David Cronenberg is up there with David Lynch as one of the top visual surrealist directors. Whilst The Fly is not a surreal like Eraserhead or Naked Lunch, it has its surreal moments and definitely crosses the boundaries in to shock cinema. Cronenberg is a director who has an obvious fascination with the grotesque there are not many more grotesque images than some shown here. The make up used on Jeff Goldblum is brilliant and changes very subtly during Brundle's transformation from man to Brundlefly. To witness the final stages of Brundlefly is particularly disturbing and Geena Davis' reactions mirror exactly how I felt when watching with disbelief. The visuals in this film, although slightly over the top, are fantastic and will never be forgotten. Cronenberg is fantastic as a director because rather than being concerned with making the film accessible, he cares more for making a good film and projecting his vision.

As well as being highly imaginative and impressive visually, The Fly has a great plot. The relationship between Goldblum and Davis is very touching and romantic. The relationship is written very effectively due to it being exaggerated to the point that the audience are prepared to believe that this woman will still love a genetically mutating man. The main plot of an inventor creating 'telepods' that accidentally become gene fusers gives the film its Sci-Fi element and the way Goldblum's character transforms after he goes through is very commendable. Whilst not the most thought provoking of plots, The Fly is intelligently written and does well to both entertain and shock.

Goldblum does fantastically in making the leap from an eccentric, somewhat childlike scientist to a mutant going crazy. He is perfect for this role in appearance, by voice and by him mannerisms. Jeff Goldblum makes Seth Brundle a unique character and definitely should be the role Goldblum is most proud of playing. Geena Davis is a great actress and does very well in this performance. Her ability at showing shock and disgust is very good but it is the more subtle parts involving her and Goldblum's character development where she really shines.

The dark mood of the film is greatly reflected by the atmosphere in the film. Most of the settings are very dark and there are not many characters in the film, helping the audience to focus on Goldblum and Davis. Howard Shore's score is extremely dramatic, slightly cliché but very well done. Cronenberg is an expert at creating moods and contrast. The contrast of a wonderful romance against all the grotesque imagery is very effective as it brings an element of reality to the film. There is also a sense of abruptness to the film; the abrupt ending reflects how quickly the fly's genes fused with Brundle's body. It is the subtle themes that really make this film standout.

A classic Sci-Fi Horror, The Fly is a great film and stands proud with many science fiction films of the 80s. The eighties is often mocked as a cultural phenomenon but with regards to this specific genre, the eighties was an immensely important decade. The Fly, along with Terminator, Aliens and The Thing went to great lengths to revolutionise the genre. Cronenberg does a fantastic job with this film. Of all of his more mainstream films, The Fly is his best effort yet.


Some find this film "schmaltzy" and simple. Saroyan fans will find it aptly relects the beauty found in the human condition. The way Joe relates to the various characters, causing them to easily open the hearts and souls seems contrived today and perhaps seemed that way even in the late 40's, but I suspect Saroyan was not particularly interested in "realism". Like all of his work, this movie is a study of the hopes, dreams, and loves of the "little guy" and his struggle to maintain them against the harsh light of human reality.

Cagney positvely glows throughout the performance and Bendix has never been better cast. Paul Draper as the tap-danciing comedian is absolutley brilliant in an extremley quirky roll. ( Interestlingly someone commented that they were suprised that this movie wasn't blacklisted, Draper ( according tot he IMDB bio) was "was an international star in the 1930's and 1940's" who's "career effectively succumbed to the anti- Communist hysteria that existed in the U.S. after World War II, when he was blacklisted out of the entertainment industry as a Communist sympathizer." It says a lot about James Cagney that this is the first film his production company choose to produce. If you can set aside your cynicism and view these characters in a slightly metaphorical light, Saraoyan's writing will leave your heart with a soft warm glow, and the joy of watching character actors working in a simple setting with no action and lots of dialogue may lead you to suspect that the entire cast was having The Time of Their Lives.


In 1941 Richard Rogers and Lawrence (Larry) Hart did the score of a brilliant musical called PAL JOEY. One highlight was a striptease dance and song done by Elaine Stritch towards the end of the second act, where she is a reporter talking about interviewing Gypsy Rose Lee. Gypsy (if you recall the movie with Natalie Wood) was always self-taught, and well read. The song spoofed this having her show off her knowledge (it begins with her mentioning reading Schopenhauer, not the easiest thing in the world). One couplet is the following:

"Zip, Walter Lippman wasn't brilliant today." "Zip, will Saroyan ever write a great play?"

It is a little ironic that this barb was directed to William Saroyan, as the star of PAL JOEY was Gene Kelly, who played "Harry, a natural born hoofer" in Saroyan's one and only Broadway success, THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE. Why the barb? Well William Saroyan was a popular short story writer and novelist, especially for books like MY NAME IS ARAM, about the life of the Armenian-American immigrants in California. However, try as he might he never wrote a monumental dramatic masterpiece. THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE is not in the same level of dramaturgy as A LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, THE DEATH OF A SALESMAN, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, or WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE is a pleasant play, and still gets revived, but it is a lesser work for the stage. Even Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN is considered a greater play.

The problem with THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE is that it shows the interactions of a set of characters in Nick's Bar. As was pointed out in another comment on this board, O'Neill's THE ICEMAN COMETH also is set in a bar. But the denizens of the bar at Harry Hope's flop house hotel are all failures, who drink to forget their failures and reassure themselves that they can pull themselves out of the failure sooner or later (none of them really can). Hickey, who comes to the hotel, tries to convince them they'll be happier giving up their "pipe dreams" if they admit they are not heroic or brave or capable of reform. You see, there is a theme that is uniting that play's characters. Saroyan is not (as was said) O'Neill. He was more optimistic, and he tried to show that the characters were capable of helping each other. At the end they join together to defeat the evil Blick.

Saroyan, like Wilder, was a master of Americana. In one sequence he has two characters get involved in a contest to see how much gum can be chewed at one time. O'Neill (even in a play like AH WILDERNESS, which is a comedy) never could be so Hamish. Saroyan invents very colorful characters, like his old timer "Kit Carson", who claims to be an old Indian fighter. The central figure in the play, Joe (or Joseph T.) is also colorful - he seems to be a former newspaperman who was successful, but began to regret getting involved in the awful world of the news - he has retreated to the bar where he'll hopefully find more gentle people. He is visited at one point by a woman, probably his former fiancé, and acknowledges her, but won't return to the madness he willingly left. The character is interesting, but none of the other characters reflect his point of view.

So we are left with a well acted, entertaining play - turned into a good movie. Cagney is remarkably subdued - look at the scene when he examines the little wind-up toys he has Wayne Morris buy for him. He maintains our interest until the end, but the lively Cagney does not show up until he confronts Blick.

William Bendix does his usual great job, especially when confronting Blick as a potential blackmailing scum. His Nick runs a respectable bar, and the threat Blick is hinting at is that a prostitute may be using the bar (Jeanne Cagney). Bendix knows nothing of this, but is concerned. Oddly enough, although the bar is a nice neighborhood one, Howard Freeman and Natalie Schaefer go to the bar (they are wealthy people) as though they are slumming.

The current film version does not have all the scenes that Cagney originally had shot. Wayne Morris's growing romance with Jeanne Cagney is cut down in the film (which is regrettable). There is also an interesting change in the conclusion (as in Saroyan's play itself) as to what happens to Blick. But the film is a good one, and a worthy addition to Jimmy Cagney's film record.


James Cagney had an affinity for nostalgic type stories and if The Time of Your Life is a contemporary piece for 1939 when it made its Broadway debut, it has a nostalgic feel to it.

No real plot here, just a whole group of character studies about the various habitués of Nick's Place on the San Francisco Embarcadero in the Thirties. The observer here is Joe, a man who just whiles a way the hours observing humankind in the bar with no visible means of support. He must be a retired civil servant on a pension like me. Maybe that's why I like the film so much.

Two members of the original Broadway cast did the film version, Reginald Beane the black piano player and William Bendix as Nick, owner and proprietor of the place. By that time Bendix was a big star with The Life of Riley on radio and he must have cost Cagney a bundle. But Bill Bendix is always worth it.

The villain of the piece is Tom Powers who either played thugs or policemen in film. As Blick, he's a bottom feeding scuzzball who either informs on people or blackmails them depending on how he can make some dirty money. In this case he focuses on a young woman with a shady past played by the star's sister Jeanne Cagney. It's probably her best film role.

Someone else remarked in a review that he thought it was timely that The Time of Your Life came out in 1948 as the McCarthy era was getting underway. True enough, but I believe that author William Saroyan had a specific political target in mind in 1939 in Congressman Martin Dies who headed the House Un-American Activities Committee when it was created in the late Thirties. Dies was that kind of a bullying interrogator that Blick is in the play.

Paul Draper who was the dancer/comedian in the cast was in fact blacklisted shortly after this came out. On Broadway his part was played by Gene Kelly. I guess getting Kelly from MGM would have blown Cagney's whole budget in 1948.

The Time of Your Life has always struck me as kind of an anti-The Iceman Cometh another play set in a tavern. But that one is by Eugene O'Neill and no one ever accused O'Neill of being optimistic. O'Neill's characters in his play are as pessimistic a lot as Saroyan's are optimistic. The two works really ought to be seen back to back.

The tavern as a setting for theater has a tradition that goes from Falstaff to Cheers. The Time of Your Life is an honorable addition to the tradition.


From what I'd heard of this film, I was expecting something dull and boring and Eugene O'Neill-ish.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a lot to love in this film. In fact, it left me happy and smiling. James Cagney's character is so off-the-wall in comparison to his other film roles. He just sits quietly, leading a seemingly monotonous life. He listens to a couple of songs over and over; he drinks champagne. Most of all he interferes for good in other people's lives.

I also watched this film because I'm fascinated with Jeanne Cagney and how much she looked like her brother. It's great to see James and Jeanne working together, particularly in this story, where he's playing an Irishman and she's Polish - but she's got his face. Yes, I'm easily amused.

