Customer Reviews

The City of Lost Children [VHS]

5 star:		(175)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If you were to combine elements of Fritz Lang, Carl Jung, Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Jean Cocteau, the Brothers Quay, Ken Russel and Edgar Varese, you might approximate what Caro, Jeunet and company have created.

These creative geniuses take you the audience into the innermost and darkest recesses of your Freudian Id. It is a place where nightmares of the most disturbing order reside, a place, as the movie's tag line promises, "Where happily ever after is just a dream."

If you can't figure out what is going on, it's OK. The lead actor, Ron Perlman, admits in the director/actor voice-over that is included as a DVD extra, that he didn't have a clue what Jeunet was up to the entire time they were filming. Jeunet, in fact wanted to keep his cast unsettled and in the dark, and a dark place it is indeed.

One aspect of the film that is particularly unsettling involves a scene in which several of the very young cast members are almost frightened to death by the grotesque-looking Krank (Daniel Emilfork) dressed in a Santa costume, along with one of his clone henchmen/brothers, (le scaphandrier/les clones) played by the late Dominique Pinon. Then again, on the director's voice-over, Jeunet reveals he had to cut a scene from an early segment in the movie, because the kid involved became "too frightened." I don't know if I, for one, could have handled that one, even for the sake of art.

This is obviously not a kid's fairy tale, nor is it a kid's movie. It's a genuine nightmare, but not without its share of Grand Guignol humor. All the villains, and even the hero, One, (Ron Perlman in another highly idiosyncratic role), are groteques. The only characters approaching normal are the children. In that respect, the movie is a reflection of how all children sometimes see the world of adults through the filtering lens of their active imaginations. Jeunet wants us to see that world from a similar perspective.

The cast is uniformly excellent. The young actress playing Miette (Judith Vittet) is personable and beautiful. The kid who plays One's little brother is real little character. Jeunet comments that the very young cast members presented some unique directing challenges (the little boy wouldn't keep his eyes closed when he was supposed to fall asleep, for instance). The cinematographer is a genius. Lighting, sound, DVD quality, all top notch.

Another plus is that there are several English/French language combinations so you can watch it dubbed, subtitled, or in the original language. It's such a unique and captivating movie that I tried it in all three modes. If your French is limited, as mine is, I would suggest watching it in French with English subtitles, as the actors voices in the English dub version do not measure up to the originals (particularly jarring is the actor who dubs in Pinon's characters).

If you don't mind mythology of the dark, disturbing variety and enjoy visually-creative, original film making, by all means check this one out.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, Alien Resurrection & Amelie) and his 1992 directing sidekick from Delicatessen, Marc Caro brings the dark, dank, rat-infested "City Of Lost Children" to life! All with the likes of one side-show travelling troupe strong-man, Mr. One played excellently by Beauty & The Beast's Ron Perlman, evil, pilfering, child corruptors and Fagin-like Siamese sisters joined by a third leg affectionately referred to as "The Octopus", and a manmade man who lacks the ability to dream called Krank who kidnaps the toddlers and smallchildren of the fictional city to hook them up to weird and wild machines, all to steal their dreams and make them his own.

Mix these colorful characters in with a band of homeless, criminal children a la Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist style, pet fleas that inject drugs, a talking brain in a tank named Uncle Irvin, a midget named Mademoiselle Bismuth and her six cloned sons, and finally a group of blind people called Cyclops who eat children and you have a marvelous mixture of fantasy, horror, sci-fi, comedy, action & adventure all rolled into one strangely odd film.

The visual effects are stunning and the costumes by Jean Paul Gauthier are breathtaking. The young, Judith Vittet turns in an especially wonderful performance as Ron Perlman's sidekick and heroine of the story, Miette! Incidentally, Ron Perlman was the only American in the cast and spoke all of his french lines expertly!

This film is subtitled in English or you may choose to listen to the English dubbed version on the menu of available audio tracks.

I highly recommend this film! I have never seen anything like it before!

