I FINALLY got the chance to view A Very Long Engagement for my viewing pleasure. Somehow, I have the feeling Paco saw it 2 years ago as a special screening with Jeunet himself because somehow that's how he rolls. Anyway, it was superb. It seemed to me that it may be a bit more mainstream, which isn't necessarily bad with JPJ because Alien 4 was still pretty good even though it was in English and big and all that. And the Long Engagement was so much more than I had hoped for. JPJ's style definitely was present and is even maturing a bit I think. However, I don't mean mature like when an infant matures into toddler-hood and is more fun to play with. More like when a band like Ozma matures. Their sound may become a bit more complex and intelligent, but the earlier stuff will always be the best no matter what. Nothing JPJ ever does can top Delicatessen or City of Lost Children in my book.
All of this is to say that A Very Long Engagement was an incredibly beautiful and somber film that made me weep like I was back in seventh grade (that's right I cried a lot even as old as seventh grade, leave me alone). It was a totally brilliant dive into the human condition, the twisted ethics in the face of war and love, and all kinds of other great pictorial insight that JPJ can't stop dishing out and I can't stop consuming.
Speaking of crying, I was listening to Ben Folds yesterday (another guy whose incredible prowess at his craft is matched only by his ability to touch my life force) in the car yesterday and Gracie made me cry really hard and I don't even have a daughter. That's what is so magical about Ben Folds.
Speaking of Ben Folds, I heard that he was going to be on the show Love Monkey last night, so I sat through the whole thing for him to be on it for about 21 seconds. That was not awesome.
Oh well, that's the way life goes sometimes when you're representin.
4 comments:
your damn right i saw it a hundred years ago and i'm in afghanistan! But to be honest I didn't really like it. I mean it was better than most things but...I don't know. Really i need to watch it again because it was like one hunderd years ago.
If it makes you feel any better about the mainstreamness (that's right I made up a word, what are you going to do about it) of whatever the heck movies you're talking about I've never heard of any of them (well, that's a lie, I saw part of Deli Counter or whatever, but that's only because it was on at your pad when I was there and I thought it was kind of sweet but then freakin wierd at the same time). My point is, I know mainstream, and these movies aren't, so you still have your eclectic music and movie rep in tact.
in more news that shows how awesome I am and how much you suck. My friend joony just gave me 26 or so sweet sweet korean, chinese, and japanese movies i had him download. I'm the best person alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I heard you like kitano? got some! wong kar wai? got some! endless others? got them!!!!!!!!! yes!
I NEEEEEEEEEEED the hookup when you come here. Oso Serioso. Also, Joony is the best. I've never met him, but it is absolute a priori knowledge that he is the greatest.
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