Zig Zag Story (1983) User Reviews

Unremakeable

[SMK-4 · 9/10 · 14 April 1999]

An excellent French comedy (of kinds) and one of the rare examples where we can be pretty certain that it will never be remade by Hollywood.

Why? It is too surreal, too illogical, it steps on the toes of too many institutions (the police, the arts world, the church - to name just three), it is politically incorrect, it has too much sex, it has a sad ending, etc. And if one tried to touch any of these "too"s one would seriously damage the film.

From one predicament to the next, faster than life

[aoren · 9/10 · 3 May 2004]

Saw it when it first showed. Thought I'll never find it again, especially in LA. A very fast, somewhat sarcastic view of life's predicaments, shown in a very condensed cinematic manner that kept me on the edge of my seat. Not a total chaos, as one event leads to another, causally or serendipitously through games, sex, love, tragedy, and bumper-to-bumper traffic jams in the streets of Paris. Very well done and quite sophisticated. Not a boring second and not a simple entertainment. Bottom line: one is not in control of one's fate or life. Let's enjoy today as much as possible, and prepare for tomorrow, whatever it brings us.

After 25 years, there aren't 2 weeks without me remembering scenes from it.

[motti-shneor · 9/10 · 5 March 2018]

Other guys justly tried to describe how this movie feels like, and what to expect when you go see it. I want to focus on something else.

This crazy and sharp movie contains countless hilarious short scenes - almost like slapstick - visual phrases that became just like lingual idioms to me and all my friends who saw the movie (yes, back in 1983).

Even though I saw the movie at least a dozen times in Cinema, I estimate the time I spent in remembering parts of it, laughing loud (having people ponder my sanity in work meetings, where some association brought those phrases back to my mind) totals in many hundreds of hours.

I wish I could meet the makers and thank them for this sharp and sobering "gift".

I recommend the movie to anyone - but especially to Americans, that many times are not exposed enough to real free minds, and their art.

The comedy is changing flavours like mad - it's sour and sweet and hopeful and despairing, its sharp and bitter hot, then chaos, then hope again. It's like a being thrown to a washing machine together with dozen colored clothes.