It's a random film. It appears on the surface to be patched together and no, it's not action packed and fast-paced. But look beneath the surface, and you'll see it's about the value of observing, paying attention to things and people around you, and acting on what you see. We all could do with a little more of that - although I don't think we need to do it for hours on end in a bar. It can be done during normal life too.

I felt this film moved along pretty steadily. There was always some new thing popping up as something else was being resolved. And, although on the surface everything is resolved in the end, there are still a lot of questions one asks. I won't go into details here - I'll let you discover for yourself... and I strongly recommend you should do so!!


The plot of this film progresses very slowly especially by modern standards but the linear storyline is not really the reason to watch it. The cast brings to life a nice collection of unique personalities whose interactions are a joy to behold. Cagney is cast against type (he's not in trademark tough guy mode; he even hates to stand!). Fans of his are in for a treat and like I said the entire cast distinguishes itself. All in all a very worthwhile viewing, 8/10.


In this adaptation of William Saroyan's award-winning play The Time of Your Life, James Cagney plays a gentle barfly named Joe who settles in Nick's (William Bendix) Bar with various colorful characters like an imaginative old cowboy or a tap dancing comic who can't get laughs. His sister Jeanne plays Kitty Duval, a woman who claims to once have been in burlesque. She and her brother have some of the most touching scenes in the movie. The pace takes a while to get used to but if you're in the mood for something optimistically offbeat, The Time of Your Life should be up your alley! By the way, future "Gilligan's Island" cast member Natalie Schafer plays a society woman who "slums" by going to Nick's Bar with her husband. Pretty amusing cameo.


Originally a professional dancer, when Cagney went into acting, his original aspiration was the 'legitimate stage,' i.e. Broadway or off-Broadway, but ended up in Hollywood, where the real money was. Eventually he ran afoul of two institutions of the Hollywood studio system - the almost 'indentured servant' status of acting contracts, and type-casting. The first meant doing whatever the studio said, and the second meant that what the studio told him was to play the racketeer personality that had sold "Public Enemy" in film after film. Cagney rebelled, going long periods not making films, and insisting on casting against type. Finally he formed Cagney productions, which produced this film and a handful of others, most of which were box-office thuds.

To be fair to the studios on the issue of type-casting, they really understood their audiences of the '30s and '40s. By the mid-'50s, a new generation of mature audiences could approach an actor as something other than face for a type, but there's no doubt that earlier audiences expected their stars to be pretty much true to the characters they most usually played. Cagney was a particular victim of this syndrome. Of all his non-tough-guy films, only "Yankee Doodle Dandy" made a lot of money and earned enduring critical respect.

"The Time of Your Life" isn't just a filmed play that Cagney appears in. His character is the whole story. He has a mysterious past, appears to be well-to-do but prefers a shadowy existence in a lower-class dive, has nothing but good-will for the world, with a wry, wizened sense of humor, yet there is a strange underlying sadness or depression in his make-up that is never fully revealed let alone explained. All this is not just the writing at work, but is present in Cagney's powerful, understated performance. In fact, we're so conditioned by actors 'emoting' in dramas or playing stony strongmen in action films, that we have forgotten what 'subtle' really means in an acting style, but here Cagney exhibits it in spades. Unlike the 'method' actors of the same era as this film, who try to 'get inside' their characters as much as possible, Cagney recognizes the need to take the script as a blueprint for the actor's constructing character. This Joseph T. is as much Cagney's creation as it is Saroyan's - really more so. Cagney creates a fully-developed personality that could easily walk off the screen and down the street to the neighborhood bar. And you could walk up to him ad engage a pretty lively conversation.

It is true that the film making here is unexceptional - despite a couple remarkable close-ups, it's really a 'filmed play' in the lesser senses of that term. And the supporting actors are rarely as spot-on as Cagney. As for the story itself, well, let's be fair, it's Saroyan, an amusing bit of 'Americana.'

But the box-office failure of this film was undeserved, and so is its continuing reputation as something of a failure for Cagney's career. If you approach the film with an open mind, you'll realize that Cagney here leaves us a classic example of what pre-'method' acting really was, and what acting ought to be about. If you set aside expectations and pre-conceptions, you may find yourself utterly fascinated - and captivated - by Cagney's performance here.


I was attracted to this one by the cast, particularly Jimmy Cagney and William Bendix. I knew from reading the user reviews that there was little or no plot. None the less I watched out of curiosity. Now, I am a fan of the classic old postwar b&w flicks, but this one ultimately falls flat. For about the first half, one is engaged by the variety of characters coming before us, and the "slice of life" ruminations and quasi-philosophical discourses. However, that wears thin, and the second half is a drag. The peculiar old Western gunslinger is a puzzle; he seems to fill no dramatic purpose. The presence of many odd cutaways indicates that a lot of the original shoot wound up on the cutting room floor. Cagney seems to be presented as a sort of resident philosopher/observer, but in the end he dispenses no particular wisdom and one is curious as to exactly what his purpose is as well. Cagney's and Bendix's performances are the best part of the movie, but not enough to make it work. In the end, it's a drag.


James Cagney plays a permanent patron at a San Francisco honky-tonk, observing the ebb and flow of human traffic and occasionally getting involved in the tangled lives of clichéd characters. There's the tap-dancing comedian, the penniless piano player, the former burlesque dancer, the lovestruck kid, the simple gambler, the hearty bar-owner, etc. It's hard to imagine which of these stock figures is the most annoying (my vote would be the fur-trapper who hails from New Jersey), yet the film, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by William Saroyan, has garnered some good reviews. Personal taste will have to determine the picture's ultimate value, though Cagney's low-keyed self-assurance (some may say smugness) is rather enjoyable--and his presence is certainly odd in these corny circumstances. Saroyan's theatrical material just isn't well-suited for the screen, and the one main set and the clattering dialogue quickly tire both the eye and the ear. *1/2 from ****


I had heard superlative comments on this film and it does not disappoint.

Paris is the backdrop and what a Paris, A Paris of La Boheme and the Merry Widow. Audrey is brilliant in the role of Amelie, projecting a true joie de vivre.

The film is full of surprises in both plot and characters. I left the theatre feeling lighter. It is truly one of a kind, eccentric, unusual and uplifting. I will not say more on it as it would spoil the fun.

I gave it a 10 out of 10 for something so completely out of the ordinary and so very unhollywood.


Not a lot of movies create their own sort of universe. Some that come to mind include "The Wizard of Oz", "American Beauty" and "Vertigo." These movies are so distinct and original that they seem to have created there own spot in the universe, untouchable by anything else. You can add "le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" to that list.

Here is a film so original, so funny, and so warm that it left me with smiling for hours and the people on the sidewalk thinking I was crazy. Yes it is heart warming, but not in the phony Wal-Mart commercial sense; but in the sense of how good you feel when laughing with a dear, dear friend.

The film tells the story of French waitress Amélie (Audrey Tautou.) She is in her early twenties, lead a gloomy childhood and is missing something in her life until hearing of the Death of Princess Diana causes her to drop the cap of a bottle which rolls along the floor and dislodges a tile on her bathroom wall. What she finds behind that tile leads her to the decision that she is going to do what she can to make the people around her happier by whatever means possible.

Amélie goes about this with great success. One particularly wonderful scene shows Amélie helping a blind man across the street and rapidly describing what's happening around them to give him a picture of the world he doesn't get to see. This is only one in a mountain of selfless deeds she does to make people happy.

As she continues enriching the lives around her, Amélie becomes challenged with the fact that if she only helps others anonymously, she may live her life alone and without the happiness she brings others.

Amélie's conflict is what rounds out the picture and makes it complete. The movie is deep and takes Amélie's inner struggle seriously, but it's never heavy. Brilliantly hilarious, "Amélie" has a wonderfully funny script and is brought to life in visual splendor by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet ("Alien: Resurrection", of all things) and has at its center Audrey Tatou giving one of the warmest, most sincere and funniest performances you'll see this year.

I can't tell you how much I love this movie. Just thinking about it gives me goose bumps and I can't wait to see it again. SEE IT IN THE THEATRE IF YOU CAN! This may be the year's best picture and is not to be missed.


'Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain' finds its charm in the little things. The story about Amélie (Audrey Tautou) is a modern day fairy tale and that is exactly how it looks the entire film.

We have a wonderful story about Amélie who decides to help people around her, making them happy. Not by doing great big things or giving money, but by little things. She helps her father by making him believe that his gnome from the garden is on a trip around the world, she helps a lonely neighbor by just visiting him, she helps a stranger by returning something she found in her home. On the way she falls in love with Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz) who's hobby it is to collect photos from automatic photo booths. Photos that were tossed away because people thought they didn't look good enough. He puts all those photos and pieces of photos in a big book. There is a little mystery in the book as well, of course I will not spoil that for you. The story is not only sweet and charming, it has some great moments of comedy as well.

The movie looks colorful and bright almost constantly. Even the sad parts from Amélie's life, her youth for example, look almost strangely happy. In this world, Paris actually, Audrey Tautou is the perfect inhabitant. She has one of those faces that seem to smile the entire time. She looks like she just pulled a joke and she is waiting for you to find out what it is. In a way her character is really doing that here so it does not feel strange.

In short 'Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain' is charming, funny, romantic bright and full of life. This is the perfect lighthearted movie.


A year ago, if someone would have asked me "What is your favorite movie ?" , I would not have known what to answer exactly, maybe Fight Club, maybe Vertigo, Indiana Jones even would have come to my mind.

Since June, I have but one answer: 'Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain' !!! It is simply unique in his kind. And now it has come out in the US, I am a bit frightened, because everybody there describes it as a simple 'feel-good movie'. It is so much more than that ! Never before has a movie INFLUENCED my life in such a way. Audrey's performance is simply stunning... she plays with an innocence, a wit, a smartness and naïvity that even someone with 40 years experience could not have done better. (please, will someone give an oscar to that girl, she makes Kidman & Blanchett look pale :-) The score from Yann Tiersen is so beautiful that by now I'm addicted to it ( I read here somewhere something about 'accordeon jingle', please, get some education ;-). The story itself could easily have been abused, and I'm sure that if Hollywood had made this movie, it would have been ridiculous, but now it is a beauty, a pearl amidst broken hearts.

