LA VIE EN ROSE and RATATOUILLE

Okay, enough with the Irish, what about the French? I’ll come up with a favorite French film alphabet list one of these days, but meanwhile, here’s these two recent releases.

I had heard mixed things about both these flicks, but Peter Case recommended LA VIE EN ROSE on his blog, so I checked it out last night and was glad I did.

As I commented on his blog, the acting is superb, the editing poetic, and the camera work often really good as well.

And though there are details of the story that demand more explanation, the overall effect of the movie makes up for that.

I said it was more like a post-modern epic poem than the usual three-act play or movie format.

And as Piaf, from her late teens to her death when still in her forties—though in the movie she appears to be more like ninety—Marion Cotillard is incredible.

Though at times maybe over the top, a bit of a caricature, she still manages to create a portrait of “the little sparrow” that is as unforgettable as her many recordings.

And any movie that has Gerard Depardieu in it, even in as small a part as he has in this one, is still worth seeing, as far as I’m concerned.

Even if you’re not a Depardieu or Edith Piaf fan, which I am, I think you’ll be moved by her story and impressed by the way it’s acted and told.

As for RATATOUILLEl, even if it’s a Hollywood (Pixar) version of the French, it’s still another really well made flick.

There’s some beautiful artwork in the computer renderings of not only the “cartoon” rats and humans, but in the landscapes and architecture and lighting. Check out the opening scene, set on a rainy day in the French countryside, for instance.

Even the more two-dimensional closing credits are well done, designed like late 1950s early ‘60s advertising and fashion drawings, ala Warhol in his early artist-for-hire phase.

And Peter O’Toole,as the voice of the food critic “Anton Ego” is also worth the admission price.

Is it a little corny at times or too cute? It’s a kid’s movie! Of course it has its sappy moments. But it also has a lot of surprises, and captures pretty realistically the types of people and melodrama found in the kitchen of many upscale restaurants, at least according to the stories I’ve heard from relatives and friends who’ve worked in them.

And the denouement is pretty surprising for a kids’ flick, or even a romantic comedy, like RATATOUILLE essentially is. If anything, it reminded me of the best of that genre from old Hollywood, just updated in focus and subject matter (gourmet cooking).

I don’t know how it will translate to the small screen, but in a small theater with a big screen, it was like a visit to an unexpectedly fun art gallery, or discovering an old Hollywood romantic comedy that I’d never seen before and found delightful.