More film reviews...

well, at least short snappers...

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002, director Lone Scherfig) - Wilbur keeps trying to commit suicide so his brother Harbour has Wilbur live with him for a while, Harbour falls in love with and marries Alice, but Wilbur starts to have feelings for Alice as well and finds a reason to live... sounds overall depressing to describe, but quite uplifting in the end. I found myself wondering if it was wrong to laugh at Wilbur's ineffectual suicide attempts and therapy sessions, and if it was wrong to be happy for Wilbur in the end (there was somewhat of a moral dilemma and twist involved). I enjoyed it very much.

Les Triplettes des Belleville (2003, animated) - I loved the song "Swinging Belleville Rendezvous" when I heard it at the Oscars (nominated for best song and best animated film that year), so had it on my list of movies to see eventually. Then when I became interested in cycling and realized that this film was about cycling (to a certain extent), I thought I have to see this. Plus, I'm kind of on a Canadian-kick right now and this was a Canadian -French-Belgian co-production... I found the pacing a bit strange at times (maybe I was biased because the librarian warned me of this when I borrowed it), but it was interesting overall. Madame Souza's grandson, a cyclist, is kidnapped during the Tour de France, so she has to rescue him with the help of the Belleville triplets singing group. I thought the exaggerations within the animation were fascinating - the skin and bones cyclists (except for their huge leg muscles), the really large size of everyone in Belleville (which seemed to be symbolic for the excesses of the western world I thought), the cycling scenes (especially when Champion is training up a steep hill and seems to barely be getting up it - but his grandmother behind him on a tricycle has no difficulty). I couldn't help but think of Michael Rasmussen, winner of the King of the Mountains jersey in this year's Tour de France, when Champion was weighing his food at dinner (plus the "skin and bones" aspect).

Les Invasions Barbaires (2003, director Denys Arcand) – Another Canadian film, since it won the Oscar for best foreign-film I thought I should probably see this. And since it was a continuation, 17 years later, of Arcand’s film “The Decline of the American Empire” from 1986 I thought perhaps I should see that first. I couldn’t actually get through Decline though, found it boring and not funny (supposed to be a comedy) – maybe it just seemed really dated, I’m not sure. So, I started into the Barbarian Invasions with great trepidation – but I really enjoyed it. It raised interesting questions about the meaning of one’s life plus end of life issues like euthanasia; and it was pertinent to the issues facing our Canadian health-care system when Rémy’s son Sébastien is paying for him to have tests done in the US and bribing officials to get his father a private room on an unused floor. It also raised issues about the quality of palliative care when Sébastien had to go to the street to get heroin to help his father cope with pain. The scenes with the narcotic officers were quite amusing, as was the scene when the doctor did his entire visit and examination but then it became apparent he had no idea who the patient was (you’d think everyone would know who was on the special floor); also the depiction of the unions and the hospital administration was hilarious. Very strange to me to see Mitsou in a dramatic-type role though – “Bye Bye Mon Cowboy” started running through my head…

Long Way Round (2004) – Not exactly a film but a TV series/DVD, about Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s motorcycle trip from London to New York via Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Alaska, and Canada. I really enjoyed this, not just as a travel or adventure show (maybe my 1/8 Norwegian explorer heritage was coming out), but to see their struggles and emotions as the trip became quite difficult. It was also fascinating to see the different people they encountered and how friendly and helpful the majority were – there’s so many awful things reported in the news these days that you really tend to distrust any strangers any more, and yet they often had to depend and rely on total strangers to get through. The UNICEF bits were quite informative and touching, makes you realize how lucky we have things in Canada (or the “developed world” in general).