I heard the news today, oh boy...

Madras Cafe (2013)

Rating 2.5/5.0

Where 5.0 is what Shoojit should have tried to emulate

Madras Café is an attempt to analyze an event that shook the Indian psyche – Rajiv Gandhi’s killing in 1991. Unfortunately, it falls short and you’re left wondering if that is all there’s to it. When espionage, conspiracy, twisted diplomacy, power politics and counter terrorism are your subjects, it’s nearly impossible to take a simplistic, straight line approach to storytelling – the film tries to do just that and fails miserably. It can be that the director’s intention was to describe the RAW operation in Sri Lanka but that too seems marred by the script holding back from telling the bare truth, instead preferring to tread a safe path that almost borders on subtle sycophancy.

Everyone lived out their fantasy in Madras Cafe except the viewer. Piyush Pandey got to play Cabinet Secretary, Siddharth Basu the Head of RAW, John Abraham a top Spy (knock yourself out with a heavy book before he utters the momentously trite line "I couldn't save our Prime Minister"), Nargis Fakrhi a war correspondent (she tries hard but ends up looking like a class monitor who'll write your name on the blackboard if you talk too much) and Shoojit Sircar a spy filmmaker. Everyone had fun except me. 

This is the definition of a cardboard film - cardboard characters, cardboard actors, cardboard script, cardboard sycophancy. The only chap whose character had some limited appeal was the hitherto unknown Prakash Belawadi who plays RAW agent Bala Krishnan. Unfortunately for the viewer, Bala Krishnan kills himself early on, apparently unable to take the stress of holding this cardboard film together. 

Watch it just to hear John Abraham say, “I couldn’t save out Prime Minister”

Imagine a world with a trillion Rembrandts

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Rating 4.75/5.0
where 5.0 is my favorite Wes Anderson film

I could have been a great filmmaker. You would say - Yeah! We could all have been great filmmakers. And my response to that is - SHUT UP, WILL YA, THIS IS MY FUCKING REVIEW!

I scoff at films made today -- I think they are crap and I believe I could do better if I had the chance. I know the truth but I like to live in a make believe world -- that keeps me sane. Till now I have been quite successful at living with the delusion that I'm a filmmaker in exile...and to make it more authentic I have made it a point not to use my video camera even once in the last 3 years. 

There are very few filmmakers who can humble this vain Antonioni in me. Wes Anderson is one of them. When it comes to his films, I find it very hard to say - "Hey, I could have done that with a 1 year diploma from a good film school" I want to suffer from a remotely possible delusion and thinking that I can make a film like Wes is not even remotely possible. Why? Because Wes Anderson films are not films, they are a trillion paintings flipping, floating, flying about with beautiful music playing in the background. Every scene is a perfect balance of color, emotion and movement -- it's fragile, it's ethereal and it's impossible to predict -- every moment in the film stands proudly as a testament of what movies can do if you could think, hear and imagine like Wes Anderson. 

Watch Moonrise Kingdom. After you're done, spend a couple of hours staring at the ceiling thinking about the film -- it might lead you to a world that's better than the one we live in. 


Imdb link here

20 seconds of courage

We Bought a Zoo (2011)

Rating 3.75/5.0

"You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it."


That's what Matt Damon's character in the movie says to his son. Does something great come of 20 seconds of insane courage? Watch the film to know -- it's based on a true story.

A note to myself: Tripathi, for God's sake stop it! Stop it man! Stop it! Three exclamation marks in a line, stop it maaaan!!!! Now they are 7, SEVEN! Oh shit, one more, this is getting out of control, they are eight now, they're sneering at me, they are talking to each other -- i can see them, yes i can...shites! Now my i is not capitalized!  FUCK! Ten !s Eleven !s Twelve ......

Now I know what writers do once they're done with writing the first draft of their debut book.

They edit and they seek opinion -- and both of these are painful, very, very painful.

IMDB Link here

Preface: A Brief History of Cinema

Features in my top  10 of all time - a list which is a TRILLION GAZILLION times more relevant than IMDB top 100!

2011 was a wonderful cycle: start with discontent - move to exploration - then to discovery - and move back to discontent - exploration and on and on and on it went..that's what life should ideally be about! Explore, discover, create something - something that only YOU can create, make people around you a little bit happier than they were before they met you and then leave whatever you have built and build something new again.

Blogging is all about sharing - and for all the people who actually take the time out to read this and even for those who came across this blog because they searched for something arbitrary and then desperately fumbled to hit the close button - here's my 2012 resolution for the blog...I'm now going to get into a serious knowledge sharing mode....and that would mean a brief history of 'my take on' cinema...starting with the next entry...so WATCH OUT!

Here's hoping for more discontent, exploration, discovery and creation in 2012.
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ah..found the X button! My eyes are giving way...got to get them checked.

don't Bogart that sandwich my friend....

Win Win (2011)

Rating 4.75/5.00
Where 5.00 is a cowboy poem called the Searchers

Its not about how brilliant this film is...its about Thomas McCarthy's ability to make three amazing films in a row -  HOW DOES HE DO IT? WHY DOES HE NEVER DISAPPOINT? Here's his current directorial repertoire -

1. The Station Agent (2003) - IMDb Plot summary: When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.
2. The Visitor (2007) - IMDb Plot Summary: A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.
3. Win Win (2011) - IMDb Plot summary - A struggling lawyer and volunteer wrestling coach's chicanery comes back to haunt him when the teenage grandson of the client he's double-crossed comes into his life.

All three films have unique story lines, well developed, endearing characters and emotional depth that never ceases to amaze. Do watch Win Win - it will leave you with a lot to think about while you laugh at it.

