The City of Lost Children

A visual spectacle with an irritating story that doesn't justify the time spent watching the film.

I loved like almost everyone else Amelie and I didn't particularly like Delicatessen. However, I didn't give up on Jean Pierre Jeunet and decided to see this film. I confess that I was impressed by the visual quality, but this is practically a trademark of the director, who seems to have a particular predilection for the color green (it was quite evident in Amelie, and in this film it was once again the dominant color of the chromatic palette). However, it returns to being, as Delicatessen had been, a rather strange, depressing and bizarre film. More bizarre than some Tim Burton movies, which isn't easy.

In view of what has been de...

The basic premiss of this film is really quite simple. "Krank" (Daniel Emilfork) is super-bright, slightly deranged and lonely. He lives on a remote oil rig with only whom he can manufacture for companionship. His biggest problem is that he cannot dream. Without them he will die. He must, therefore, obtain as many other people's dreams as he can. To that end he constructs an entire community of one-eyed servants, a brain that lives in tank feeding on Alka Seltzer and some clones that are all led by the diminutively menacing "Martha" (Mireille Mossé). This "family" might have made "Dr. Moreau" proud. He hopes that they will help to collect enough kids to perpetuate his immortality. The thing is, all those he does manage to collect are nightm...