This movie is for everyone who understands passion or who has lost his/her childhood somewhere along the way. If you love art & music, sunshine & poetry than you are qualified for seeing this movie, be warned though...this movie can change your life (and maybe..it will ;-)!

Audrey is superb, Matthieu is better than himself, every actor gives a stunning performance, the scenery is beautiful, the whole movie is amusing, entertaining and charming, even CGI is perfectly done ! 10 out of 10 !!!

a 21-year-old Amélie fan who can enjoy the little things in life again


It is the best film i've ever seen.Only the French could make films as good as this. Amélie explores the trivial things in life and it brings you to some realisations of your own in that our lives are so simple and we only need the simplest of things to keep us happy. Amélie is a must for anyone


Rating: ***1/2 out of ****

What a fun film! From the moment it begins, "Amelie" bursts with joy and energy. It's a fable of sorts, a love letter to a Paris fondly dreamt of by many. It may not be the real world, but it is such a delightful fantasy that it doesn't matter how unbelievable some of it may be. "Amelie" is the rare romantic comedy that has both the romance and the comedy. It isn't very surprising that this has been a hit in France for a while now, and I have no doubt it will find the audience it needs in the States as well.

Amelie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) is a nave girl working at the Two Windmills Caf. When she was a child her mother and teacher was an innocent victim of a suicide gone awry. Amelie stayed with her father until she was old enough to leave and lead a life of her own. One day she finds a small box of treasures behind a tile in her wall, she decides to return it to her owner and become a natural do-gooder. Later on, she catches a man groping for lost photos under a photo booth (Nino Quincampoix, played by Mathieu Kassovitz), and it's love at first sight. She decides to go on a quest to find this man and help anyone she can along the way (including her father and co-workers).

I said before that this film was a love letter to Paris, it is also a love letter to Amelie herself. Jean-Pierre Jeunet (director and co-screenwriter) conjured the film like a dream, as if Amelie is his dream girl and he is trying to save her and bring her to a happy ending. It's not hard to want everything to work out for her and her friends. Amelie Poulain is the kind of person who you wish was your best friend, your neighbor or your sister. She bounces along with good grace and whimsy living life to its fullest, yet keeping a mischievous grin. She has her own idea of justice that isn't very disagreeable. The tormentors must in turn be tormented; the lifeless must be brought to life. The film is like a non-musical "Bells Are Ringing", with our heroine bringing so much life to those around her but neglecting her wants and needs.

After seeing Audrey Tautou as Amelie, I can't possibly imagine anyone else in that role. She embodies Amelie like no one else could, she is a rare find that pulls off the job of breathing life into Amelie in spades. Wait, I take that back. She does not just breathe life into Amelie, Tautou makes her jump off the screen and pull the audience into the story. It would be a crime for her not to get a Best Actress nomination for her role.

Magical is the world that Amelie lives in, where photos and lamps come alive to aid her quest, where TV shows are showing nothing but her story. The story this setting surrounds is pretty standard, and presented plainly could have just been another machine-processed romantic comedy. Is it too sappy? No. On the contrary, the film takes quite a few steps to make sure it doesn't become tacky or conventional. The rich, storybook setting and a witty screenplay (asides are taken to deepen our connection each character, little things that each likes and dislikes) make the film all the more a delight to watch. The cinematography, crafted by Bruno Delbonnel, does wonders for "Amelie". The camera captures the action with an eye of a child in a candy store, beautifully bringing about each shot as a new discovery.

With films like "The Widow of Saint-Pierre", "With a Friend Like Harry" and box-office hit "Brotherhood of the Wold", French cinema has had quite a year. It's a delight that we round off the year with "Amelie", a fresh, funny journey that could have easily just been more Meg Ryan-esque romantic comedy fodder. If not for anything else, see it for Tautou's performance, but prepare to be smothered in a dream world.


Waiting for `Amelie' to begin in a theater fraught with noisy college students drinking cheap beer, I wasn't expecting anything more than an over-hyped flick from our friends in France. I slowly began to realize as I watched Amelie skip stones in the canal that for the very first time, a film deserved all of hype it had been accorded and more, and I felt so blessed to be a part of this revelation.

Possible Spoilers

It's hard to put into words how much I loved `Amelie.' I felt as though I were sitting next to Monet, watching as he effortlessly splashed brilliant watercolors across his canvas. I had this strange but fantastic feeling of being inside the mind of Amelie, seeing everything in the vibrant colors she viewed life with, and wanting to remain there much longer than the two hours allotted. It was just so refreshing to watch a movie where your imagination was free to soar rather than feel confused by the apparent deja vu from last year's first installment of the same pointless drivel.

I almost always loathe films with subtitles as I feel that they get in the way of viewing the characters actions and facial expressions. `Amelie' is the first film where I adored the subtitles and in fact, had a nagging urge to go out and learn French that is still with me today. Much of this can be attributed to the delightful Audrey Tatou. Her expressive eyes and sweet caring nature provided the viewer with fond memories of Audrey Hepburn and prevented me from being distracted by the subtitles. Could a 23 year old actress with little experience be just as fantastic as Meryl Streep and Katharine Hepburn? I really wasn't expecting it but Audrey Tatou revitalized my interest in film and left me wondering why her name didn't appear on Academy ballots and what possessed the Academy to favor `No Man's Land.'

An already perfect film couldn't get much better but along with the lovingly created cinematography and delight of rising star Tatou came the wonderful story of a true do-gooder. `Amelie' is a film that begs you to get happy and should give some short-term contentment to even the most depressed of individuals. Little moments like the tragically funny early years of Amelie are very special and the best I've seen on the silver screen. The scene where Amelie is skipping stones in the canal should be studied for years to come as the greatest technical moment in cinema.

Movies like this one don't come around very often. Perhaps the creators of films that pander to dumbed-down audiences who apparently can't tell that their watching last year's film should take the hint. The movie-going public wants to be inspired and wants to be provided with the same imagination they have when reading a great novel. This is why `Amelie' remains #18 on the list of best films.

10/10


-If one needs more proof why foreign films are superior to American crap then look no further this gem. it's beautiful, magical, funny, sad, and wonderfully romantic

-Amelie tells the story of a girl with a highly active imagination. statues come to life, TV's can talk to her and pictures can move around. Her mom dies in a semi-hilarious scene which means she has to spend the rest of her life with her dad. Her dad is a very distant man that seldom shows affection. he's not a bad father by any chance, in fact he loves her daughter more than anything in the world, but he just dosen't know how to express his love for her properly so he becomes a bit distant from him This leads to Amelie having to retreat into her imagination to find people to talk to since her dad won't. she makes up imaginary friends to play with and keeps herself entertained by over imagining what she sees in everyday life

-the movie really begins about 20 mins. into the story. She discovers through TV that princess DI has died in a car crash and so shocked by it that she drops a marble in her hand. the marble rolls in the bathroom till it hits a wall. she pushes aside the tiny wall to discover that it's where a little boy hid his toy a long time ago. so she decides to return it to him, and when the boy whose now a man finds it he's so grateful that he begins to cry. this leaves Amelie feeling so happy that she decides to spend the rest of her life doing good deeds to those who deserve it. she helps out a grocer whose been emotionally abused by his manager, helps a blind man cross the street whiles describing everything in sight, and she reunites a weeping widow with her husband through a letter. as things move along she meets a guy that she falls in love with and the entire 4th act of the movie basically shows how the two of them get together

-french director Jean-Pierre Jeunet brings a unique visual style to this movie. it's almost as if you're watching the movie through a dream. it also one of the best cinematography ever to be committed on film. the beautiful Audrey Tatou plays the title character and the supporting cast also do an amazing job. this is one of those movies that leave you in a good mood after you watch it. plus it will leave you in stitches from laughing so hard. the "Orgasm Montage" has to be one of the funniest scenes in cinema history and that is one of the many reason why this movie is awesome

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED


In 1974, in Enghien in the northern suburbs of Paris, the girl Amélie Poulain was born and raised alone by her cold hearted father and her stressed mother due to a mistake of her father's evaluation of her heart conditions. Her mother dies in a weird accident and when the shy and daydreamer Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) becomes a young woman, she moves to central Paris and works as waitress in the café Deux Moulins in Montmartre. On 30 August 1997, Amélie finds a child treasure hidden behind the wall that belonged to a dweller from the 50's, and she decides to anonymously return it to the owner. He seeks out the man and when she witnesses his happiness, she decides to become the "godmother of the rejected", anonymously helping people that are her acquaintances using her fantasy and little tricks. She convinces her father to travel abroad using his garden gnome; she helps her neighbor that is an outcast and lonely painter and the super that misses her unfaithful husband; she also helps her hypochondriac colleague that works in the tobacco shop and the man that stalks the other waitress acting like cupid; she plays pranks to an employer that mistreats his employee with abusive relationship. When Amélie finds the album of photos of an intriguing collector that collects rejected photos in the Photomaton of the Gare de l'Est, she seeks him out and falls in love with him. On 28 September 1997, Amélie Poulain finds love.

"Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain" is certainly one of the sweetest and most original movies of cinema history. The surrealistic screenplay is stunning and it is impossible not falling in love for the character performed by the expressive Audrey Tautou. The direction and the acting are top-notch, supported by awesome camera work and the cinematography, excellent edition and magnificent soundtrack. This is a delightful romance even when you watch it for the second time, My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "O Fabuloso Destino de Amelie Poulain" ("The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain")


Amelie is a film that struck a certain chord with me. Every now and then movies come along that speak out to you and emotionally touch you in some way. Amelie is one such film for me. I related to its innocent charm and delightfully shy protagonist played by French sensation Audrey Tautou, the way very few films have. Part of the reason we watch movies is to learn something about ourselves or recognize characters that are remarkably similar to us and the way we are in real life. For all of us shy, introverted, quirky, and odd-ball eccentrics out there who have trouble relating to "normal" people, Audrey Tautou in this film is our personal hero. Instead of going into much detail about why the film works, I'll instead try to explain what it meant to me personally. Sure I guess this means I have to open up maybe more than I'd like to about myself, but oh well. The way Amelie's childhood was presented is similar to my own. I am an only child to divorced parents and very rarely had friends as I was and still am very much a loner. As a child much of my time was spent alone so I entertained myself in all kinds of silly ways. Just like Amelie does in the film. Of course I gained my fixation with films at an extremely early age, but also did stupid things like give my stuffed animals personalities and have conversations with them, draw pictures and create stories to go along with them, and laid in bed listening to the radio with the windows open on a lazy summer day imagining creatures out of the cloud formations. Apparently there are legions of us out there. Even today I enjoy solitude far more than the company of most people and still use my imagination to think of stupid little things. Amelie did an amazing job in capturing what the world is like through the eyes of a person who doesn't really fit in, but finds joy in the simple things in life. Like the fresh spring breeze on your face, the sound of the rain, the chirping of birds, the touch of fur, and popping bubble wrap. Actually popping bubble wrap was always an exciting and rare treat during my youth. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's film also has a marvelously fun nifty view of sex. For Amelie sex is not something that is intimidating, temptingly desirable, sinful, adult, or lustful. It's just another of the many silly things that people do in this world that make us human. Two people taking off their cloths and rubbing up against one another. How sweet! In fact many people have insulted the film for it's unique view and open attitude towards sex. For shame really. Sure there's a lot of it actually. Amelie's first sexual encounter, the orgasms, the object of her affection working in a porn shop with a stripper and putting price tags on didoes. But it's all in good fun and filmed with the naivety that a character like Amelie would view sex as. Anyways the movie really works. Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel does an excellent job in filming Jeunet's crazy vision and Audrey Tautou with her funky hairdo, wide brown eyes, and whimsical voice and kitten like mannerisms and shyness brings the movie to life. As I said I relate to this movie and understand the character the way I do with few other movies simply because it is frighteningly very much like I tend to be in real life.

"You mean she would rather imagine herself relating to an absent person than build relationships with those around her?"

Hmm, so would I sometimes. Audrey Tautou's been a more reliable friend than most people and has put a smile on my face and lightened my day at the thought of her more times than one. And I still say I'll marry her one day.


If ever I needed a movie dubbed, this one would be it. Normally, I prefer subtitles, but the visuals in here are so incredible that trying to read the subtitles distracts me from taking in all there is to see.

Man, there is a lot to see: brilliant, beautiful colors in scene-after-scene. They alone make this DVD worth owning. The story is decent, pretty interesting but nothing super. The humor is "French," meaning different from what we normally laugh at in North America. The story also, to be honest, gets frustrating after awhile, as Amelie goes on too long with her charade. If you've watched it, you know what I mean.

However, this is so uniquely and beautifully filmed that I can put up with a so-so story. As the lead actress, Audrey Tautou, is cute and fun to watch and the addition of humor to the romance story helps. There is almost no profanity in here and a few very quick nude shots which must be the reason for the "R" rating, otherwise it would be an easy "PG."

In summary, a pleasant film that is a feast for the eyes.


This movie is stylish beyond belief. But what strikes me most is the way it manages to capture the reality of human emotions, how internal monologues are played out in the form of TV programs, how dreams are simulated by the magical movements of inanimate objects and talking photographs! It is a charismatic portrayal of inner existence and the most natural desire to pursue happiness, both in our life and that of others.


...in conversations about this movie who simply doesn't like it. When I say that "I hate it", everyone starts to praise the whole movie.

Reasons I don't like this movie are:

1) All too happy in a too sweet way 2) Soundtrack, which is the most stereotyped soundtrack I have listened to 3) Characters. The main character is simply a nut job 4) The overall look and feeling of it. Those zooms and tracking shots...

I've always thought that if Amelie would have been an Hollywood movie, everyone would have said "It too sappy", but now when it is in french: "Aaah...it's so nice." Yet again, I feel I'm the only one who thinks this way.

For some reason this movie just didn't work for me. I'm not a pessimist or anything, but all that chirpy and happy feeling just don't cut it.

Having watched other Jeunet's movies, I think that his style just doesn't work for me.


This piece of art just shocked me.Not by non-sense visual or sound effects,not by its hard,war scenes,not by its too-profound-to-be-understood psycho-socio-sexual comment ,but by its h u m a n i t y. Humanity...Just think about that.Have we all forgotten the sense of this word?In a world that depresses us into our little caves,in a period when no-one is safe and sure about the intentions of his/hers neighbour ,thoughts about giving LOVE and HAPPINESS to the people surrounding you,me,everyone are really really precious. I do not want to speak about the plot,this you have already read in other comments around.I only want to say one thing.If you believe that people can love and give,then just go see this movie right now.You deserve it!

P.S:The soundtrack is just "parfait" as well...


This is one of my favorite movies of all time. It is romantic an absolute non-icky way, it shows a humans kindness in whole new lighting and Nino and Amelie share this delicate, tender, gentle love without many words said. Jean-Pierre made this film colorful like only few other people did or could do. Paris looks absolute dreamy and it makes you wish you were born in Paris, in Montmartre, with french as your mother tongue. It makes you wanna do something beautiful with your life, to yourself and to others, of course. It makes you brave, although you think of yourself to be the worst coward ever to live on this planet. Acting is perfect and I still can't get over the fact it didn't win an Oscar for best foreign film. Music goes along with the movie just great, it just right, it sets the perfect mood for the viewer. I really recommend this movie to everyone because I can guarantee you won't be disappointed!!!


**very mild spoilers**

I rented "Amelie" reluctantly. I had the impression that it would be a "girlie" film with meandering narrative and boring angst-ridden characters.

I am so glad I was wrong! What I did get was a "magical realism" tale of an introverted woman trying to improve the lives of the people around her. Amelie, through clever scheming and gentle intervention, facilitates delightful life experiences for her fellow characters.

The film does move at a slower pace, but the plot points are endearing, and it never drags. Every scene has a subtextual significance, where every shot adds a tiny sense of guilty voyeurism as we peek gentle into these people's lives.

The plot devices are purposely stretched to fantastical lengths at times. Laurant and Jeunet use this "magical" aspect of the realism to cultivate an optimism and effervescence that you won't find in any Hollywood movie today. The mood is always dreamy in this film, yet is never childish.

The characters will warm your heart. Audrey Tatou is perfect as the shy-yet-smouldering Amelie, and Jamel Debbouze is perfect as the impish Lucien.

You will love the sub plots of Amelie convincing her father to travel, and how she seeks gentle vengeance on the wicked grocer. The scheme to introduce herself to Nino, and the plot to do matchmaking at the cafe. All of these little stories are bound to tweak your heartstrings!

In the end: Amelie will leave you with feeling that "Pay it Forward" should have left you with... a buoyant and optimistic affection for humanity and life!

I highly recommend this movie to anyone, whether you are an action fan, an intellectual, or a feel-good Hollywood movie buff. There are clever plot elements and characterization that are good for all movie fans!

9 kernels of popcorn out of 10.


i have seen this film a few times but have never really been drawn to the storyline, i find the story predictable and boring, how ever i find the filming of the movie is eye catching and very cleverly done. the films major downside is that it is in french, with reading the translation below the screen you miss half of the story and the main events of the film.

the film is about a young lady called Amelie who finds a box in her bathroom, and starts her search to return it to the rightful owner, along the way he imagination brings even the little repeated event to be blown into a huge per portion.

with watching the film numerous times i have now picked up on the camera work and the magnificent colours, with noticing in the first time i watch Amelie the fantastic camera work and special effect which bring the film to life and help tell the story with out the translation, the camera work has defiantly made up for the storyline in Amelie and you notice something every time you watch the film.the colours also help the film and always give your eyes something to notice.

i dislike this film but at the same time i love it, Jean-Pierre Jeunet has made up his story line with fascinating camera angles and shots which have even made the biggest movies look dull.

i would recommend this film to other media students who would like to look at good camera work and fantastic colours but not to someone who would like a good storyline.


I highly anticipated this film, as it received mostly great reviews & was given many award nominations. What I saw was a picture post card of beautiful Paris & surrounding areas, nicely acted by all. BUT where oh where was the story, The film ran over 2 hours, That was 40 minutes longer than it deserved. When are we going to see films about happy nice people living their lives & not neurotics like displayed here. This was supposed to be a comedy & I hardly laughed lightly more than twice. Rating **1/2 78 points IMDb 7


This movie came highly recommended by nearly everybody. Thus, perhaps my disappointment was a result of high expectations.

The movie is original in the way that the life of Amelie (and her friends/family/acquaintances) is presented; However the novelty wears off after an hour or so, and all that's left is a trite, highly predictable movie that I wound up turning off. 3/10


I don't really understand why so many people say that this is one of the greatest films. It is actually a pretty film, with an excellent style. Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a good director and the film is not boring at all. However, is it a "wonderful film" as some say? I do not think so. The actors are (of course) good, but Jeunet shows us Paris as a marvelous place. And yet, I know what Paris is like, since I live in that city. And I can say that it is not the same thing at all. I do not say to jeunet to be realistic (and anyway he could not be realistic), but just to be fair with this place, which is not a real wonder.


This movie tries so hard to be cute and clever that its concentrated sweetness gave me a high for about five minutes and then I crashed for the rest of it.

Amalie (Audrey Tautou) has the demeanor of a spoiled little girl who grew up thinking she was ever so cute. She seems to be saying, "Look at me, can you resist me?" And then she gives off a self-satisfied smile with the hint, "You thought I was cute before, aren't you blown away by my smile?" Ugh.

But the thing that really bugs me about this movie is Amelie's conceit. She presumes to know what will make others happy and meddles in their lives. Among the things this adorable girl does is break and enter an apartment to do mean things to its owner's possessions, send false letters, short out people's TV's at peak moments, lie to people about who loves them, make anonymous phone calls without having the integrity to speak with the callee, and steal one of her father's prize possessions.

