Jean-Pierre Jeunet had already established himself as a cult filmmaker with a very distinct visual and narrative style after he co-directed the two surreal, darkly funny 'Delicatessen' (1991) and 'La Cité Des Enfants Perdus' (1996) with his buddy Marc Caro, and he had even briefly ventured into Hollywood (to mixed results) with 'Alien Resurrection' (1997) when he hit his stride and found unexpected mainstream success with the amazing 'Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain'.
'Amélie' is a wonder; it's a firework of clever ideas, beautiful cinematography and a love letter to the city of Paris. In my opinion it's not really a mainstream film though, with Jeunet retaining his black humor as well as the surreal elements and distinct color grading from his previous films. But unlike in his two features with Marc Caro and his American movie, there's a warm, beating heart throughout the whole film, and the resulting mix of magical realism, comedy and romantic love story proves just irresistible.
On a pure filmmaking level, 'Amélie' is a masterpiece. The cinematography is gorgeous and consistently inventive, the pacing perfect, the score beautiful and the fantastic cast of actors a joy to watch - especially Audrey Tautou. This is the kind of romantic comedy that even nerds like me can geek out about and without a doubt one of the best films of the first two decades of the new millenium.
P
'Amélie' is a wonder; it's a firework of clever ideas, beautiful cinematography and a love letter to the city of Paris. In my opinion it's not really a mainstream film though, with Jeunet retaining his black humor as well as the surreal elements and distinct color grading from his previous films. But unlike in his two features with Marc Caro and his American movie, there's a warm, beating heart throughout the whole film, and the resulting mix of magical realism, comedy and romantic love story proves just irresistible.
On a pure filmmaking level, 'Amélie' is a masterpiece. The cinematography is gorgeous and consistently inventive, the pacing perfect, the score beautiful and the fantastic cast of actors a joy to watch - especially Audrey Tautou. This is the kind of romantic comedy that even nerds like me can geek out about and without a doubt one of the best films of the first two decades of the new millenium.
P