The City of Lost Children (1995)

I sought out this film after seeing another film from the same production team that made the wonderful DELICATESSEN. However, while I adored DELICATESSEN and gave it a very high score, I wasn't nearly as impressed by CITY OF LOST CHILDREN--mostly because this film seemed to emphasize set design and weirdness, while plot seemed almost unimportant. In DELICATESSEN, there were of course the weirdness and odd sets, but the story and acting was so much more important and this made me care much more for the characters. In CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, it felt more like I was gawking at a freak show and there was just no emotional involvement--none.

In many ways, the film was reminiscent of several of Terry Gilliam's films--particularly BRAZIL. However, once again, BRAZIL had better characters and made me laugh. CITY OF LOST KIDS was just creepy and weird but with practically no charm.

Now this isn't to say it's a bad film or that I didn't like it--I did. But instead of an involving or funny film, it was almost all visuals and weirdness. As for the plot, it sure took me a long time to even understand what was happening--and it seemed like I needed captions to explain the captions as I read along with the film!! But given the amazing sets and cool characters, it still kept my attention. I particularly enjoyed seeing Dominique Pinon playing a bunch of clones. I have liked this odd looking actor ever since I first saw him in DIVA and he was the best character in both this film and DELICATESSEN. His delivery and manner is just captivating.

Now usually in most of my reviews I give a summary of the plot. Here it's very tough because I still am not 100% sure what I saw!! It all involves an evil genius who was created by one of the Dominique Pinons. This guy spends much of the movie kidnapping kids and trying to steal their dreams (kind of like an evil twist on MONSTERS INC.). At the same time, some evil freaks led by conjoined twins are thrown in as rival baddies. In the midst of this, Ron Perlman (who speaks no French in real life) and a little girl set off in search of Perlman's stolen little brother. There's more to it than that, but really I didn't think the story was that important--it was more a chance to give a canvas to all the weird sets and characters.

Overall, I liked seeing the film but I never came close to loving it. I recommend it for those with an appreciation for the very weird and perhaps lovers of French cinema. All others, proceed at your own risk.

Fmovies: As in Amelie and Delicatessen, Jeunet is interested in the complex connections between things, even as small as a flea. The film is not so much about a story as it is about illustrating how the characters got where they are, often with a fast- paced sequence of events like a Rube Goldberg device. Open up your eyes and mind to the world that is created here, leave behind expectations of how it should function or how the plot should advance. You will be richly rewarded. The sets and costumes are gorgeous, true enough, but the true beauty lies in the characters and their lives; the children that are too grown up, the hero who is more a child than they are, the imperfect creations of science, and the improbable leftovers of a circus freak show.

The City of Lost Children gets two platinum stars and also moves up to one of my top ten favorite films of all time. This is a confusing story, from beginning to end it expands your mind, reaches into your nightmares, and creates a story that is part Dark City and part of a novel called "The Golden Compass" by Phillip Pullman.

Yes, this film was everything and more. Not only visually beautiful, but the creative and symbolic meaning of the actions and words of the characters are "jaw dropping". Also, there are so many sub-stories in this film that reminded me of the style that Run Lola Run was done. This is the style that due to a connection of unrelated events something extraordinary happens. Let me give you an example from this film: There is a scene where the girl and One (Ron Pearlman-also a very biblical name) are trying to escape from the two women who want their jewels. There are events that lead from a dog finding its female companion to a boat almost hitting/splitting the women in half. Wild coincidences...imagine this times ten, and you have this film.

Keep in mind this is a French film with English subtitles, so you are not only getting the true voice of the film, but seeing the darkness of the cinematography without any American input. This really shows the purpose behind making this film, it really takes you to a new place so dark and dreamlike that you the viewer actually feel like you are in the picture itself. A movie about dreams and nightmares that takes place in a world of dreams and nightmares.

Overall, a heavily religious and symbolic film, The City of Lost Children should be put at the top of your foreign film list. Put it in your DVD player, open your mind, and be ready for a wild and intense ride!!

