Customer Reviews

Leolo

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Leo, a precocious child growing up in abject poverty, concocts an alternative identity as an Italian boy (Leolo) conceived through an encounter between his mother and a tomato, freshly doused with the onanistic spritz of an immigrant grocer. Surrounded by a (sur)real family-- a father obsessed with defecation, a sister who reigns as queen of the insects in the crawl-space below the family's tenament apartment, a bullied brother hiding from his environment in a steroid-enhanced body-- Leo(lo) excapes into the fiction of his alternative life, aided by a kind stranger who deposits books at his door-step. At night Leo reads these fantastic stories by stolen-light, and later they seep into his dreams, where he is enthralled and inspired by the beauty of an older neighbor-girl he fancies his muse and future lover. "Because I dream, I am..." Leolo reiterates throughout this bitter-sweet tale of a bright mind besieged by the inequities of life. While punctuated with hilarious episodes of mock-heroism, and scored by a delightful Tom Waits soundtrack, the film subtly reveals the brutalities that imperil Leo's comming of age. While we hope, with the protagonist, that art can triumph over the hardships of life, the film refuses the sadder-but-wiser narratives of redemption that usually underpin this genre. The innoscence and wisdom of a child's perspective is relayed in all of its precariousness. If you liked "My Life as a Dog," "400 Blows," or "Slingshot," this film will blow you away! More bitter than sweet, "Leolo" is a comming of age story that dares to question the faith we put in the creative individual to convert our collective social failures into the necessary conditions of art. In doing so, it eloquently evokes the beauty and the danger born of an impulse to fight with no recourse but mental flight. "Leolo" employs the conventions of magic realism while staying firmly within a recognizable universe. And while it crafts its characters with humor it neither patronizes nor lampoons them. The film's true brilliance is its ability to convey the devastating limitations imposed upon its young hero by an unfortunate and uncomprehending family, while all along betraying their plight as similarly epic and heart-wrenching. "Leolo" will haunt you long after you turn off the VCR.

The movie is a work of pure genius as it goes into the subconscious mind of a sensitive boy in terrible psychological anguish, raised by people with no ability to love.
Dangerously obsessive, perhaps psychotic, parents are raising their children as if they were less than animals. One by one we see the children losing touch with reality as their only coping mechanism.
For the duration of the movie, we are hoping that our hero Leolo will beat the odds.
This movie is best seen by professionals in the fields of psychiatry and psychology and too strong for sensitive people who are not.

Leolo

This is a dark comedy that has much in common with the wonderful French film by Patrice LeConte entitled The Hairdresser's Husband. Certainly the two films are in the same genre. The film is a backwards and forwards look at the life of a gifted young lad named Leo, unlucky enough to be born a Silk Purse in a family of Sow's Ears, to complete the metaphor. Leo has the soul of a poet, and we hear his exquisite thoughts weaving the film together. The voice-overs are in French, of course, which makes them even more beautiful.

Leo is a dreamer, and his story is about the importance of dreams, and of love. The film is full of premonitions and gives many clues about events to come. It's a journey into the agonies and longings and ordeals of coming-of-age, but it's also much more. It's at times zany, playful, tragic, poetic, pensive, and thoughtful. It's filled with contrasts: innocence and depravity, sweetness and brutality, melancholy and etheriality, images of beauty and squalor, picturesque, warm vistas of Sicily and the cold starkness of tenements in Canada, a loving family cavorting on a Sunday outing and the craziness existing within that same family, just to name a few. The wonderful sensitivity and beautiful poetic quality of this film are exquisite to savor. It is a film that takes its time to tell its story, and finding that wonderful quality in a film is a true delight. So many films made in this country and in the world are compacted into staccato images that hit one's psyche like a machine gun. This one lingers on the images it presents, and imparts its message in its own time, on its own terms, and in its own unique way.

This is a film that needs to be seen more than once. It's complex and deep and wide-ranging and ambitious in scope. It's full of many-sided emotions and it's about more than just what happens in the plot. Purchase it, and savor it, and contemplate the wonderfully told story of a truly amazing life. Highly, highly recommended!!

Jean-Claude Lauzon was, no doubt, a troubled genius. I have seen Leolo many times and also the documentary about its director titled Lauzon Lauzon.
Leolo is a work of art. Lauzon attacked this project like a composer attacks a symphony. Its said that he played tapes of the musical scores for the producer, while standing over his shoulder and demanding that he read the script immediately.

Lauzon used music like a knife to make his points in some scenes. We hear the sacred tones of classical hymn while we see the gritty sometimes profane reality that Leolo lives in. There is Catholic symbolism and guilt oozing out of this film. The voice who speaks to us off an on throughout the film is excellent; through the voice of the archivist, of Leolo's
papers and deepest thoughts, we are allowed access to his psyche. The voice is also in English on the DVD.

Maxime Collin is an incredible young actor. He plays Leo who refuses to be a french Canadian boy from the poorest part of Montreal and instead he is Leolo a white shirted Italian boy who lives for romance and beauty (oh yes and the Italian Countryside is beautiful). Our main charter repeats over and over, "I think therefore I am not". There is a lot here that Leolo would "not" want to be. Crazy for starters as his family home is a bit of an asylum.

If you're squeamish, steer away, there are gritty scenes here. Yes a cat gets defiled (among other things), but for the prudish reviewer who claimed he smashed his tape at this point, I really doubt that the cat was hurt. Kinda of like the horses didn't really die in Brave Heart, my friend! Look beyond the cat to the social statement that is being made about the boy who is involved. Remember his mother worries that he is smoking, but has no idea what she ought to be worrying
about. I won't say anymore, spoilers annoy me almost as much as Philistines who watch art film and then get all self-righteous about the gritty bits. (Hint, rent Disney instead, my friend)

This is an art film there is no other way to describe it. It is a comedy but it's a dark art comedy so don't buy it for a laugh out loud evening, there are some really heavy and troubling elements here that will leave you thinking afterwards.