I know that we are supposed to accept the fantasy nature of this film where photos talk, statues wink, and people always answer public phones, but my patience for this kind of thing wore thin very fast. We are told, shown actually, that Amelie's mother was killed by a suicidal person jumping off of Notre Dame and landing on her. How are are we supposed to react to that? Is it supposed to be funny? Wasn't to me.

Then there is the agonizing game that Amelie plays with the guy she falls far. She gives him hints and, given the opportunity to make contact, shies away. You just want to shake her and tell her to just talk to the guy for heaven's sake. Finally at the end they meet and the first thing they do without saying a word is kiss and have sex. What kind of message is that?

The whole movie is filmed through some kind of orange filter that I suppose is meant to cast some sort of romantic candle-lit effect over the proceedings, but for me it was just one more barrier that prevented me from getting close to this movie.


Possible Spoilers!!!!

Wow. What else can I say?

This is the ultimate movie experience. It has everything! Excellent direction, gorgeous cinematography, great story, a score that always suits the mood and as for Audrey Tautou...

This is without doubt the single greatest performance by an actress ever committed to celluloid. In the title role she not only plays Amelie Poulian, she embodies her.

The tagline, "She'll change your life" is true. After watching AMELIE you will feel compelled to help a blind man cross the road or more importantly, you'll feel sure that there is a love out there for you. This is REAL magic.


In the Netherlands everything with the word french in it, usually means something half finished, but that by no means applies to this absolutely wonderful film. It is funny, without slapstick, it is sweet, without sickeningly so and it is romantic. What else do you want from a feel-good film? The way the voice-over is doing his voice-overing is brilliant and the love-scenes are beautiful. Definitely a film to watch time and time again.


Amelie is such a loveable character! Flawed and insecure, yet good-hearted, she is charming. Audrey Tautou captures all the winning qualities of this character, and makes you really care about her interactions with the quirky people in her life. The camerawork is original and cheerful, the narrations are hilarious, and the message of the movie is wonderful: the best thing you can do with your life is to be a ray of light and goodness to those around you, just like Amelie.


I suppose to fully appreciate Amelie, one would first have to appreciate the work of Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Jeunet creates characters that are sweet, simple, and (of course) interesting. Amelie, as the full title suggests, takes place in France. But not quite the France you may know. The France in Amelie is borderline between surreal and real, making the story of Amelie much like a fairy-tale. The main character, Amelie, is struggling to find her place in a world in which she does not seem to fit in. She feels finally at peace with her life when she finally feels she has found her goal in life...changing people's lives for the better. I don't want to give too much away, but overall, Amelie is a uniquely sweet story, with a uniquely sweet soul; just like...well, Amelie.


What a fantastic movie, I've seen this movie many times and it's just as god and funny every time. Audery Tautou's performances is amazing, she is perfect as Amelie, she really make this movie flying! The atmosphere is also fantastic. Well, I can say that everything is perfect in this movie, everything you have to see it, is just so fantastic that you almost wound believe it. A suburb 10 out of 10.


This movie, with out a doubt, made me laugh more than any movie I have seen! I love the plot. It's two completely absurd people who fall in love before ever meeting because they're both weirdos!!! It's SO great!!! But that's not all, Amelie decides she wants to do good in the world, make a difference, and she does in the most absurd and hilarious ways.


this film showed this cynic that romance can still work on the big screen. Funny in a variety of ways the way that only the French can really do successfully. I pray that the US resists the urge to remake it!


Former heavyweight champ Andy Purcell goes down to Tijuana in hopes of getting a fight. Andy's son, Dink, watches his father train, but Andy gives into his vices of gin and gambling, which constantly gets him in trouble. Andy wins Dink a race horse, which is entered in a race, where Andy meets his ex-wife Linda (with her current husband Tony) at the track and wants to be reunited with her son (Dink) and give him a better life outside of the one Andy gives him. Andy gets arrested and thrown in jail, where he decides that Dink would be best living with his mother, which devastates Dink (who idolizes his father). Andy is released from jail (thanks to Tony & Linda)and gets a bout with the Mexican heavyweight champ, where Dink runs back to his father to watch him hopefully win the fight, even though he is out of shape and not at the level of his opponent. The film is a toughing piece of cinematic brilliance, despite the static camera-work (very uncharacteristic of King Vidor). Beery and Cooper work so well together and their performances are what makes this film a classic. The script does not lose anything in the 70 plus years since its release. If the ending doesn't make you shed tears, you have to be a robot. Rating, 8.


'The Champ' seems to have been a blueprint film for all the others of the tough-tender school that followed it, and - owing entirely to Jackie Cooper's playing perfectly off of Wallace Beery's has-been, alcoholic pug - it's perfectly charming.

Yes, the fight scene is rather hokey: had they tried to use Wallace Beery's telegraphed-the-day-before roundhouse punches, even the toe-to-toe sluggers of 'The Champ's bygone day wouldn't have survived one round in the ring. But the film isn't about the fight scene, it's about the love of father for son and son for father - and to this day 'The Champ's' story artfully delivers its soft knock-out blow with tender sucker punches and love-taps to the heart.

Compared with today's fare 'The Champ's' pacing is slow but the time taken works nicely, especially in the one-on-one scenes captivatingly played by Cooper and Beery.

There's plenty of archetypal King Vidor composition-in-frame that's still imitated today, and in many instances the lighting is exemplary of the gorgeous black & white textural artistry of Hollywood's Golden Age. Lovers of classic B&W work might want to grab more than a few frames from the DVD.

Beery's work is quite good here, but Jackie Cooper's remarkable, potent chops steal the show - and your heart; though 'The Champ' has a good many fine, classical attributes there's none better in it than Cooper's unforgettable performance.


When I first saw this movie it was my first look at either Wallace Beery or Jackie Cooper. I found both of them very interesting to watch. I also found out why Bob Hope and Jack Benny used to make a lot of sarcastic lines about "being about as pretty as Wallace Beery." He definitely had an ugly "mug." However, he was a lovable loser, at least in this film.

Cooper played "Dink," a cocky little kid who just loved "The Champ" (Beery). On the VHS tape, Cooper's squeaky little voice did not come across well and often was annoying to hear.

The boxing scenes were hokey but I liked the ending because at least Beery won the fight, although he collapses afterward. I believe he lost in the re-make of this with Jon Voight and Ricky Shroder in the 1979 film, but I'm not sure.

The kid's devotion to the champ, even under the toughest of situations, was touching. With clearer sound and picture, I would have kept the tape. I should check out the DVD.


Probably the greatest disconnect among film personalities in history is that of Wallace Beery. On the screen he played these lovable oaf types, even when he was a bad guy. Off the screen he was a violent man, given to fits of temper and I can't recall anyone having a good word to say about him. Possibly for that reason Beery could lay claim to the fact he was the greatest actor in films. The crowning achievement of his career was his Oscar winning performance in The Champ.

Of course Beery could not have done it without little Jackie Cooper as well. It's their scenes together that make the film as memorable as it is. Instead of splitting the Academy Award with Fredric March who was also awarded The Best Actor for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, possibly Beery should have given half of his half to Cooper.

Beery is actually a former champ in this film. He's an over the hill, alcoholic pug who lives a hand to mouth existence with his young son Cooper. He split from his wife Irene Rich years ago, taking Cooper and she'd like to get him back. She's pretty well fixed now with a new and rich husband and a daughter by that marriage.

The fly in the ointment is that Cooper is really attached to his father and blind to the faults he has. And Beery really does love his son, the only really happy part about his life. He's probably way too old to be seriously in the fight game, but he needs the dough for his kid.

The Champ is guaranteed four handkerchief film even now almost eighty years after its debut. A remake was done in 1979 with Jon Voight and Rick Schroder in the main two roles, but it wasn't a patch on this one.


I've just finished watching this film, which I've been wanting to see for years and I was impressed without being overwhelmed. Wallace Beery's not bad (though a bit stilted) in the leading role; he's better than Irene Rich, playing his ex-wife, who throws herself around the screen, swooning from sofa to sofa in a totally over-acted performance. However, it's Jackie Cooper who steals the show with a portrayal which manages to be both heart-rending and realistic. I know the concept of "real sound" is a disputable one, as sounding real on screen may just entail being a good actor, rather than a realistic one, but nonetheless he does seem far more genuine than the rest of the cast. 8/10.


"The Champ" is a heartwarming experience,with a great performance by Jackie Cooper who steals the whole show.Wallace Beery won an Oscar for his portrayal of the brawling ex-fighter who loves his son deeply. The chemistry between Beery and Cooper is the movie's core. It's nice to see that both the mother and stepfather are portrayed as sympathetic people.Beery's portrayal manages also to convey the flaws in the character of The Champ,which is why we understand how his wife could leave him.But as an ex-boxing champ he's not very believable. The final bout is laughingly choreographed and looks silly. But it is a film I would want to see again.


In the worst years of the depression, the most popular stars were not the most glamorous or attractive. As revealed in the highly respected Quigley poll (which surveyed movie theatre owners on who their audiences were most likely to come and see), the biggest draws in the early 30s were friendly, earthy types whom audiences could relate to at a time of poverty and desperation. These included genial comic Will Rogers, middle-aged frump Marie Dressler, and burly pug-face Wallace Beery, who played his greatest role in 1931 feature The Champ.

Beery's physique meant he was often cast as villainous thugs, but he had demonstrated enough acting prowess to get a decent number of "gentle giant" lead roles. In The Champ he gets to combine the two, one minute the swaggering pugilist, the next a devoted father. He gives a performance full of tiny gestures, expertly dancing from one expression to another. When he gets to show his character's emotional vulnerability, the scene is doubly poignant coming after the macho confidence he normally displays. The knowledge that off the set Beery was reputedly a wife-beating brute who bullied everyone around him perhaps spoils the effect slightly, but even with this in mind his performance is captivating, believable and utterly flawless.

