December 12, 2008.

A strange and beautiful movie.

Rating: 5
The Dreamers is a very unusual movie, telling the story of a pair of French twins, Isabelle and Theo (Eva Green & Louis Garrel), who invite an American student, Matthew (Michael Pitt) to stay with them in their Paris apartment. Attracted to them first by a shared interest in the cinema, Matthew is soon drawn into the twins' incestuous relationship. To gain a full appreciation of the movie, including its historical background (set in the 1960's at the time of the student riots in Paris, and related to events in the French film industry at that time), I would recommend watching the excellent special features first. On the other hand, if you are just looking for a wonderful sensual experience, you'll get that, too, in some great nude scenes featuring the beautiful Mlle Green. Make sure you get the uncut version; it is definitely worth buying.

December 01, 2008.

The Dreamers.

Rating: 4
Very unusual, erotic, graphic film. Eva Green (current " Bond Girl"), is beautiful, sexy and plays an incredible role, making her character believable. Never liked Michael Pitt, but he did well in this.

December 29, 2008.

Eye Candy.

Rating: 4
I actually really enjoyed this movie. The plot is good, the scenes are vivid and realistic, and while the writing is a bit lacking, the acting is actually very good. Much of the story didn't really make a whole lot of sense, and the relationship between the brother and sister is really never fleshed out. But, oh, my, to spend much of the movie viewing Eva Green disrobed is, well, worth the price of the dvd.

December 03, 2008.

Everything you'd expect from Bertolucci.

Rating: 4
Ah, NC-17. Possibly one of the dumber ratings out there. The concept is great! Tag movies, like this, that aren't made for kids but are for an adult audience, with a rating that keeps kids away. In principle this is great! In execution, it's been deeply flawed. Newspapers won't advertise films with this rating, most reviewers won't review them, and studios won't generally allow them to be released. It's to the credit of Fox that they allowed this rather nice little movie to be put out uncut (though one of the male leads isn't... ha! Penis joke!).

The story concerns an American in Paris, played by Michael "Drop-pants Gorgeous" Pitt. He's a student visiting there who falls in with a twin brother/sister pair who love movies as much as he does. The twins aren't quite incestual, but they're as close as anyone can get.

The movie is something of a love-note to cinema. You see clips from a lot of the greatest movies of the early days of film, and get to see the kids recreate several of the scenes for their own (occasionally erotic), amusement. The movie also expertly highlights Paris in the late 1960's, giving you a real feel for the time and place and for what was going on.

Where the film fails... well, it doesn't fail in any real big ways. I gave it four stars because it felt like something was missing, though I couldn't put my finger on what (part of it is that the two male leads have an obvious simmering attraction to each other that doesn't get acted upon in the movie. I understand it does in the book the film is based on). There wasn't anything bad or wrong about the movie, but something did seem to be missing.

One thing that isn't missing, though, is acres of bare flesh. If you're one of those who doesn't like to see close-ups of penises and vaginas, then this likely isn't the film for you.

I'd actually recommend this movie for just about anyone over the age of 13 or so, provided you're a parent who doesn't mind your kids seeing a movie with lots of sexuality but no violence. If you'd prefer it the other way around, perhaps you need to rethink your priorities.

I haven't seen many other Bertolucci films, so I can't really compare them to this one. I know I liked it, though, and it's worth owning on DVD.

December 01, 2008.

Perfect end.

Rating: 4
The ending is perfect, while I was watching, I was hoping that this film would not self-destruct with a cliched ending. I won't give it away, but Mathew's final interaction with Theo and Isabelle grabbed me with its sincerity and its reality, how no good thing seems to ever last. My favorite
book about Kama Sutra is a perfect march with this movie Sex and the Perfect Lover: Tao, Tantra, and the Kama Sutra