Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Time to End the Film-Watching Drought

Saw Les Invasions barbares, or The Barbarian Invasions by Quebec filmmaker Denys Arcand. It is apparently a sequel to his 1986 piece, Le Déclin de l'empire américain, or Decline of the American Empire, which I haven't seen but will now.



I wasn't blown away by the film, but its depiction of the last days of a dying man is much more palatable than anything you'll get from Hollywood. I'm not sure what I was expecting, maybe darker themes and shocking revelations (a la Celebration), but I certainly wasn't expecting it to be as funny as it was... the son, played by Stéphane Rousseau, reminded me so much of Guy Pierce. I was surprised to see Mitsou Gélinas in it, too -- remember her piece of fluff pop song "Bye Bye Mon Cowboy" from the 80's??? Unless you're Canadian and at least in your late 20's, you won't have a clue who I'm talking about.

My favourite character in Invasions was easily Marie-Josée Croze, who won a Best Actress Award at Cannes for her portrayal of the junkie daughter of one of Remy's mistresses. Marie-Josée Croze left an imprint on me as the main character in the 2000 film Maelström.