Well, I went to see Closer today, but the showing I was going to was cancelled, so I went into A Very Long Engagement.

I have to say that I was very positively surprised. I have yet to see Amelie completely (I just saw the first 30 minutes of it), but if I compare A Very Long Engagement to what I saw in Amelie, I'd say that A Very Long Engagement is a superior movie. Amelie seemed to be lacking some substance in my opinion and trying to make up for it with its style, whereas A Very Long Engagement had style and substance perfectly melted into one. I enjoyed Tatou's performance, as well as most performances by the supporting cast. As Dolce has mentioned in her review, Tina Lombardi was an interesting character who I wish was explored more. Nonetheless, I have to say that the movie had great character development for the most part. Furthermore, I loved the score of the film which fits the mood of the movie and is very memorable as well. A Very Long Engagement had magnificent cinematography, probably even the best I have seen in a 2004 movie with exception of Hero. That Oscar nomination as well as the Oscar nom for Best Art Direction were both fully deserved. The film was also very well-edited. Whenever, it started to seem as if the movie would start to drag, something interesting came up and kept the viewer's attention. Unfortunately, the movie's plot was a bit too complex and confusing for its own good. It might have been a great idea to develop such an interesting storyline, but after one hour I starting losing the thread of the developments and mistaking some characters for others (which is not too hard considering I don't know most of the cast). In some weird way, the movie kind of reminded me of 2003's Cold Mountain, just more stylish. The relationship between the leads was better developed than in Cold Mountain, though. The ending of the film was very well done as well. All in all, I have to say that Jeunet has delivered once again. A Very Long Engagement is a great and moving movie which had me with a smile on my face towards the end of it.

My grade:


A-

Yep, I agree with everything you say, but that was grounds enough for a B for me. I thought it was infinately better than Amelie, and I remember how upset everyone was when Amelie lost out to No Man's Land in the Oscars that year (wow, the oscars got it right for once). Tina was interesting. Did you ctach Jodi? Remember that? I just couldn't believe it. It was like cold mountain in exploring a guy fleeing war to get home to his young love, but that's where the similarities ended for me. I think they both focus on that because its a palatable enough storyline to use as a spingboard to explore other things (time, information, society, etc). I thought Long Engagement was better in doing that than Cold Mountain, which was too explicit.

BTW, Lecter, go to the 30 movies 30 days thread, and a discussion riddled with spoilers is near the end (with alex young if my memory serves me well, but maybe someone else). Its white so you'll need to highlight it. Let me know what you thought. You can post it in here since most of the people who have been to this thread have seen it already.

Finally caught this and since this section needs some love, I'll post here instead of the Critics section. There will be minor spoilers but I don't discuss the end.

A-

I liked it a lot, it is my kind of foreign movie, it is also one of the most romantic movies of the decade. I had some qualms at the start where at first it seemed like it might be a little too french for me, it took me about 15 minutes to fully get into it, but once Audrey came center stage and the fairy tale like plot got going, it worked for me. It wasn't perfect but it is as good as I could hope for in a French movie, better than I expected. Somehow Tatou and the director recapture her Amelie magic without duplicating the character, there's something innocent about the way that actress is when that director is in charge, right down to that funny little smile she has. Tatou is like a cross between Meryl Streep's craft and Audrey Hepburn's charm. A Very Long Engagement is great for people who liked Amelie but found it a little too cutesy. Other than Tatou I was most impressed with the girl who played Tina Lombardi, the prostitute who got revenge by killing some officers. Marion Cotillard is her name, I looked it up after the movie, that actress has a lot of potential. There was something magnetic about her scenes, she was so vivid in them like something out of a graphic novel.

I also loved the little moments through it that had an improvised feel even though they likely weren't, like the blowing out of the matches repeatedly with her and the boy, or the mailman always skidding on the gravel, and the way Tina angled the gun at herself, the man and then upwards. The movie is full of enjoyable details, the whole thing reeks of imagination and care. The cinematography was great, you can watch the movie with the sound down and it is still interesting, there are beautifully composed shots all through it. The director has said some of them were framed homages to past movies, like the scene where the condemned soldiers pass under a wire is a reference to an old French classic movie.

On the downside, there were a few little things. I'm not a big Jodie Foster fan and wasn't thrilled to see her, but she did alright and didn't mess it up, her role was small. There were so many characters I sometimes forgot who people were, it should have been less confusing about the suppporting characters. And as great as the cinematography was, I could have done with a few less sepia-toned shots.

As it did with Lecter, A Very Long Engagement had me smiling too. I liked Amelie but I liked this movie more.

I just realized Marion Cotillard (Tina Lombardi) also played Billy Crudup's fiancee/girlfriend in Big Fish!!! No wonder she looked familiar.

I loved the Tina Lombardi character, mysterious and clever. Her mission parallels that of Mathilde, only she took a murderous route. It was great to see the two characters finally meet.

I loved A Very Long Engagement. Although I'd like to watch both again to compare, I found Ameile to be sort of aimless in its quirks. It was, yes, charming, but I didn't feel like I got much more out of it than that.

A Very Long Engagement took those same quirks and incorporated them into a story and setting that I actually found rather appropriate. The sprawling scenery, the awesome cinematography, the weird characters. Ostensibly overwhelming, but it all worked for me, much more so than it probably should have.

I think it's one of the best films of last year.