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Reviews
Heartbreakers (2001)
Very Funny!
Opinions will differ about whether a movie is funny, but I think this
one is hilarious. All the actors are perfectly cast and do a fine job.
Gene Hackman is particularly good, I think. The idea of making
him a chain smoker was inspired.
When a woman wants a man to marry her, she may find herself
doing some things she would not do otherwise. Thus we see the
Sigourney Weaver character, who is a confirmed vegetarian and
non-smoker, eating steak tartare with Gene Hackman and smiling
while he blows dense clouds of tobacco smoke in her face.
Va savoir (2001)
Two and One-half Hours of Ennui
I was bored to death by this movie. The main character is a self-centered and selfish actress whose problems failed to interest me. I stayed with it for an hour, and walked away; my wife said it became somewhat better toward the end. If all drama must be divided into comedy and tragedy, then in that sense this is a comedy. However, when movie reviewers call a movie a comedy, I think we are entitled to believe they mean it is funny. Tastes differ, and I accept that some might find this movie interesting, but by no stretch of the imagination could anyone in his right mind call it "funny." I wouldn't have rented this video except for a quotation on the box, in which A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote, "An especially rich and subtle farce . . . resolved with the verve and precision of classic screwball comedy."
Los amantes del Círculo Polar (1998)
Very Beautiful
I thought this movie was absolutely beautiful. It reminds me very much of V. Nabokov's "Ada." Like that book, it is about a life-long love with incestuous overtones. The screenplay is intelligently done, obviously with great care, tying the plot together with coincidences and cyclical, repeating themes. In Nabokov's words, it makes ornaments of possibilities. It is entirely free of sentimentality, but I found it very affecting.
L'humanité (1999)
Absolutely insufferable.
This is the most annoying movie I have seen in a long time. The protagonist sees a horrible crime, and the idea is that he is shattered, overcome by shock and horror. The way this is depicted is to show him doing everything at a snail's pace. He stands around doing nothing for minutes on end. He goes into a room, sees someone, and waits three minutes before speaking. During those three minutes nothing at all happens, except you may be climbing the walls by then.
It is about 240 minutes long, of which about two hours is this unbearable padding, but even if that were cut out, as it should be, this would still be a boring and pointless movie.