Happy Watching!

this is one of my favorite films of all time. it has a fascinating, intricate and detailed story, and a huge cast of characters and ideas. the film presents a dreamworld in which nothing is as it seems. a mysterious cult insists that followers blind themselves to see the truth. some children have adult personalities, and some adults have childlike personalities. a mad scientist operates a sinister laboratory on a platform in the city's bay. children from the city are disappearing, and the answer to these mysteries is so exquisitely, uniquely and poignantly rendered that i observed people emerging from the theatre with tears in their eyes. if only i had brought an eyedropper, i found myself thinking...

that said, if the viewer does not pay very close attention, they may lose the plot thread and will say the film makes no sense, or is boring. note also that it will not answer every question for you. some aspects are indeed left enigmatic. pay very close attention as you watch. be sure to watch the letterbox version, and select the original french language with subtitles.

as far as the dvd is concerned, it looks good, but still i was disappointed. having seen the film in the theatre three times, i was fairly well acqainted with its english translation. in the theatre, the translation may not have been perfect, but it serves the film well enough. for the home video release, an incompetent english dub was created, that seems to place matching the movements of the actors' mouths above providing a faithful translation. the english voice performances are inferior, and some aspects of the dialogue are clouded. much, much worse, the english subtitles in the home video release are not the subtitles that accompanied the film in the theatre; the english subtitles on the dvd are an incompetent transcription of the english dub! this makes the film significantly more difficult to follow. for example, in one of the more egregious failures, a character in the english dub says "fleakins!" What do the english subtitles say? "..the beacons!" i should have known we were in trouble when i noticed that one of the director's names (jeunet) is misspelled in the menu (juenet)! also, important text (eg, newspaper headlines) is not translated at all.

if you ever have the opportunity to see this incredibly unique and beautiful film in a theatre, i highly recommend it. it is a five star film with a flawed dvd presentation.

If you like traditional Bad Boys II kinds of movies, with simple to follow, slam-bam action, you probably won't dig City of Lost Children. However, if you have an appreciation for unique cinematic style and stories that stray from the norm (and I really mean stray), this is probably going to float your boat.

The story is as follows, (I swear I'm not giving anything away either)...a circus strongman and an orphan girl team up to rescue a young boy who's been kidnapped by this futuristic religious cult called the Cyclops. They've intentionally blinded themselves and attached cyborg-like eye cameras so that they may "see God" better.

The Cyclops regularly kidnap children and take them to an evil madman whose accomplices include a 3 foot tall woman, 4 cloned dimwitted servants and a talking brain. (You heard me right.) The evil madman tries to tap into these children's dreams so that he may try and gain a soul.

Ok, if you're still reading this, clearly your intrigued. It's hard to describe the look and feel of this movie. It's got a little of everything, sci-fi, fantasy, drama, and comedy. It's dark and light at the same time. Sci-fi action enthusiasts should know that this really doesn't have a lot of action, so don't expect gunplay and martial arts, it's just not that type of movie.

The real reason to see this movie is for the cinematic style and visuals. Word to the wise, the only similarity between this and Amelie are these two reasons. Amelie is a much lighter feeling movie overall, so there are bound to be a few people who loved Amelie, but do not like City of Lost Children and perhaps vice versa. (And you will notice some of the same actors in both movies as well.)

In the end, I found the movie to be a delightful change from the norm, with a storyline that seemed both fairy-tale like and surreal and characters that you truly enjoyed watching as much for their acting abilities as for the fact that Jeunet has a knack for casting some of the most visually captivating actors I've seen. If you're not sure you'll like it, try to find the preview online, it really captures the essence of the movie.

This movie is a superbly done dark fantasy. It deals with issues of rejection and loneliness in the backdrop of a world full of rejects and loneliness. I would recommend this to anyone who likes to get lost in a fantasy for a few hours that goes beyond what you might dream up yourself.

Ok, the movie is wonderful, but please, please please, do not buy the dubbed version. They didn't get the actors to do their own voices, and well, it leaves so much to be desired. Get the subtitled version! Get the subtitled version! It's got all the depth and wonder that you need.

THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN is a fantastic film from visionary directors Caro and Jeunet. Later Jeunet would helm ALIEN RESURRECTION, and they created the fantastic DELICATESSEN. But here is one of their most beloved creations in all its glory! The story centers around a mythical town where small children are being kidnapped by a gang of strange cyclops men with electronic eyes. They are taken to an evil scientist named Krank who is trying to mine their dreams so he can have emotions that make him happy. A small orphan and a circus strongman team up to find the children, and one overly hungry one in particular. Along the way their adventures are painted in big splashy set pieces populated with oddball characters that loom larger than life. The DVD gives you incredible choices! See it in widescreen, dubbed or French, or listen to the revealing commentary with American star Ron Perlman and Jeunet. Fans of BRAZIL and DARK CITY will be delighted. And David Lynch fans may recognize the moody score from Angelo Badalementi. Fashionistas can revel in the incredible costumes from Gaultier!

When I first saw this movie I wasn't sure if I would be able to finish watching it; it was so strange and completely without any connection to the reality I knew that it disturbed me. But I kept watching, and I was drawn into the story. A brilliant scientist who cannot dream is stealing children who can, and attempting to dream vicariously through them; however, he can't understand why all they have is nightmares. He is watched despairingly by his servants and companions, who include six cloned individuals called Mishinka and a disembodied brain named Irvin (voiced by Jean-Louis Trantignant)who has migraines. Meanwhile One, a circus strongman who has lost his little brother Denree to the scientist and Miette, youthful leader of a band of orphans, are attempting to free the children from the scientist's clutches. The adventure by itself is fascinating, and the characters live on in your mind long after the credits roll. The entire movie is reminiscent of a dream itself; the squalid semi-futuristic town where the story begins can easily be imagined as the realm of nightmare. Stunning visual effects and costumes by Jean-Paul Gaultier add to the overall lush style. See also Delicatessen, by the same director.

This review is for you Amelie fans out there who will go back and watch Jeunet's early works. Most of the other reviews hit the real film reviews about COLC. Is it amazing visually? Yes! Jean-Pierre Jeunet is brilliant as a cinemagraphic director. If you've ever wanted to view a like-real-life fantasy-adventure, almost any Jeunet work will fit the bill. An odd movie? Definitely. Fun? Absolutely. Definitely worth seeing.

Amelie is great movie. Solid story. Gorgeous heroine. Wonderful cinemagraphics. But, DO NOT JUDGE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN BY AMELIE. You cannot compare the two. They are night-n-day in almost all areas: production dates (1994 v. 2001 - so much has changed), graphic production (digital v. non-digital), story tone (light v. dark fantasy), film location (on-location v. set designs), story origin (autobiographical stories v. fictional visions), and the ever-influencing BUDGET (huge v. miniscule). I'm sure there are more. Each movie is a product of Jeunet's personal time and place (watch disk 2 of Amelie to understand where I'm coming from with this). Each movie has its pluses and minuses and could be improved. Go in with a fresh mind and expect anything and nothing at the same time. You'll get more out of this movie and more appreciation for Jeunet as a wonderful director/screenwriter.

And we know both movies are hands down better than the junk being churned out of that place in LA.

In the first minutes of the movie, with the image of the Santa Clauses coming into the child's room to the point where the child becomes frightened of all of them, I knew the rest of this movie was going to be difficult,yet interesting to watch. I was right. It is not an easy film to watch without either losing your sense of perception or getting a sense of vertigo. Remarkable sets and visual designs, nightmarish and goulishly imaginative characters, and the fact that it's in French (believe me, seeing it subbed instead of dubbed makes it all the more surreal in a good way) add to this grim sci-fi dreamworld. The plot takes a while to find in a rather confusing series of events, but it seems clear that it is about a deranged man who can't dream and kidnaps children to feed of of theirs, kidnaps a child who seems oblivious to the troubles surrounding him, his carnival strongman brother who tries to rescue him, and an unusual and rather demented group of characters who try to stand in his way. An artistic and imaginative endeavor into a world that filmmakers like David Lynch and David Cronenberg only barely touch at. Another film that is comparable to this is "Pi." Simply put, directors' Jean-Pierre Jeunet's and Marc Caro's masterpiece. A sure sci-fi classic.