Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Zazie dans le métro (The Criterion Collection)



What a delightfully odd movie!
A girl is left with her uncle for the weekend (or a day, I think) while Mom runs off with her new boyfriend. She has one wish while she's there...to ride the Metro train...which, naturally, is on strike.

Wackiness ensues.

Shot largely as if it were a slapstick silent film, this is one wacky, odd romp around Paris. The Eiffel tower scenes are surely one-of-a-kind and worth the price of admission alone.

You won't really find yourself laughing a lot so much as just marveling at the spectacle of the thing.

Colorful comedy
First saw Zazie years ago and remembered I'd loved it. So I was thrilled to see that it was coming out in a Criterion release. The film was as crazy and colorful as I remember it. All potty-mouthed Zazie wants to do while visiting her uncle in Paris is to ride the metro. Unfortunately it's closed due to a worker's strike. Still there are plenty of other adventures to be had and lots of colorful characters to have them with. Zazie is a real gem and I highly recommend it. The Criterion DVD is what one expects: outstanding and with great extras.

Blu-ray: "Zazie dans le métro" is a film that stands out because of its comedy, its absurdity, its chaotic nature.
You often hear about novels that are not possible for a film adaptation. And for author Raymond Queneau's successful 1959 novel "Zazie dans le métro", who can portray a novel about a young girl who knows way too much for her age and is so inquisitive, but yet her perspective of the absurdity of adult Parisians?

Never to back down from a challenge, French filmmaker Louise Malle known for his popular films "The Lovers" and "Elevators to the Gallows" took on a film adaptation of "Zazie dans le métro". A film which Malle would say it was a tribute to Charlie Chaplin and also a film that would lead to film experimentation with special effects and colorization.

And as for the film, the film would receive critical acclaim but also controversy as many parents thought the film was targeted towards children, and took their children to the film to find out quickly when the young 10-year-old Zazie speaks that the film is not for children.

For Louis...

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