designed. You have to go through security again when you change concourses. The agents there are meaner than any other TSA types I've ever seen. It looks like it hasn't been cleaned in years (make that decades), and I bet the last features were added to the building back when Paul Laxalt was still in the Senate. It smells like a Cinnabon factory (well parts of it do - the rest smells like something died there once). Basically, to use WV terminology - it's like a giant, poorly staffed, confusing and decaying Hot Spot. I hadn't flown out of there in years - and I hope I don't again for a long time.

Posted by: Armand at July 9, 2007 05:41 PM | PERMALINK

Fyi, Paris Je T'Aime opened downtown at the Warner today.

Posted by: Armand at July 27, 2007 08:16 AM | PERMALINK

On a 2nd viewing I liked this movie a little less, but there are still more than a half dozen of the shorts I liked a good bit, including the one with Steve Buscemi, the one with the mimes, and the Wes Craven one with Rufus Sewell and Emily Mortimer. And since the last 3 are arguably the best of the whole film (the Twyker one, the one with Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazarra, and the Payne one) you definitely leave the theater liking the picture.

Posted by: Armand at August 6, 2007 09:45 PM | PERMALINK
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