histoiremeet98


Message from: Dan
About: Affaires de sentiments...

Fri, 20 Mar 1998 00:35:10 -0500


I also noticed that the american characters were much more
outgoing than the french roommates. Forget the Energizer
Bunny*, these people just couldn't stop talking -- and running,
and swimming, and playing football in the park, and having parties,
and darting women, and painting walls, and babysitting,
and working???

I found that this was characteristic not only of the characters,
but of the approach of the movie as a whole. The american
director seems adamant about "snowing" the viewer with information,
with irrelevant character development, with bright lights, with
glamourous parties, with a "heart-pounding" encounter with the
EVIL drug addicts, with formulaic music. Nothing was left to the
imagination. The viewer was chained to a high-speed emotional
rollercoaster on a well-defined track, with no chance to step back
and think. The result was in my opinion a very superficial,
unrealistic, and unmemorable movie.

In my experience this is a unique characteristic of many Hollywood
movies (and probably all Disney movies). It is not necessarily a bad
thing. Constant action and talk keeps the viewer on the edge of the
seat, even during a bad movie. In this case, I found the french
movie much more enjoyable, leaving me with questions and
interesting theories (like what the hell happened at the end?).

Flames welcome,

Dan

*Note: the Energizer Bunny is featured in Energizer battery
commercials. He is a persistent little stuffed rabbit. He is
battery-powered, and is equipped with an oversized drum that
needless to say keeps going, and going, and going ...
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