| Self-indulgently Grotesque |
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| written by xscd |
June 26, 2007 - 11:14 AM PDT |
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2 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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Be forwarned that there is a shocking scene late in the movie in which a live cat is abused "for the sake of"--art, the film, the story, whatever.
I patiently watched the movie up to the cat scene, appreciating some of the interesting approach to storytelling and some of the beautifully shot imagery. I kept hoping for some creative resolution or development in the story, but the movie seemed to slowly degenerate instead into a series of self-indulgent and unnecessarily destructive scenes and sub-plots. By the time the cat scene appeared I was already pretty fed up with the "I'm wallowing in the filth and I want you to wallow in it with me" approach the director seemed to take (with a beautiful, poetic gloss to lure the viewer into this bait-and-switch movie), so it was an easy decision to turn the DVD off at that point with no regrets other than to wish the director had not felt it necessary to abuse a live animal and film the animal's obvious panic and pain for the sake of the enjoyment? titillation? of a human audience.
Although I can't dispute the movie creator's talent, I was very disappointed with this go-nowhere, self-indulgently grotesque movie.
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| One Hot Tomato: Spinning Life Into Art |
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| written by talltale |
November 27, 2005 - 5:13 AM PST |
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6 out of 7 members found this review helpful
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It's been 13 years since I first saw LEOLO, a movie that has remained in my mind as one of the "greats." So I thought the DVD release might be a good time for a re-visit. Wow: This film is so much darker than I recall--still amazing and brilliant, but SO very dark. The saving grace--a huge one--is that writer/director Jean-Claude Lauzon shows us, via his unique combination of visuals, words and music, how a life of sadness and madness can be transformed into art and beauty through the use of imagination and talent. (And a little humor: Will tomatoes ever again seem quite so innocent?) Truly, there is such life, art, beauty and filth here that you may be left just short of breathless.
The lead character bears the last name of Lauzon. Make of this what you will; for me, it means that the director is offering us his own imagined life, or perhaps that of a much-loved relation. Lauzon, who died with his girlfriend in a plane crash as he was about to begin work on his third film (his first was the interesting, over-the-top "Night Zoo"), might have become an artist of major proportion. In any case, "Leolo" will remain vital and important as long as movies--and problematic families--exist. I urge you to give it a try. |
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