By Bernardo Bertolucci. Didn’t he do Stealing Beauty some years back? That film was terrible. Come to think of it, he did Little Buddha too. That man needs to be contained. Hehe.
The Dreamers wasn’t as horrible, I mean it wasn’t bad bad. It didn’t put me to sleep because it got more interesting as the story unfolded. One thing though, I couldn’t get my head around the main guy being Henry in Dawson’s Creek for a while. Don’t ask me why I remember that or why I even know. Hihi. Jen and Dawson forevah! Hehe. I am joking. His acting was fine and believable but I just couldn’t take him seriously.
Anyway, so “Henry” (I’ve forgotten what his name in the movie is) is American and is in Paris to learn french. He is there in the year of 1968. Famous date in French history involving massive student unrest, rioting and all sorts of anarchistic activities pushing the government to the brink of collapse. Hehe cheeky little fuckers. Yes well, anyway this is the cool background of the story. ”Henry” is a big film fanatic and makes the acquaintance of French siblings Theo and Isabelle.
Unfortunately, the story isn’t quite as cool as the time it is set in. Several times it felt like a V.C. Andrews novel because of the awkward incestuous nuances. I don’t know, it’s an interesting storyline but it just didn’t work. I guess that’s why I forced myself to stay awake, I was hoping it would pick up and get more cohesive. It didn’t. The three characters weren’t very convincing in whatever they were trying to portray, in fact, they annoyed me most of the time (but I suspect it may have more to do with the fact that most teenagers annoy me). “Henry” (I’ve just remembered that it’s Matthew) is probably the best of the three, he wasn’t bad at all actually. The Isabelle girl was just naked as many scenes would allow, the brother Theo’s acting seemed a bit wooden. But he was quite hot, though.
So the story revolves around the three of them and the conflict arises when Henry aka Matthew and Isabelle hook up, shaking their cozy little trio and more importantly, disturbing the sibling bond. Given the heavy psychological and emotional goings-on, the dramatic ending should have had more impact. Instead, the background bit progressively looms over the main story and completely overshadows the moment each of the characters make an important individual decision. Decisions that led to the trio’s breakup. I’m very big on story endings and the film didn’t work for me because I was thoroughly dissatisfied with its ending.
5 Comments
February 24, 2007 at 12:08 am
I think it’s still worth watching if you’re into old films. I like their re-enactments of famous movie scenes. Very well done.
“New York Herald Tribune!!!!”
I think it’s also the only film where Eva Green doesn’t look dirty.
February 24, 2007 at 4:47 pm
ahaha. yeah, i got through 20 horrible minutes of it. i’m sure there’s a reason why my boyfriend made me watch it – on merits of composition, structure and all that filmmaker jargon. yeah whateva…boooring. hehe.
o, btw, do you mind changing my name please? just put ’sparks.’ its ’supposed’ to be anonymous. hehehe. thanks.
February 25, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Oh yes, that’s true about those little re-enactment bits and old film allusions. I appreciated those and I did share Matthew’s sentiments about preferring Keaton over Chaplin.
All in all, not too bad a film but I doubt I’ll watch it again.
Oh yeah, where else has Eva Green been in? I’m terribly out of the loop with current film activities.
sparks – It’s been fixed. Heh sorry about that.
February 26, 2007 at 9:40 am
i saw this about a year ago. yeah, was expecting more from it. i read a review (can’t remember now) about it that made me want to go see it. wasn’t that great.
and henry’s not really a proper actor though. at least i can’t take him seriously. i had a problem with him in murder by numbers (that bad sandra bullock film. not sure if that’s the correct title) as well.
oh well.
January 30, 2008 at 10:35 am
i loved the movie, it definitely could have been improved, but i loved the references to the old movies. Louis Garrel portrays an older brother figure in the movie and is protective of his sister so i think that is why his character may have came off a bit stiff. Matthew was a bit childish for me though. Isabelle kind of got too attached to Theo in the end though, like when he was with his girlfriend/chick friend.