eade Reviews

Les gens qui s'aiment (1999)

Light relationship drama worth checking out

[7/10 · 20 October 2022]

If you have a thing for French relationship dramas, this seemingly forgotten title from 1999 is worth a look.

The plot is simple, revolving around two on-off couples, one older, one younger, who share a family connection.

While not a masterpiece, it deserves much higher than the very low rating it has one here - I am not sure why it is so low. Yes, its style is a bit quirky - it is acted out a bit like a stage play in a movie's clothing, but there is nothing wrong with that. And of course with a very 1990s ambience around the whole thing.

Worth an hour and half of your time on a Tuesday evening.

Live Forever (2003)

Entertaining

[7/10 · 20 November 2003]

Come on, cut this film some slack!

I watched this at the Stockholm Film Festival and the audience

were clearly warmly amused.

It's an entertaining, brief documenarty about those at the forefront

of Britpop, and that's it.

My main reservation is that I would have liked to have seen a lot

more of the music - for example, we get about a 5 second cut of

Sleeper, the same for Oasis' first national tv performance (which

would have been interesting and probably almost impossible to

track down). In that sense it is akin to if someone made a

documentary about the 1966 World Cup but only showed the goals

from the Final.

Shallow Hal (2001)

Irritating and not very funny.

[4 June 2002]

I found this film irritating for two reasons: 1. It is based on a fictional viewpoint, namely: Looks Don't Matter.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your standpoint, in the

real world they do matter. I found it ludicrous that a film could really

pretend that a man would not care if he discovered that his drop

dead gorgeous girlfriend was in reality, no, not a bit stocky, but

massively, massively, massively overweight. 2. The entire film is based on the above theme, which, stretched

out over 100 minutes, soon became incredibly repetitive, unfunny

and childish.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Long and flat

[3/10 · 3 February 2002]

This film has been trumpeted as a masterpiece but it isn't.

Yes, it has dramatic effects but these just come across as someone showing how clever they can be with technology given an unlimited budget - the end result is soulless.

The film is incredibly long but no empathy develops for the characters.

To cap it all, the film doesn't even finish the story and the way it simply cuts off at the end leaves the feeling that the whole experience has been a waste of time.

I couldn't bear to sit through it again and I wonder how many people, with hand on heart, really intend to do so.

Familjehemligheter (2001)

A touching black comedy about family problems in mid 1970s Sweden

[9/10 · 15 November 2001]

A seemingly perfect family is trundling along in suburban Sweden.

Cracks are appearing in the walls of the house but it soon

becomes apparent that its not just the home that is crumbling. A touching film, laced with black humour but with plenty of rays of

hope, Familjehemligheter (Family Secrets) also captures the feel

of mid-1970s "utopian" Sweden.

The Two Lives of Mattia Pascal (1985)

A man accidentally fakes his own suicide and tries to live a new carefree life.

[10/10 · 8 November 2001]

Based on the brilliant novel by Luigi Pirandello, "The Two Lives of Mattia Pascal" weaves the story of a man who accidentally fakes his own suicide and tries and fails to live a new carefree life before being drawn back to the community that has "buried" him years ago. A superb film about identity, fate, chance and anonymity.