Amelie

I have always dreamed of going to France one day. In my humble opinion, in case anyone would like to differ, France is one of the most beautiful countries out there. From their people to their architectural designs of their cities and buildings. And heck, Amelie, is one of the movies out there that managed to portray Paris beautifully, although, err, their people, quite differently. (This is the first time in my life I come across so many weird, quirky characters in a movie. Hopefully not in reality.)

Amelie is a romantic yet eccentric, comedy film, directed by a French film director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who in fact, directed quite a few films which I have never watched before except Alien Resurrection. (Alien Resurrection. Wow, I'm surprised.)

It has quite a conventional, simple romantic storyline per se. A simple and innocent girl meeting an equally odd, peculiar boy. Love at first sight. Some challenges here and there. In the end, voila! The girl and the boy live happily ever after. (Hopefully.) However, comically, it is a relatively fresh and authentic comedy. (From a non-French point-of-view.) Some of the funny moments in the movie were those truly out-of-the-box, nonsensical imaginations of Amelie. I guess extreme loneliness can actually bring out those potentially craziest imaginations out of an individual, eh? And also the times where Amelie punished Mr. Collignon, a grocer in the movie, who was rather abusive towards his handicapped assistant. The movie is also filled with many weird and odd characters who have the most peculiar habits one can imagine. Watching them living together in the same community is indeed very  entertaining.  

    

The filmmakers cleverly executed and exploited the wonders of digital intermediate here, creating a nostalgic 90's feel to the movie. Another noteworthy aspects of Amelie is its music. Here, Yann Tiersen played a wonderful role in creating music which made the movie more enjoyable to watch. I never thought that, by just changing the rhythm and the instruments used, can change the emotions of the same music. Brilliant.

The use of narration in Amelie was apt. It managed to engage and kept me watching without feeling lost in the middle of the movie. Credit should be given to the film's narrator, Andre Dussollier. His narration was very effective in Amelie, like Morgan Freeman's narration in The Shawshank Redemption, though sometimes absurd. But most importantly, it suits the movie perfectly.

This light-hearted and meaningful movie is definitely suitable to watch with our families, although do take caution with young ones as some parts of the film are quite sexual in nature. Apart from those, Amelie is definitely one of the memorable movies that one can best watch with family during weekend.

Adieu.