morrison-dylan-fan After watching three charming 1927 shorts last night I decided to get back to watching feature flicks. Checking BBC iPlayer,I was intrigued to find a recent Quebec French film I've heard nothing about,which led to me booking a table at the café.The plot:Touring around the world as a DJ, Antoine tries to take care of his children whilst also falling in love with girlfriend Rose. Feeling that he wants to take the next step with Rose,Antoine starts to think how this will complicate things with his ex-wife Carole.In 1960's Paris,single mother Jacqueline passionately takes care of her Down syndrome son Laurent. Each appearing to live separate lives,Antoine spins a tune that he,Rose,Carole,Laurent and Jacqueline all sing across time.View on the film:Tightly coiled in the love they have for each other Vanessa Paradis & Marin Gerrier both give exceptional performances as Jacqueline and Laurent. Going against demands for him to be put in a "specialist" hospital, Paradis expresses Jacqueline's love for her son in an incredibly subtle way,via the change in her open facial expressions and protective body language displaying how important giving her love to Laurent is. Embracing his mum's love, Marin Gerrier gradually breaks open a rift between them,as Laurent puts his hands out for love from another.Spinning the wheels of steel with EDM and Pink Floyd,writer/editor/director Jean-Marc Vallée and cinematographer Pierre Cottereau give Antoine's thread a slick "clubbing" appearance,where neon blue and yellow lights flick across the screen. Making 60's Paris look like a Costume Drama, Vallée paints Jacqueline and Laurent and drab,dour browns and yellows chipping into the hardships they face.Drifting between the two threads,the screenplay by Vallée hits the heart of the film when focusing on Laurent and Jacqueline,thanks to their relationship being given a humble Neo-Realist edge,focusing on the obsessive,protective love that Laurent and Jacqueline become caught in. Attempting to match the drama from the duo, the suburban trouble Antoine becomes tangled in disappointingly fails to match the deep emotions in Jacqueline and Laurent's tale. Keeping the drama grounded, Vallée brings a New Age twist in which undermines all that has taken place,with the dialogue spilling into inane spiritual nonsense which shuts the café doors.

The Squeerelist From its polished soundtrack to its paranormal twists, this brilliant movie directed by C.R.A.Z.Y.'s Jean-Marc Vallée is worth watching. You're alternately taken to 1969 Paris and 2011 Montréal respectively following a single mother raising her son with Down syndrome and a family coping with parental separation and the father's new soulmate situation. As the plot slowly - Quebec filmmakers take their time - developed on a cloud of Sigur Ros songs, everything I had not expected from this movie happened. The seemingly two unrelated stories only linked by matching tunes turned out to be much more. I thought this would be a heartbreaking drama drowned in 8th grader romance and miserable fatality. It is more of a Vanilla Sky-type intrigue and quite the mindfuck. The cast is absolutely flawless from Vanessa Paradis' portrayal of a mother struggling with societal prejudice to Evelyne Brochu's character of the obviously hated stepmother and stunning new soulmate or even Marin Gerrier who plays Paradis' son. Café de Flore is everything you wanted and more.1 reason to watch it: this is art.

jdel025 pretentious indie movie ; The film consist of stories. One, set in present-day Montreal, Antoine; a successful club DJ is quite happy with his life ; he has a loving girlfriend(Rose) and 2 children , these children are his with his wife (Carole) of several years;they recently divorced; wife had still some hope that he will come back; some bitterness regarding the divorce but she cant fully hate her because Rose is quite nice. Antoine met the Rose in one of his gig and saw her again in AA meeting and they fell in love. The other story is set in 1960s Paris, Jacqueline a single mother of a child with Down syndrome Laurent. the husband left ( implied) because he cant accept the child. Jacqueline was quite devoted to Laurent and Laurent to her mom. but things changed when Vero came into the picture and Laurent and Vero ( fell in love with each other and don't want to be separated from each other (geez they were 7 y/o). Jacqueline then become so possessive. Laurent, and Véro are killed in a car accident (seemingly on purpose (?), by the driver Jacqueline). Carole keep dreaming about a certain boy (Laurent) in his dream after taking all these medications and a weed before she goes to sleep. she then went to a psychic to clarify her dreams who told her the tragic story of Jacqueline, Vero and Laurent. She was Jacqueline in previous life and Antoine and Rose were Laurent and Vero reincarnated. Because she prevented the love of Vero and Laurent in previous life; she will not a hindrance now and give her blessings to the marriage of Antoine and Rose and they were all happy.What a premise of a movie.

Giuseppe Cicchirillo I'm a sap, I hold my hands up, Something like The American Tail sets me off whenever it's on TV. I found myself nearly wiping my snotty nose on the back of the cinema seat in front of me but was saved by a flash of on-screen comedy (not to give anything away).I went to watch this today not knowing anything about it apart that it was directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and that it was sold to me as a supernatural/romance story. Great! i'll give it a go... I was glued to my seat after 5 minutes by it's beautiful cinematography/editing and subject matter. Two stories from different eras. One man, with everything in his life but feels a sense of underlying conflict about his relationship with his ex wife. One woman, caring for her son who has Down's syndrome. The stories are inter-cut (non linear) and unrelated but as we progress we begin to see similarities. You don't want to know the whole story, it really is a hammer to the heart. You feel emotionally involved with what's unfolding (and a whole lot of stuff unfolds) that will leave you either rushing out to declare your true love to someone or, you'll end up walking on your own through a city with an icy heart (I haven't decided which yet). There will be themes that you will be familiar with, broken relationships, jealousy, Maternal obligations/ or not. A brilliant cast and script, important subject matter and a 'diluted Lynchian' ending serves this up to be an essential watch.My advice is don't read too much about the story. Leap of faith ;) Oh and it features some amazing music... but there's a point to that too.