The others I will look up on Netflix and add them to my queue. I have a feeling I've heard of them, but can't remember what it was I heard. Having a recommendation from someone helps me decide if they're worth checking out.
I would probably recommend them in this order:
A Very Long Engagement, Delicatessen, City of Lost Children
A Very Long Engagement
is a WWI story. Part war film, part mystery, part romance. It also stars Tautou.
I can't even begin to describe the other two, but
Delicatessen
is sort of similar to
Amélie
in that it is a study of the characters in one apartment building. A post-apocalyptic distopia apartment building, but still.
City of Lost Children
is like a crazy Popeye dream gone off the deep end. Seriously. But the super-saturated colors are probably the closet to Amélie's look.
I've spaced them out farther down my queue. I try to alternate one movie to two TV series discs. It'll take me a while to get to them, which is what I strive for. I try not to load myself up with too many similar movies in a row or I run the risk of getting bored.
City of Lost Children is like a crazy Popeye dream gone off the deep end.
This is exactly right. I liked it even though the adult man + little girl thing skeeves me.
What are some of the French cliches in Amelie?
If you like his visual style, you might want to check out his other stuff ( Delicatessen, City of Lost Children, and A Very Long Engagement).
Heh. I notice one movie judiciously left OFF that resume.
I liked it even though the adult man + little girl thing skeeves me.
Ron Perleman totally sold that there was nothing skeevy going on.
One of the things I enjoy most about Jeunet's movies is that every once in a while an American actor will pop up, speaking French, and not in an "I'm an American!" way but just as a character. Jodie Foster in
A Very Long Engagement,
e.g. I didn't even know she knew French!
That was my reaction to Peter Coyote in Bon Voyage.
Thanks for bringing up Amélie, Sail. The convo spurred me to put it on to fall asleep by last night, and I ended up watching start to finish.
Jodie Foster's French is excellent. She went to either a bilingual or all French school when she was growing up. In fact, she does all the dubbing on her own movies when they are dubbed into French.
That was my reaction to Peter Coyote in Bon Voyage.
I have a bizarre love for this movie. Adjani doing comedy is hysterical.
Heh. I notice one movie judiciously left OFF that resume.
Only because I haven't seen it.
What are some of the French cliches in Amelie?
Well, the characters are pretty common stereotypes: the weepy concièrge, the mean grocer/baker, the failed writer/intellectual, the hypochondriac. And then there's the accordian music, Amélie's beret, lots of little details like that. It's like a postcard version of Paris. Which is intentional, there was a lot of digital removing of trash, modern cars, etc. And there are also a number of homages to movies of the 30s and the 60s (for example, the pigeons flying off reference Truffaut).
I have a bizarre love for this movie. Adjani doing comedy is hysterical.
You've never seen her in Possession [link] than?
Totally kidding, but that movie is SO far over the top it doesn't work as anything BUT comedy.