The movie is beautifully filmed and well worth purchasing. I note that the DVD is only available through Amazon.ca, at the US site they are only selling the VHS. Buy the DVD, invite over a good friend, open some wine and enjoy the film and the long conversation that will follow it.

WOW! What a great movie. It is tastefully created from all of the aspects. There is great scenery and camera work, wonderful soundtrack and great acting by a group of obviously very talented people. And there's this ongoing transition between fantasy and reality that are blended together in such a way that it is sometimes hard to distinguish which one is which. In addition, this movie is a fine example of how smart and sometimes cruel children are. Now a few bad things. I did not like how the movie ended, but I guess the movie wouldn't be as good as it was without a major sacrifice, which was also a great point of this movie. The cat scene is somewhat upsetting, considering that I am a cat person. But, again it was the necessary part and I wouldn't take it away. You want a raw reality of the things that are out there? Then accept what was in the movie. Otherwise, what's the point of owning this movie? This movie is one of those dark comedy motion pictures that have a message, a lesson and entertainment all in one package.
Now about DVD. First thing that I want to say is subtitle translation is new and not the same as on VHS. So this new translation is terrible. I don't speak French but, a lot of language is very obviously incorrect. Sometimes there may be situations that called for paraphrase, rather than exact translations, and that wasn't done either. Also, there are no extra features at all. The only thing that is present is movie trailer. A good thing is that there is a DTS sound available.
ONE MORE Inconsistency is that French DVD has 115 minutes and American has only 106. I wonder why.

This film, about a boy in French-Canada growing up in a family with twisted chromosomes, is stunning. The writing is beautiful, and the cinematography is both original and extraordinary. The movie's use of the soundtrack is both inventive and emotionally effective. I usually get offended by the use of emotional cue music, but in this case I'm feeling too much to notice. I have watched this movie at least 30 times, and I am still catching elements that I missed. This is extraordinarily hard to find, but it is well worth the effort. There is some disturbing imagery, but the reward is very high.

This movie is deffinetely 'outside the box' and a far cry from Hollywood formulas. One of the few movies to really get under my skin. A lovely dark comedy about a young boy following the familial tendency towards delussion, fantasy and ultimately insanity, beginning with his unbending belief that his was an immaculate conception - the result of his mother being impregnated by a lot of tomatoes infected with the sperm of an Italian farmer. The addition of the prose of Rejean Ducharme makes this film truely eloquent and poignant.

Jean-Claude Lauzon was, no doubt, a troubled genius. I have seen Leolo many times and also the documentary about its director titled Lauzon Lauzon.

Leolo is a work of art. Lauzon attacked this project like a composer attacks a symphony. Its said that he played tapes of the musical scores for the producer, while standing over his shoulder and demanding that he read the script immediately.

Lauzon used music like a knife to make his points in some scenes. We hear the sacred tones of classical hymn while we see the gritty sometimes profane reality that Leolo lives in. There is Catholic symbolism and guilt oozing out of this film. The voice who speaks to us off an on throughout the film is excellent; through the voice of the archivist, of Leolo's
papers and deepest thoughts, we are allowed access to his psyche. The voice is also in English on the DVD.

Maxime Collin is an incredible young actor. He plays Leo who refuses to be a french Canadian boy from the poorest part of Montreal and instead he is Leolo's a white shirted Italian boy who lives for romance and beauty (oh yes and the Italian Countryside is beautiful). Our main charter repeats over and over, "I think therefore I am not". There is a lot here that Leolo would "not" want to be. Crazy for starters as his family home is a bit of an asylum.

If you're squeamish, steer away, there are gritty scenes here. Yes a cat gets defiled (among other things), but for the prudish reviewer who claimed he smashed his tape at this point, I really doubt that the cat was hurt. Kinda of like the horses didn't really die in Brave Heart, my friend! Look beyond the cat to the social statement that is being made about the boy who is involved. Remember his mother worries that he is smoking, but has no idea what she ought to be worrying
about. I won't say anymore, spoilers annoy me almost as much as Philistines who watch art film and then get all self-righteous about the gritty bits. (Hint, rent Disney instead, my friend)

This is an art film there is no other way to describe it. It is a comedy but it's a dark art comedy so don't buy it for a laugh out loud evening, there are some really heavy and troubling elements here that will leave you thinking afterwards.

The movie is beautifully filmed and well worth purchasing. I note that the DVD is only available through Amazon.ca, at the US site they are only selling the VHS. Buy the DVD, invite over a good friend, open some wine and enjoy the film and the long conversation that will follow it.

Do not believe the boxcover that portrays this as a delightful comedy about sexual curiosity! Leolo is much darker than that.
Here we find a gritty life through the eyes of a youngster who happens to be a bit of a magical realist. Some moments are witty, such as the imagined story of his conception while others are downright awkward and painful.
What I liked best about the movie were the several thematic areas it covered in a symbolic and mythical fashion. It addresses an individual's and family's psychological disintegration, the status of the urban underclass, & sexuality. It also portrays the boy, leolo, as a sort of magical escapist messiah for his hopeless family.
Leolo also happens to be one of only two films I have seen where a piece of raw liver is violated. (warning for the squeemish) If you are in any way prudish, do avoid this film.
In summary, this is an excellent & deep film for viewing with friends if you care to stimulate a strong discussion.

Leolo is a powerful, one of a kind masterpiece. I have never seen a film with such great photography, writing and acting. The first time I saw this movie in a theatre, the audienced sat stunned in their seats, after it ended and the lights came on. Mr. Lauzon was the best kind genius.