Saturday, January 31, 2009

Enigmatic Story About a Man and His Heart (rated 4 stars)

by Claire Denis

With the films of Claire Denis describing the plot isn’t the best way to get an idea of what they are about. Much more important than plot are the characters and the settings that they are in. With The Intruder Denis establishes the characters in a leisurely and beautiful way while leaving large gaps in what we see that the viewer needs to fill in for themselves. We’re left to make the connections between what we see and hear in the film and while it never is neatly tied up, it is the beauty of the images and the simplicity of what we see that kept me engrossed in a film that involves characters with mysterious motives, a man needing a heart transplant and the journey that he takes as he searches for a heart and his son.

A Very Dark Comedy About Perception (rated 4 stars)

by Laetitia Colombani

The less I explain, the better. Laetitia Colombani carefully constructs the film from two distinctive points of view, while counting on the audience to bring their memories of Audrey Tautou’s other characters with them. It’s very precisely constructed with clever twists that change our perception of what we’ve seen previously in the film. It’s almost like a more subjective version of Run, Lola, Run and I throroughly enjoyed He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not.