Supporting Beery behind the camera is a director who was both a poet and a craftsman of the cinema  King Vidor. Vidor excelled at coaxing naturalism from his players at a time when theatrical hamming was the par. His camera focuses on Beery for long takes, allowing the actor to potter about doing his little bits of business and developing the character. Vidor also gives the picture bite with some neat tracking shots. These are usually in the field depth, so in other words we are either backing away from the actors or following them. The former kind, with the players advancing on the camera as in the shot that opens the picture, gives the characters presence and show them as a force to be reckoned with. The latter kind, where the camera follows the character, physically pulls us into their world. Vidor used these kinds of shot a lot, and they are a neat way of making the audience feel involved without drawing too much attention to the artificiality of the form.

It may come as a surprise that this story of male bonding was written by a woman, Frances Marion. But like Beery, Marion defied expectations simply by being very good at what she did. Her plot for The Champ earned her the second of her two Oscars. It does not perhaps describe the most realistic of situations, but the emotional content is very sincere, and its depiction of determination and human feeling during hard times must have struck a chord with audiences of the day. The dialogue, which is credited to three separate people, is appropriately punchy with lines that sound believable yet are memorable and evocative.

Aside from Beery, the rest of the cast are a good bunch. Of all the lead players, Irene Rich is the only one who doesn't stand out, and she seems simply there to fill the wealthy, motherly type. But having said that she is not at all bad and her presence doesn't harm the picture. The Champ also sees Roscoe Ates in one of his largest roles, and for once getting to appear as a normal person rather than the stuttering fool he was usually required to play. Finally there is Jackie Cooper, one of the greatest child stars of his or indeed any era. While it seems clear that fame has gone to the youngster's head (he's not quite as good as he thinks he is), he is certainly up to the task of carrying his end of the picture. He plays a genuine child when with Beery, but when he is around others he deepens his voice and adopts mannerisms as if trying to be an adult. It's a touching and appropriate performance and very suited to the tone of the picture. And this was perhaps also the only time in which a child actor like Cooper could become a personality in his own right. As the popularity of Beery, Dressler et al proves, this was the age of the unconventional superstar.


This almost eighty-year old film will bring both a tear and a smile. It is the story of washed-up and somewhat alcoholic boxer Andy Purcell (Wallace Beery), just known as "Champ" to everyone, including his adoring little son, "Dink", played by Jackie Cooper. It's as though life has really ceased to have meaning for the Champ ever since he lost his championship status. The only thing that continues to give his life meaning is his son. The Champ isn't exactly providing a wholesome environment for Dink. Dink hangs out in pool halls with his Dad, isn't enrolled in school, and sits up nights alone in their dingy room waiting for the Champ to come home when he is out on a drinking binge. Champ's ex-wife, socialite Linda, sees Andy and Dink at the racetrack one day and tries to convince Andy that Dink would be better off with her. At first the Champ is unpersuaded. However, when he gets a hold of a good sum of money and gambles it away and winds up in the drunk tank overnight he decides that maybe it is for the best if Dink goes with Linda.

Wallace Beery had some lean times after motion pictures transitioned to sound, however he got a new lease on his career at MGM, and it turned out that his coarse voice attracted fans rather than repelled them. He won a well-deserved Best Actor award for his role, but if there had been a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1931 it would have gone to nine-year old Jackie Cooper. He is comic as the street-wise kid meeting his half-sister for the first time - "The dame is goofy" he remarks. He is heart-rending when the Champ tells him he doesn't want him around any more, that he's tired of feeding him, just so he'll go with his mother.

A minor point that made this film so refreshing for me is that nobody tries to "lawyer up" or turn Dink's fate into a courtroom battle. Everyone deals with everyone else in this film on decent human terms. In the end the Champ tries to regain the championship so he can provide a good life for his son and so that his son can respect him, not so that he can win a custody fight.


Jackie Cooper was the top child actor at MGM in the early 30s when it was the top studio. He started off as part of "Our Gang" but just a year later was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in "Skippy" (he just lost out to Lionel Barrymore in "A Free Soul"). L. B. Mayer called him "a wonderful kid" and teamed him and Wallace Beery in the emotional and heart wrenching film "The Champ". It has the most tear drenching finale of any film I have ever seen and Jackie Cooper gives an outstanding performance as Dink, the little boy who has an unswerving faith in his hopelessly alcoholic father. The sets have a very gritty and real look - not at all what you would expect from MGM "the dream factory".

Little Dink lives with his dad, a washed up fighter who can't stay off the booze. His managers try to talk him up to some promoters, promising that he is the same fighter he always was - Dink's job is to sober him up but unfortunately it doesn't work. Andy "The Champ" has always promised Dink a race horse and when his luck changes, he buys "Lil' Champ" - an old and beat up horse that they train up for a race. The day of the race Dink meets his mother (he or she doesn't realise it), Linda, who has the horse "Blue Boy" next to "Lil' Champ" in the stables. Dink introduces her to his little mate - "he's coloured" he says, "yes, but he's kind of a pretty colour" she replies. (It was interesting that you didn't see her shake hands with the little boy, their hands were out of the camera range).

When "Lil' Champ" loses the race, Linda (Irene Rich)realises who Dink is and wants to give him everything that he has missed out on. (Even though Linda seems lovely - her character is portrayed as once having been a gold-digger who only married Andy when he was rich and famous and left him for a more prosperous gentleman when he was down on his luck).

Andy is then paid $100 to let Dink visit his mother - while there he sings a few bars of a popular song (Ruth Ettings' "Don't Tell Him What Happened to Me"), meets his step-sister Mary Lou (adorable Marcia Mae Jones) a little cutie who talks to Dink about the reality of fairy tales. After his visit Linda is determined to take Dink away from the unwholesome life he is leading with his dad. Dink and Andy have a magical relationship but after a heartfelt scene Andy convinces Dink to live with his mother, but with Dink away, he loses the will to go on.

The ending is the most emotional ever and Jackie Cooper was a genuine star. There will not be a dry eye by the film's end. In an interview, I heard Jackie Cooper say he did not get on with Wallace Beery. They made a few pictures together and were considered a team, adored by the public. Cooper said whenever people stopped him in the street to ask what Beery was really like, he had to lie and say what a wonderful guy he was - he couldn't tell them the truth and spoil their illusion. The previous reviewer was right - Beery was not well liked.

Highly Recommended.


057: The Champ (1931) - released 11/9/1931; viewed 5/21/06.

The Chinese Soviet Republic is declared by Mao Tse Tung.

BIRTHS: Ike Turner.

DOUG: King Vidor directs big bad Wallace Beery (Best Actor winner) and little Jackie Cooper in Frances Marion's moving screenplay The Champ. I've read that Wallace Beery was actually a rotten lunkhead offscreen and not really the lovable loser that he always played on screen. I guess little Cooper really was a good actor to make us believe the latter while enduring the former. This is a rare film made during the Depression that actually talks about it; most people preferred films that let them escape from the Depression entirely. Beery's Champ does everything he can to properly raise his son Dink, but he's not very smart, and he's not exactly a great father; he suffers from gambling and alcoholism, and it's often the kid who has to look after the dad. In the end, we forgive the Champ because he really tries, and he really does love that kid. Although he makes a lot of false promises ("I'll never drink again! No more gambling!"), we're behind him all the same because of Beery. At one point, he tries to send Dink to his mother's in a heartwrenching scene; when Dink tearfully refuses to go, Champ slaps him through the bars of his cell. Dink runs away crying, and Champ starts slapping his fist against the concrete wall in shame; he just hit his son! The final fight is quite effective, as he's fighting for a $20,000 purse that will put his son through school. I thought his heart problem could have used more setup. I didn't cry at the end, but dammit, I was close. I'd also like to point out Dink's friend Jonah, a black kid whose character is handled rather tastefully: "That's Jonah. He's colored." "Really? Pretty color." Awwww...

KEVIN: Yes, I wept. I really loved The Champ. I was in no danger of dozing off during this film, as I was captivated in every scene. The role of Andy "Champ" Purcell is truly the role of a lifetime for Wallace Beery; I firmly believe that no other actor in history could ever nail this performance so perfectly, so this time the Academy was right for a change. One might say that this story kind of turns the anti-hero sentiment on its side. Rather than a sadistic thug hiding under a dapper exterior, Beery's "Champ" is a washed-out tough guy with a heart of gold. One of the less effective things about the film was the character of Linda, and Irene Rich's performance of her. It's much harder to sympathize with her struggle, even at the end. Fortunately, we don't see too much of her, and Beery and little Jackie Cooper dominate every scene. We see again and again not just that Andy is a loving father, but that he and Dink really take care for each other in ways that no one could understand. That's why it's so heartbreaking at the end when that union is broken forever and both Dink and we in the audience must come to terms with it and look forward to the future.

Last film: The Platinum Blonde (1931). Next film: Frankenstein (1931).


(mild spoilers)

I had heard that this was a "tearjerker," but i was completely taken in by the simple story and the incredible relationship between Dink and The Champ.

I spent the last half of the movie with tears rolling down my cheeks, and i was really struck by a lot of the little details that made the film play much better than a lot of movies nowadays. (And i am not saying that all movies today are bad, hey, i liked the Matrix and Lord of the Rings like everybody else.) But there are little moments, such as the way they hold hands walking out of the gambling joint, or the way Beery takes off his son's shoes and gets him ready for bed, then sits up and looks out the window in despair over having lost everything at the craps table. Just blew me away.

The scene in the jail DESTROYED me, as did the final scene. Just such amazing characters, and you couldn't help but feel for them. Beery is such a terrific on screen presence , and Cooper was just a joy to watch.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED


Finally saw this last night on TCM, and I really can't believe the raves by the other posters! First, if Andy and Linda had actually hooked up, their kid would have looked like a gargoyle! Second, I didn't understand why Andy got Dink. Linda was probably a gold-digger who bailed the second Andy lost the belt, but fathers were very rarely awarded custody back then unless the mother was as an unfit a parent as Andy is!

