Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Bon Jure, Jeh Swee Carol

I can't remember what drew me to A) Rent Paris, je t'aime, and B) Actually watch Paris, je t'aime over the holiday... I suppose I was ultimately drawn in by the lure of several of my favorite directors, even though a film that can be described as "a love letter to the city of Paris" is one that would normally keep me very very far away. But Cuaron! Tykwer! The Coens! Who was I to judge? So what if some people like Paris. I've watched movies about people that like cannibalism. This is a discrimination-free zone!

Anyway, the film wasn't nearly as retch-inducing as I'd feared. It was hardly perfect from start to finish, but several of the segments were stellar. And a lil' Binoche, as always, goes a very, very long way towards tempering anything too cringe-inducing.


But holy mother in heck, how amazing was the very last segment? We're talking Alexander Payne's "14th arrondissement" here. I now need to be best friends with Margo Martindale forever and ever. In three minutes or so, I thought Payne blew every single other segment's achievements out of the water. "14th arrondissement" managed to be very funny - that mutilated French voice-over! - and immensely sad, usually at the very same moment. A lovely, lovely cap to the film.
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7 comments:

Joe Reid said...

I watched it over the weekend too and I totally agree. Margo Martindale is the shizz. I liked the Coens short, too, which was so distinctively Coens, I loved it. And that very last shot of the Elijah Wood vampire short, that was choice.

Scott said...

Martindale's work is definitely one of my favorite performances of 2007. Loved her so much.

J.D. said...

It feels very weird that I didn't love 14e as much as everyone else. It just didn't... click, with me. Place des Victoires and Loin du 16e on the other hand... GOD YES.

NATHANIEL R said...

mixed bag totally but i loved the last one too. my other favorites were the one with maggie g (god, she's good... even in tiny doses) and the one with catalina sandino moreno --short succinct and moving.

Jason Adams said...

Nat, the one with CSM was my other favorite; it was so shockingly straight-forward, but outta nowhere it really just worked.

RJ said...

That movie was the definition of uneven . . . but I agree about that segment. My favorite was the one about the street performer and the paramedic.

Anonymous said...

I was on the edge about Paris Je t'aime until I saw 14e, which swung it in the right direction for me. The rest was just too uneven, but Mrs. Martindale was just wonderful.