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justin-111
Reviews
Un crabe dans la tête (2001)
A solid Montreal film
Un crabe dans la tête tells a good story and tells it well. The characters are acted well and convincingly and the camera work communicates atmosphere effectively. A few details (the Biosphere scene near the end?!) are weaker or confusing, but are easily forgiven. Like many films made by Montrealers (Maëlstrom, Eldorado, Un zoo la nuit ... among many others), this one also feels like real-life Montreal with just a little extra fantasy added. There's nothing untrue about the depiction of the city. (In contrast, a Hollywood production set here, such as The Score, looks and feels like Montreal as seen by tourists from the U.S.)
Alex's main characteristic - excess desire to please combined with an incapacity to say no - is ladled on a bit thickly. He does become frustrating and even annoying to watch by the middle of the film. But his behavior, in less extreme form, is not at all uncommon (at least among Canadian Gen-Xers!). The film will have well served its purpose if it incites us to recognize the tendency and snap out of it.
Wonderland (1999)
Philip Larkin illustrated in full color
Wonderland reminds me of Philip Larkin's poem 'This be the verse' ("They fuck you up, your mum and dad... and don't have any kids yourself"). Perhaps the film isn't quite as negative as the poem, but very little is resolved in the characters' lives and very little changes. This is the most important difference between Wonderland and the films it has often been compared to. In the Dogme films, the characters change, a lot. They come into conflict, they learn from each other, they resolve their conflicts. In Magnolia, so much conflict and learning and transformation happens in a single day that it's unbelievable but beautiful. Wonderland's characters change so little that it's entirely believable and terribly sad. Everyone just muddles through and survives. At the opening of the film in Montreal (11 August 2000), the screening began with a public service advertisement from the Quebec government. It depicted an angry teenager keeping his frustration bottled up inside. A voice-over implored him to talk about it! with friends, with family, with teachers. If you don't talk you can't grow. Just the message the characters in Wonderland needed.