Grade: ***** out of *****

The City of Lost Children fmovies. "The City of Lost Children" is unquestionably one of the most imaginative and exceptional films of the entire 90's decade and it pretty much represents an entire sub genre all by itself! It's a dark and often disturbing fairy-tale, but nevertheless magical and child-friendly. Since this is a film by Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet, you simply know to expect a unique and surreal story (remember "Delicatessen"?) filled with extravagant characters and bizarre dreamscapes! It's enchanting to observe and quite challenging to follow, as there's always some ingenious gimmick to distract your attention from the main plot. I got hooked on it right from the GENIUS opening sequence in which a child's dream about Santa Claus slowly turns into an eerie nightmare. The action then cuts to the "main" character; the evil Krank who's unable to dream himself and hence kidnaps orphans in order to steal their dreams. Krank has an army of semi-human androids, one brother cloned six times, an uncanny midget-mother AND a malicious brain in a fish tank! Ron Perlman is a good guy for once! He portrays a simple-minded yet friendly strongman, assisted in the search for his abducted little brother by a witty young girl. "The City of Lost Children" is an amazingly energetic and vivid adventure and no self-respecting cinema fanatic can afford him/herself to miss it! It's funny, frightening, emotional and intelligent all at once. The decors are mesmerizing, the music is dazzling and the special effects are staggering. I can keep on mentioning good aspects, but it all comes down to one thing: watch this film!!! It's still regretfully underrated and we urgently need to change that!

The first time I saw this movie I shook my head and wondered why I wasted three dollars renting this movie. It seemed to me that the storyline was worthless. However, I gave this movie a second chance, and this time instead of constantly reading the subtitles I paid more attention to the acting and events taking place on-screen.

I was shocked. The amount of creativity and symbolism blew me away. A lot of questions I had accumulated throughout my first viewing were answered by watching the movie carefully.

I recommend to everyone who thought this a poor movie to watch it again. If you don't speak French (like myself) try not to get so involved in the subtitles that you miss critical detail. It's there, and it's important, trust me!

"City of Lost Children" is a beautifully-realized if derivative dark fantasy in which a mad scientist named Krank, aided by a half-dozen clones, a midget woman, and a brain in a tank, abducts children to his offshore lab so he can steal their dreams. Seems he's unable to have any of his own. A sideshow strongman, played by a radiantly fit Ron Perlman, goes in search of his little brother, who has been taken by Krank's goons. Perlman, in another of his growing gallery of bizarre roles, is a perfect example of why I like character actors better than big-name stars. And how many languages does he speak, anyway? French here, Spanish (and English, of course) in "Cronos"; polyglot in "The Name of the Rose"; what next?

The strongman, named One, enlists the aid of Miette, a homeless, streetwise girl who, along with her fellow urchins, is part of a ring of thieves employed by a pair of sinister female Siamese twins named the Octopus. (Watch carefully how these evil twins smoke a cigarette. There are more weird characters per square inch in this flick than anywhere else outside a Heironymus Bosch painting.) Miette is played by Judith Villet, whose gonna-be-a-great-beauty looks, her air of intelligence and experience beyond her years, make her a sort of Gallic Natalie Portman.

Anyway, that's the plot: rescue little brother from the mad doctor. The images are the thing: with its rendering of a bleak, low-tech retro-future, "City" looks more like a Terry Gilliam movie than "Twelve Monkeys" does! And it slyly slips in ideas and images from other sources, to good effect: Krank himself is as much of the mad-doctor stereotype as is the character in "The Nightmare Before Christmas"; his outlandish electro-headgear is similar to that used in Disney's "Merlin Jones"; a nightmare on the loose swoops low along the ground through streets and alleys as a trail of green mist, improving on a similar image from "Bram Stoker's Dracula"; there's a confrontation in dreamland a la the "Elm Street" series; and while the idea of a brain in a tank isn't a new one, this is the first benign one I've ever seen. Familiar or not--and I'm thinking also of "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T"--"City of Lost Children" is still engaging, enjoyably weird, fantastic and funny, helped greatly by the fact that One and Miette are so endearing. The pace is a tad slower than it might have been. But this is, after all, a French movie.