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AMELIE
A dreamy Parisian waif sets out to make life
a little better for her screwed-up neighbors, and--in the process--makes
her own life not only better, but beaucoup better.
(Now in stores)
CAST: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Yolande Moreauy,
Arthus De Penguern, Urbain Cancellier
DIRECTOR: Jean-Pierre Jeune
"... a delicious pastry of a movie, a lighthearted fantasy in which
a winsome heroine overcomes a sad childhood and grows up to bring
cheer to the needful and joy to herself. You see it, and later when
you think about it, you smile...a film that is all goodness and
cheer--sassy, bright and whimsical, filmed with dazzling virtuosity,
and set in Paris, the city we love when it sizzles and when it drizzles...This
is the same Paris that produced Gigi and Inspector Clouseau. It
never existed, but that's OK." --Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"Jeunet doesn't really have the sensibility to make the homage to
the classic 1930s and '40s romantic celebrations of the little people
of Paris that this is clearly intended to be...'Amelie' features
an aggressive, in-your-face romanticism that's noticeably lacking
in genuine warmth. While its story of lonely misfits searching for
love has appealing moments, more often it turns into an overbearing
fable overburdened with fake joie de vivre." --Kenneth Turan, The
Los Angeles Times
"... a delectable French confection in the spirit of 'Chocolat'...This
film is an endearing import but also has a darkly funny side...It
takes a little longer than it probably should, but that's a quibble
considering the complexity of the plot... All of Jeunet's work would
have been for naught if the gamin Tautou weren't at the center of
this delightful swirl." --Rita Kempley, The Washington Post
The frenetic whimsy of AmE`lie begins with its very first frame and
rarely lets up. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who also co-wrote the
script with Guillaume Laurant, has a style that might be described
as hypercaffeinated romanticism...He's a dervish of inventiveness,
which means that his movies are both exhilarating and exhausting...Jeunet
wants us to know that times are hard for dreamers and that one shouldn't
pass up a chance for true love. He means it, no doubt, but he doesn't
have the simplicity of soul to quite bring off the sentiment. Still,
we're charmed by the attempt. Treacle this elaborately inventive
deserves some kind of blue ribbon." --Peter Rainer, New York
"'AmE`lie' has a hypnotic sense of romance; it's a fable filled with
longing, with a heroine who constantly flirts with failure...Mr.
Kassovitz's presence underscores a pivotal deficit in 'AmE`lie'...There
are no people of color in this snow-globe version of Paris, and
since Mr. Kassovitz is one of the few French directors to deal with
racial tensions in his own work (the social drama 'Hate'), the lack
becomes impossible to ignore. Given that Mr. Jeunet used a black
hero in 'Alien: Resurrection,' he can't be blind to race...In 'AmE`lie,'
the fastidious complex of flesh and fantasy is a dazzling achievement.
It has the impact of Wired magazine in its earliest days, when every
single page looked like a ransom note put together by a kidnapper
who had just downed a six-pack of Mountain Dew." --Elvis Mitchell,
The New York Times
"... a kind of Gallic Brigadoon, a place filled with beautiful coincidences
and unselfconscious oddballs who are meant for one another but don't
yet know it...In Jeunet's gorgeous universe, a gamine beauty like
AmE`lie Poulain (Audrey Tautou, about to launch a thousand fashion
and beauty stories) thrives in eccentric bloom, choreographing good
luck for people around her...While AmE`lie the plucky girl beguiles,
'AmE`lie' the charming movie, already an international success, seduces."
--Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
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