Li'l Quinquin2014

absolutely sublime

Le cinema est mort .

With part 1 shown, I already feel I slept thru the first half of a flick....So how truly "conceptual " can this be?

So far I'm sensing our era's manufactured nostalgia for the last 30 minutes.

I dis/like twitchy, trigger-happy, shell-shocked anti-hero authority figures just as much as the next street-fighting career arsonist.

But If I have become possessed of a need to "become one" pondering the imponderable frustrations of being a human caricature-

Well then I prefer to power eat my schadenfreude as marzipan miniatures.

I do not mock my local PTSD survivor as he waits for other foot to drop.

This 'comedy' is an anachronistic insult to our own culture.

'Conceptual' parody marks failure to understand the struggle of Absurdism to outflank the more serious idiocy of negotiated war.

Now a tedious Conceptualism declares today we are not sufficient to understand our own culture.

Le cinema est mort .

Engaging and perplexing, at least in terms of the tone. My favorite character is Eve, whose steadiness and sanity make the quirks, violence, and deformities of all the other characters stand out the more starkly. But why is this one (young, female) character burdened with holding perhaps the only hope in the world of the film?

Imaginative and not pretentious in its cinematography, it mixes the absurdity with the raw reality in a way that, instead of stressing the absurdity, turning the reality upside down, making it is something in which that absurdity is not only perfectly possible but normal, a routine. Absolutely great. Something really new.

Some brief thoughts:

- Episode 1 is by far the funniest, the church sequence is incredible

- Tends to meander quite a bit in eps 2 and 3, though much of that is intention vis a vis the rambling nature of life

- Might have been better to watch as separate episodes, just so the physical comedy felt fresh each time. It did tend to wane.

- Bernard Pruvost as the Captain is so funny and impressive, his facial ticks start off as mere humourous visual element but as he develops as a character throughout it becomes essential to painting this picture of a strange enigmatic man

- The film touches on racial divide in France in a way that's a little too simplistic.

- Comparisons to Twin Peaks seem lazy. It's not at all like Lynch's show. There's a string of murders in an eccentric place but Dumont, especially as we move into the final hour, is much more concerned with theme than Lynch.

Is this spot for total viewing, or just the first episode? I'll admit to being a Dumont admirer, especially his "The Life of Jesus." But I'll also admit to some discomfort at the "conceptual" elements of the first quarter running. After that, it was all Dumont philosophical renderings of the modern European questions. Aside from Haneke, he seems the only director willing to directly approach the questions.

I ended up loving it and the animals it portrayed.

Brilliant. Can't wait to see it on the big screen.

yes! i loved it! looking forward to the next installment!

I wanted to like this. I wanted to want to get into it, but I just could not stomach the bumbling attempt at humor of the prime character. It just didn't get any better after an hour of tedium. Please alert me if it suddenly got amazing in the last three hours, but other wise I say avoid at your own peril of banality.

I have no prior experience with this director. The seaside town was enchanting to visit in the summer, and the "puppy love" subplot was charming. There are even moments, as in the singing contest scene, for example, that were moving. But that damned inspector was such an implausible dope; you basically know who the probable murderer is about 2/3rds of the way through, and it's not much of a comedy if his superiors don't have the wherewithal or common sense to pull him off the case as the body count keeps rising because of his lazy thinking. I kept wondering "why wouldn't they take him off the case? How many suspects could there be in such an isolated area?" Any other detective would have had this case solved by the two hour mark at the latest. It almost seemed like a plot device to lengthen the film.

Three and a half stars.

Full of quirky characters that looked like locals. the Captain is an unforgettable character......let's roll! Unexpected ending!

Inspector Clouseau meets Antoine Doinel.

I liked it. A beautiful production. I'm not as sophisticated as some Fandor members. But I can appreciate an alternative to US blockbuster tv series that everyone is watching. Specifically I was surprised by how enduring the subtle emotions I felt while watching the film have lasted since watching it. There are also of spikes of incredibly uncomfortable moments. There is no container with this work, it shows, it does not tell, unlike most popular blockbusters people are familiar with. And the final act engaged me in a reflective dilemma about the implications of binary overlays of justice against undefinable "gray areas" of crime and justice. It also makes me feel smart, because I feel like I get it...also an endearing quality in a film for insecure rebel intellectuals such as myself.

A very clever and brilliant film. Really enjoyed it.

very interesting, all the elements of Dumont are in the mix here with some humour mixed in. The scene in the church was funny and the kid in this show reminds of a younger version of the kid off of La Vie de Jesus

Had no idea Rev Al Sharpton worked as a french actor. If you like murder mysteries to have resolution by films end - especially a film that is over 3 hours long - then you should skip this. On the other hand, in spite of its length and abrupt ending I enjoyed the film much more that I should have. I only intended to watch a portion of the film but was enticed enough to sit though the whole thing.

A sublimely absurd tone, calm pacing, unique characters (played by non-actors), had me in stitches for the whole running time.

All I can say is that if you were to watch the entire three hours as if it were a single solid film.... Then a certain internal structure makes itself apparent that is thematically brilliant. "Charlie Chaplin slays the dragon"... It happens that the dragon has teeth and like the daily news, he rips our world to shreds. There is so much Medeival European fecundity so very ripely festering in the Frisian horses and the fertile soil of such a small village. Yeah it is a bit far fetched at times but this is a world on another plane. If "Twin Peaks" was at times ridiculous, well then the internal integrity of this show has you all fooled. This is a canvas. The eyes and facial ticks and upended mannerisms of a doe eyed police savant inspire hope. This has nothing to do with the real police in France or anywhere else, that conjure images of cracked skulls and racist taunts. The cinematic moment lives so deeply large in this wonderfully indulgent world... There are wide open spaces to view and discern and the wind of time blows about in a simple look. Did I mention that this is the blackest of comedies?

Very good, kept me going 3+ hours, in two different sessions.

Very funny, unique characters

So refreshing to see the French taking themselves apart in their 'deep countryside'!

Superb!

incompetent and boring. THe detective in the film has not the slightest idea how to interegate anyone. I cant believe that anyone would spend the money to make this film.

Too slow

Didn't like it.

I loved it. It was not a movie but an experience. I felt I was there. A great blend of serious and hilarious.

tics and squints and a quiet young love story holding it together.

unfish!