Which leads me to the fight. Beery flayed around like a crazed fish in search of water! Why no one told him that you punch straight ahead is beyond me! When Cooper started bawling for this loser, I wanted to deck him! He was so damn annoying throughout, but never more so than then!

And what happened to Jonah? Didn't anyone care because, as Dink puts it, he's "colored"? That must be it.


This is the best novela ever made in my opinion. It's unlike any other novelas i saw. All the characters have both bad and good sides. There isn't any character put in negative light, nor any epitome of greed and prejudice like in most SOs (especially Mexican ones). Because of this moral balance, the plot and the relationships seem credible and appeal to you. It also leaves the impression that the mastermind actually spent serious time after coming up with such issues fertile for reflection. The love triangle between the mother, daughter and Edu is one of them. Pedro in-between the three women is another situation that stays interesting and unpredictable. The acting is excellent. I guess it has something to do with the nationality of the protagonists. The Brazilians are warm people and I always enjoy seeing and hearing them talking. The set is also a big plus. Rio de Janeiro and the ranch are both superb sites (although Rio has it's problems with poverty and violence). Over-all an excellent series. Don't mind the soap-opera tag, something like this has never been done before and i doubt something to best it is to be done soon.


This tenth Bobby Jones short feature is the first one in this series I've seen and I was pleasantly surprised. It isn't just some dry golf lesson that only golfers could appreciate, but a little humor and story involved in it, with a couple of famous Hollywood personalities. However, more than anything, it shows off the amazing talents of the great golfer Bobby Jones.

The "story" is a side bet that comedian Joe E. Brown (witnessed by actor Edward G. Robinson) makes with Jones on the course one day. He bets he can beat Bobby if the latter is forced to hit the ball from wherever the comedian hits it off the tee, and vice-versa. Of course, Brown hits it in horrible places, behind trees, in ditches, buried in sand traps, etc., but Jones shows how he still manages to get the ball not only on the green but near the hole, out of their almost-impossible conditions.

As a past golfer, I can appreciate some of these shots by Jones. They are amazing. For example: few, if any, golfers today, including Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, could hit a one-iron as Jones does here.

This turned out to be a fun little bonus feature. It was part of the DVD from the feature film, "Bullets Or Ballots."


I learned about this series of Vitaphone shorts while channel surfing... I tuned into the Golf channel and was wondering why they were showing an old B&W film.

I continued watching until I slowly came to realize who I was watching... the great Bobby Jones.

I had seen the film biography of Jones... and have visited a lot of the Jones memorials in Augusta GA. But this was the first time I saw and heard the great man.

Cool!

I plan on getting the DVD version of this series, given the practical instruction (despite the use of archaic terms like "Mashie Niblick" and "Spoon."

This film... and the others in the series, are very highly recommended for all golfers!


First, a brief advice for those who haven't seen the film: expect bizarreness, randomness, random bizarreness, exaggerated randomness, and exaggerated bizarreness. However, beyond the exaggerated random bizarreness, the film doth have meanings that we can take away. It has style and substance, albeit a lot of style. FINAL VERDICT: highly recommended if you don't mind bizarre exaggerated randomness.

The rest of my review provides an analysis of the meaning behind the lushly colorful sets and the exaggerated bizarreness. It will be most helpful to readers who have already viewed the film.

As first glance, "Survival Style 5+" would seem a totally bizarre film-going experience. Indeed, few movies can claim to feature the following exaggerated acts:

-a hot wife who visualizes a complete "speedy" internet commercial in her head, which uses olympic sprinters to compete in how "speedy" they can cum on the field by having sex.

-a dead wife who breathes fire to light her husband's cigarette.

-a middle-aged father who permanently turns into a bird by undergoing hypnosis.

-an executive who answers an "important" phone call from his wife during business hours; "What is it?" He asks, and then his face shows great concern as he repeats after his wife: "What, the bathroom lights are out!"

-an assassin asking a cooked broccoli what is its function in life.

These are just a few examples to gear up your expectations for the randomness in the film. However as the film progresses, it becomes evident that it has meanings more than meet the eye. Why when the man wants to kill his wife, he can never succeed, but as soon as he retracts the intention, she is really dead? Why when the same wife cooks a full meal for the man, he is not pleased, but at the end he is happy to accept a less full meal from her? Why does the woman in commercial business run after her lost recordings, only to stop before she reaches it with a sigh: "I'm so stupid?"

To me, this film illustrates the basic lessons learned in life through these wildly random events, and it all ties up at the end. The wife is not able to please the man with her cooking at first because she is feeding him what she wants to feed him, not what he wants to eat. Later, when she adjusts the food to his liking, both he and she are more satisfied. At first, the man is repeatedly killing his wife because he is a killer and that's what he is supposed to do. Even though he fails every time, he just repeats the same thing over and over again without thinking. He can never succeed killing her because the more we want something, the harder it seems to obtain. However when he finally has no intention of killing her any more, she is taken from him forever. How ironic. This incident also illustrates the inevitability of consequences from our actions: the man had hired a hit-man to kill his wife, and it comes back to haunt him. Therefore the man's action is responsible for his wife's death.

Furthermore, the woman in commercial business is a workaholic. She has no personal life, and her husband detests her work. On Christmas eve, she is running with all her strength to retrieve missing work. As she races past the holiday decorations and Santa on the street, it finally hit her: she has been living in vain; on this day of celebration, she has nothing to celebrate and no one to celebrate with. And what about the band of thieves? During a near-death situation, two of them finally come out with their feelings, reinforcing the notion that tragedy brings people closer. As for the bird dad, he didn't turn into a bird without a purpose. It is a statement about coming to terms with who we are and who our neighbors are; we need to co-exist with people who are different from us, and it begins with accepting who we are and who they are.

Although this review has concentrated on the film's meaning, I must take a moment to comment on the wildly imaginative visual style. This movie is a visual feast full of vibrant colors. Along the same style, the film definitely has its share of random, exaggerated situations. Why would the director take this exaggerated approach to illustrate the lessons of life, you might ask. The answer lies in the commercial expert Yoko's reply to her boss' criticism about the offbeat nature of her presentation: "You have to make something entertaining. Otherwise, people will not watch it," she says. Her bosses are pressing her to make another dull and straight-forward presentation; they think that spoon-feeding the audience is the only way for the us to grasp their intended meaning. Well, I am confident that most people who see this film will agree that Yoko's offbeat commercials would be more effective than any boring standard commercial. By taking the same offbeat, exaggerated approach to make this film, the director is trusting our ability to grasp the essence of his intentions, and we should be thankful for such filmmakers who have enough faith in their audience to take chances with a deliberately creative offering.


How to describe the experience of watching SURVIVE STYLE 5+?! The look of the movie alone was enough to blow me away: it features fanciful costumes that look nothing like any clothes I've ever seen before, sets crammed with all manner of curios, and a use of color which is simply outrageous. Imagine WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN's aesthetic mixed with the texture of a Dali painting as filtered through a commercial for bubblegum. Then put it on overdrive and string it with Christmas lights...and you will only have begun to envision the glorious assault of brightness and fashion that is SURVIVE STYLE 5+.

Fortunately, the movie's abundance of style is matched by its substance. The plot concerns 5 different main characters whose stories become intertwined in a variety of improbable, violent, and hilarious ways. We meet a song-and-dance hypnotist, a businessman who thinks he's a bird, a zombie wife who fires her arm off like a cannon, and a British hit-man who shows up periodically to ask "WOT IS YOUR FUNCTION IN LOIF?" before going nuts and stabbing people. All that, and I'm only describing the first half hour or so...

Despite its absurd and surreal tone, SURVIVE STYLE 5+ makes complete logical sense. Never once does it veer into the no man's land of "weirdness for the sake of weirdness." The plot meanders all over the place, but there IS a method to its madness: a POINT to it all, a moral to figure out and mull over. In this regard, SURVIVE STYLE 5+ outclasses just about every movie of its type, by which I mean the recent rash of movies with multiple narratives that come together coincidentally. SURVIVE STYLE 5+ is definitely better than HAPPINESS. It may be better than PULP FICTION. MAGNOLIA shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence with it. Really, there is no movie I can adequately compare with SURVIVE STYLE 5+ because it seems like the first film of an entirely new genre.

It's hilarious, too. Several days after viewing the movie, I still find myself walking down the street, remembering a funny scene or line, and laughing wildly to myself about it.

So do what you can to see it on the big screen, then pray for a decent DVD release. You will NOT be disappointed.


Some people out there in may imagine the Japanese of Tokyo to be a stoic, colorless like the Vulcans. To some extent, that is how they really are. The buildings are gray, and if it's overcast, everything kind of blends together into a formalized drone. There is more paperwork added each day, another speech to sleep through, and the shuffle begins anew. Add the business formalities, and society can get very stiff over there.

That is one side of Japan.

SURVIVE STYLE 5 is the other side. Somewhere buried beneath the hard samurai exterior, the Japanese are the silliest, flashiest people on the face of the earth. Just watch the game shows on TV to see what I mean. It takes the slightest spark to transform a crowd of adults into a crowd of Pokemon monsters. Add this side of Japan, and every conversation at the workplace has a Comic Book BANG! POW! and HORRA!

The movie features five story lines (1) A hip to be square family of four (2) A girl that won't stay buried (3) An assassin on a hit job (4) A hypnotist (5) A traveling band of fools in a van. Here's a puzzle for you -- what is the common element that connects these 5 story lines? Beats me. Maybe it's the STYLE.

SURVIVE STYLE 5 is like a multi-colored salad falling to the kitchen floor in slow motion. Everyone stands agape as the orange leaves scatter like purple rain. Most memorable are the vivid colors and extreme silliness. Take for example the absurd scene where a typical nuclear family is rocking out in the car on their way to a hypnosis show. All four are bobbing their heads to punk rock and shouting American profanities in unison.

