London trips sitrep and I LOVE FRENCH CINEMA (especially Gerard Depardieu)!

[alexandral]

London: My first trip on Tuesday to the Russian embassy in London to pick up my daughter's passport was a success!!!!! My daughter has two passports now!! (I wish I had too :D) But unfortunately there was a huge problem with the train line that day and it took me 6 hours instead of 2 to get to London and 4.5 hours to get back.. When I arrived to Lodon at 11.10 (Russian embassy closes at 12.00) I took a taxi and told the taxi driver to drive really really fast to Russian embassy! I wonder what he thought! Then I "stormed" into the Russian embassy half an hour before it's closing time. :D I still feel the effect of the long tedious journey – I am feeling rather very tired.

Wednesday's Toad User Group was very useful and informative and the trains run better too! But I am still tired after Tuesday and feeling that I am lagging behind. And grumpy. Why one always feels grumpy when tired????????????

But there is something I MUST tell you about, even if it has to be very short: Vidocq:. I love love love French cinema and I love Gerard Depardieu. There isn't many actors for whom I have had (and I am still having) a huge admiration for so many years as for Depardieu. I may be watched his first film when I was 10 or twelve, I don't remember. I remember the film, though, hilarious French comedy "Unfortunates". I apologise very much, but "Unfortunates" is a translation from it's title in Russian because I could not find English version. If anyone knows the title in English – please let me know!! In short – anything with Depardieu is good for me!

And still, Vidocq was a surprise. It starts as a costume crime story about the adventures of the famous French crook-turned-detective Eugène François Vidocq, but in a fantasy way. Vidocq in the film is set on finding and capturing of the legendary murdurer Alchemist. I must say, I love costume crime stories but Vidocq still was very very good!

The film combines a very interesting visual solution and an interesting take on the search for eternal youth. Vidocq was made on digital film. Everything in it looks like a painting which makes an interesting reference to the "The Picture of Dorian Gray" or like a theatrical decorations that makes you think of "Les Miserables". The colours are bright and somehow unusual, especially stong green colours of clothing and shadows. There are some very frightening and dark scenes, some strange and interstingly odd characters and there are some brilliant special effects. And the ending was awesome !!!!!

Comments

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you for the info! I didn't know it was a film of the same director as "Delicatessen" (isn't it a gem??) but I noticed similarities. When watching "Vidocq" I was thinking that you could have liked this movie, remembering your liking for good-looking films! I haven't seen "The City of Lost Children" but I am going to ASAP!

On my "Alchemist" wave I also watched "Prestige" which unexpectedly I loved to bits.

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

Just to avoid confusion, Pitof was just involved in the visual effects of the other two movies. He was NOT the director. :)

On general I did like The Prestige, but I also had a few problems (http://trailer-spot.livejournal.com/128557.html).

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I must say, I didn't guess the trick in the case of Angier which I should have had because there were strong clues with the hats and cats multiplying previously! I thought that he murdered a duplicate. I guessed with Boden quite late in the film but I must say I thought all the way throughout the film that he used a double. There is just no normal mechanic way to do what he did!!!

I liked the way the film started as a story about magic as mechanics (Oh poor dead birds!!!!!!!!!) and crossed into science fiction but I can see how this cross-genre can be a problem for you!