The City of Lost Children
As a film student, I was determined to see The City of Lost Children when it came to Austin back in early 1996, but for reasons I no longer remember (probably for the best), it just didn't happen. Heaped with justifiable critical praise, the film sparked Jean-Pierre Jeunet's luckless foray to Hollywood (Alien: Resurrection) before returning to France and bouncing back with his international hit Amélie. An elegant overdose of an Orwellian-Gilliamesque dystopian future, The City of Lost Children is an ocular feast. The lush art direction, costumes and Jeunet's cinematography swirl together with the stark nihilism of the story into an exhilaratingly beautiful world none of us would want to inhabit.
The subtext of the film is a bit scattershot and much of it is no doubt lost in translation, but flawless performances from the cast help keep the visually disjointed world in focus. Particularly good is young Judith Vittet as the little orphan thief who accompanies Perlman's kind adolescent in a grown man's body on his quest to recover his little brother, a journey that softens her hard view of the world to find peace in a family of her own. And not to be overlooked is Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon, who plays not one, but seven characters—the evil inventor's six cloned assistants and a mysterious submarining amnesiac whose connection to the nefarious deeds of the villain is stained with regret. The screenplay isn't cohesive enough to keep up with the extraordinary visuals around which it was written, but The City of Lost Children is nevertheless a must see for film lovers. Glad I finally got around to it.
- July 17, 2006
DVD Extras
A better audio track than 2-channel Dolby Surround would have been nice. However, the English subtitles are placed on the black part of the frame on the widescreen version (not on the picture itself—a personal pet peeve), so that makes up for it. There's a commentary track by Jeunet and Perlman, and two picture galleries: one with art and set design sketches and another featuring sketches for Jean-Paul Gaultier's fantastic costumes.