A cohesive story would have propelled this movie into greatness. But because it's so scatterbrained, it can safely be filed in the "two-hour music video" drawer. You might want to display it at the entrance to your home on special occasions -- like an Andy Warhol photograph. It can serve as a reminder of how absurd the world can get. "Yes, the world did have a story to tell once upon a time. It made absolutely no sense, but it had such a beautiful Christmas Tree!"

If SURVIVE STYLE 5 is your cup of tea, I recommend Taste of Tea, released in 2004 starring Tadanobu Asano.

JY

Jimboduck-dot-com


Just like Seal's 90's hit, "in a world full of people, there's always someone to fly". I would describe this movie as both an expression and example of the people who 'try to fly' - and they are usually considered crazy in society. They try different, previously unheard of things, and sometimes it's genius and sometimes it's a dud. But hey, at least they try.

This movie is absurdingly complicated in a first viewing, yet it delivers with, yes, absolute style. On a second viewing the themes become more apparent, and this is a movie you'll want to see (at least) twice.

Five stories are intertwined, sometimes subtly and others obviously, Tarantino/Ritchie mode, and they all deal with crazy stuff. This is a visual and stylish delight, as well as little bit of a mindtrip. There's symbolism if you look hard enough, but the joy of the movie is the way it deals with different themes - homosexuality, identity, love and death - and shows us that life is indeed a little bit crazy.

Recommended. 8/10


What is Survive Style 5+? One of the best films I have ever seen in my life. This film is about 5 ( or more, you decide) styles of living, depicted in a seemingly haphazard and bewildering form. The use of song, colors, cinematography will ensure most people have no excuse BUT to be captivated by every scene. Even those that simply miss out on all the symbolism and allegories for every day life will find this movie highly entertaining simply from the excellent performances and superb overall presentation.

The movie opens up with a man, who's apparently murdered his wife, burying her in the forest with a couple of meaningful comments about murder itself. That serious moment opens up a floodgate of seemingly subconscious events and comedy that is meant to jar you from the underlying essence of the movie for a moment. The film introduces other "styles of life", for example a group of bumbling burglar teens, a hit-man (Vinnie Jones) and his translator, an advertising guru who thinks every think she makes is the pinnacle of hilarity, and a family that apparently has a few issues of their own to deal with.

Each layer of bizarre is followed by another layer of bizarre, until the ending will most likely leave you with your jaw on the floor. The great thing about SS5+ is that deep within the layers of apparently non-sensical comedy and action, there is a meaning to unearth, most people will come up with their own ideas as to "what it all means" and THAT is the best aspect of SS5+, enjoy.


Definitely one of my favorites!

There are so many creative and innovative ideas and genuine rip-off's of clichés. A real fun to watch. And the stunning art style ... never seen a so detailed and thought-out flick like this one. Even when you watching this film a second time you still might get lost in figuring out all these details.

Music was also perfectly used; a 100% match with the art style (something like Rock/Pop ...(?).. well, you'll get it when you see it) Even the slower and moderate background music (simple piano chords), which was used in the middle of the film for quite a long time, was also a consummate choice.

The highlight, alongside the art style, of this movie was definitely characters and acting. Every one of them really stand out. Some of the reviews complained about a cliché-kind of presentation of Vinnie Jones. You know, this was intentionally; hinting at the cliché image of Gaikokujin (foreigners) in japan. It is just an amazing performance of the entire cast.

If i happen to see this movie presented in an art exhibition, i wouldn't be surprised at all. A real masterpiece, though some might only like it, but not love it, as i do ... well, too bad! ;)


I am not usually a big fan of experimental films but this movie is now one of my all time favorites. This movies has everything; action, comedy, horror, romance, philosophy... you name it. With 5 original and different stories to follow, even if you don't like one aspect of this film, another is sure to catch your fancy.

Being a Japanese film this movie has the trademark Japanese type humor, so if you are into random comedy, you should enjoy this film. Even if thats not your style of humor I recommend you check out this movie just as a refreshing change from the typical Hollywood style

Most important though, just have fun with this film; I have read reviews that try to analyze and put meaning to the different events of this film. Why do some people always need to find a moral to every story? I suppose there are ideas to be taken away from this movie, but don't try and analyze it too much, just enjoy it.


Someone keeps asking me, "What's this movie about?" SS5+ is one of those that defies to be labeled...just the way I like it.

Tadanobu Asano, a literal jack of all trades, is the main reason I wanted to see this. From an infamous masochist king known as Kakihara to low-key Kenji in the visually stunning Last Life in the Universe, Asano always manages to display, not only a wide range, but he performs on several different levels. In this one, you can't help feel anticipation for his scenes and trust me: they're worth the wait!!!You are then presented to an elegant buffet of avid brights, darks and color schemes which makes his home seem like Lewis Carroll's summer house. Reika Hashimoto and Asano (phenom chem!) had me mind scrapingly perplexed as to what would unfold next.

The rest of the cast all play their roles well (and with fun) and the intertwining events keep the ball rolling with an occasional rest stop for character development and goodfeel. There's a dark humor in this film which gives it it an odd, adderol driven, yet refreshingly original style. Also, a high bpm soundtrack gives it some additional high octane for the trip. I will have to keep an eye out for Gen Sekiguchi's future films or other works by Taku Tada 'cause Survive Style 5+ has warped my way of thinking  in a good way!


Hey, let's just get back these IMDb reviews under control.

This is an enjoyable, multi-levelled film that will particularly appeal to a European and American audience - just because it is so different.

However, in view of the whole range of current Japanese/Chinese/Tiawanese film output, anyone giving this a ten star rating should get out more. Especially those people (and you know who you are) have written a "review" which is a word for word quote from the DVD cover.

Having watched it twice, I enjoyed it. It's got style, and originality. It's really watchable. But, it's a bit like candy-floss - it appears more substantial than it is. In some circumstances, it would acquire a cult following of those wishing to explain each and every scene, in infinite depth.

There are some great performances. Unfortunately, Vinne Jones does not provide one of these. In his previous, and more honourable career, as a soccer player, he achieved a certain degree of fame as a last stop, hatchett man defender.

In his retirement, he was superb in his cameo role in "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" However, his role in this film is just a joke. Now, I quite understand if he was cast as a joke - this would lend a degree of irony to his role. But, I just don't think that was the intention.

So, in conclusion, watching this will not be a wasted 2 hours of your life - but if you haven't already seen 3-Iron, Oldboy, Immortal, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance or Casshern, why not do yourself a favour, and leave this as the light - but substantial - piece of fluff it is?


I'm not sure how to even begin a critique of this film. The best analogy that I can think of is a bit like the first time I ever went into a sushi bar. - It wasn't just that the food that I ate was completely different to a palate more used to hamburgers or fish & chips, but that the rules were different too. Instead of having a waitress write down the order, I picked out colourful dishes off a conveyor belt, and ate some wonderfully exotic food. All of this wrapped up in a culture that was decidedly Japanese....and I loved it!!

Exactly the same is true of Survive Style 5. It was completely different from the usual movies I watch, the rules were broken, the experience was extremely colourful, wonderfully exotic, it was decidedly Japanese...and I loved it too!!

The film focuses on several story lines, from the fairly tame (the sexual confusion of a group of young friends), to the surreal (the murdered wife who keeps returning to beat up her husband in ever more bizarre ways), to the absurd (the man stuck in a trance thinking he's a bird after the hypnotist is killed)...and beyond.

The first thing that struck me was the brightness & colour of the film. The words 'kitsch' do not do the sets justice, with big pink fluffy 'Hello Kitty' cuteness or neon manga-esquire style. The movie is not drab in the slightest! Also the film wears its 'Japaneseness' on its sleeve, which is further highlighted by the inclusion of the very un-Japanese Vinnie Jones (playing a hit-man who asks the question "What is your purpose in life?" indiscriminately to air stewardesses and pieces of broccoli).

Amongst all this mish-mash of colour, lunacy, absurdity, and surrealism lies a a big heart. While almost completely disparate in some places, the movie ends in a surprisingly satisfying manner (In fact, it's one of the best endings I could imagine for a movie so off-the-wall).

Maybe the film won't be to everybody's taste, especially those who really do not want to try something different, but what can I say? I like to try something new once in a while, and if you're like me, this might be a tasty plate of Futomaki for you!


By far one of the oddest, yet most brilliant movies of 2004. Five separate stories led by each story's own bizarre set of characters, end up tying together in a set of unusual consequences. Fantastic Cinematography, characterization, and story. This movie is truly one of kind.

Other movies containing the basic storyline of character's lives tying together in unusual consequences, such as "Magnolia," can't compare to the charm Survive Style 5+ has. From director, Gen Sekiguchi, who directed commercials of his own (those who have seen the movie know what I'm referring to) in Japan prior to Survive Style 5+. The movie contains brilliant colors, especially in Aman's mansion. Magnificent colors of bright blues, reds, and greens make the movie worth turning your head for straight from the beginning.

Some of the characters include Aman (Tadanobu Asano) who is fantastic in the role of a silent killer. Murdering his wife only to have her stirring in her grave for revenge. A game show hit called "Viva Friends" hosted by an awkward man with strange behavior who is able to hypnotize his audience, only to be murdered by a foreign hit man (Vinnie Jones).

An everyday family having an obsession with the game show "Viva Friends" which only leads to their father being hypnotized into thinking he is a bird. Upon the hypnotists death, the dad is unable to recover from his hypnotism, and is forced to be bird-dad from then on.

A young group of miscreants thieving neighborhood houses while still entertaining those watching the movie with their humorous conversations, and relationships between the trio.

Finally a women named Yoko who creates commercials for several companies such as one led by Kazama, the Advertising Company President (Shinichi Chiba) that distributes aspirin pills. Her commercials have a bizarre joke tone to them, and most of the commercials end up being rejected due to the lack of understanding of what the product actually does for the consumer.

How the stories pull off tying each other together is truly brilliant. Definitely a great ending the movie deserved, but I'll let you see that for yourself. Anyone who can laugh at bizarre situations, and conversations will love the dialogue and the movie altogether. 8.5/10