That's not what  I can recommend for Rockstar (2011). When I walk into the cinema hall expecting a good film because its made by Imtiaz Ali, I should get exactly that! Should I have gone with lower expectations? Many would think I should but I just can't - I'm not throwing my time and money at a film because I have nothing better to do - I'm watching it because I want to and I expect it to be good.  Unfortunately, Ali is just going down the drain - Jab We Met (Sheer poetry), Love Aaj Kal (good in parts) and now Rockstar (a big piece of shit after the first 30 minutes!!!) - a classic case of reverse evolution. Rediff and TOI critics have given it 4 stars out of 5 and to that there can be only two interpretations

1. They got paid to rate the film
2. Their intellectual wavelength matches with Imtiaz Ali's and they could understand the depth of his vision where I was dumb enough not to

I would choose 2 because I can't possibly question their integrity, can I?

Imdb Link here

This is THE great escape...

The Way Back (2010)

Rating 3.8/5.0

Where 5.0 is an escape movie which is exactly the opposite in its approach 

Its one thing to escape from a prison, its another to run away from an ideology. The Way Back is about a daring escape from the communist ideology and can there be a better way to do this then to walk all the way from Siberia to a non-communist nation?

Peter Weir (who made the beautiful Master and the Commander) has done a fantastic job in realistically capturing this "walk to freedom". This realism is the mainstay of the story and Weir relies on it instead of delving too deeply into each of the characters and their motives. So by the end of it, you have not only empathised with the escapees, cursed the Commies and the Nazi's but also feasted your eyes on one breathtaking landscape after another. Not only this, you would also get to know that a poisonous black snake found in the Gobi desert (in Mongolia) tastes like chicken if cooked on stone over low heat! Useful information if you ever feel like roaming around Gobi without food or water.

There's a lot to talk about in the acting department. Colin Farrell is a revelation, Ed Harris is perfect as usual and Jim Sturgess holds his own amongst this stellar cast which includes Mark Strong and Dragos Bucur.

A perfect weekend watch when you want to be transported "free of cost" to another world!

IMDB Link here

Because you're on television, dummy.

Network (1976)

Rating 4.75/5.00
where 5.00 is a film which refuses to become old

This film is pure class - dialogues that draw you in like a nail to a super magnet; a script that leaves you awestruck at its originality and its relevance even now - 34 years after it was made; sub-plots that are so potent they are mini-movies in themselves; and a cast which makes it impossible for you to question the outrageousness of the script.

It is 8.1 on IMDB :-)




I also watched -

Rio (2011) - which really sucks - its a poorly done hotch potch of Ice Age and Madagascar. If you're making a movie with speaking animals - you better make it a tear jerker OR you make it very funny OR a mix of both. Rio fails on all counts and I'm happy I didn't spend any money on it :) If only I could get my hands on those birds - I'll wring their necks with my bare hands!





The Fighter (2010) - Christian Bale is God. The Fighter is the film that proves it. Every movement, every twitch, every breath, every hint of a smile - Bale epitomises what many actors just don't get - he lives the character and makes it look as effortless as Al Pacino did in Dog Day Afternoon. This is the film you watch just for one performance and its a bonus that the film is good too :-)

I know less and less about who I am, or who anybody else is

The American Friend (1977)

Rating 4.8/5.0 
Where 5.0 is the best first film ever by any director

Wim Wenders made the poignant Paris, Texas. Its a 137 minute poem - it is slow, its moody and it is definitely one of the most thought provoking films I have seen. Since then, I have always been wary of watching a Wenders film - they are not entertainers in the conventional sense, they force you to think, to contemplate and they provoke sadness - his films stay with you as symbols, as a burden of what you can't fully comprehend.

The American Friend is a crime/psychological thriller adapted from Particia Highsmith's novel Ripley's Game. The real suspense in the film is not what will happen but whether the viewer will ever be able to unravel the true reasons for the way the characters in the film behave and react to situations - it makes the viewer think about what drives the films character to do what they do - What are they thinking? Why are they changing? Is it compulsive behavior or does it have a deeper meaning? Wenders leaves hints through the film and its up to us to intepret it.

I watched three films in between jobs - The Next Three Days (2010),  Army of Shadows (1969) and this one. The Next Three Days is a well made thriller anchored by Russell Crowe's controlled performance, Army of Shaodows is a WW II French Resistance film - it takes you back to the world where freedom was the only reason to live and to die for. Both of these are recommended viewing.

Imdb link here

Look not what a man has done, but what he hopes to do.

The Infidel (2010)

Rating 4.25/5.0

Where 5 is a life changing Czechoslovakian film which also won an Oscar (they do get it right sometimes)! 

The first thing that strikes you about this film is that it released in the same year as Four Lions and although the story is very different, the similarities are quite encouraging. Films have the potential to stimulate thought amongst those who are too brainwashed with jargon to think on their own. We're all brainwashed, aren't we? We can hardly claim to have independent, impartial thought - influenced as we are by our surroundings and our teachers and the messages they have chosen to give us. 

The best way to provoke free thought amongst such an audience is to truly entertain and then stealthily inject the thought grenade - a good comedy with a dash of pathos does this really well. It sounds like a conspiracy but it really is all for a good cause.

I hope people come out after watching this film not only with a smile and spring in their step but also with a ticking thought bomb - something that may erupt some day to answer questions that no film, prophet or book can.

If that sounds too heavy then why not watch this just to laugh like a mad man. Maybe your subconscious will do the rest :-)

Imdb Link here

You're looking for something that does not, has not, will not, might not or must not exist ...... but you're always welcome to search for it.

Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

Rating 4.25/5.0
Where 5.0 is a stunning Humphrey Bogart film

Imdb's succinct plot description - A delusional young guy strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet. 

My poetic plot description -

One day in the midst of winters
Pink sweatered Lars goes bonkers
Living in a garage, lonely and sad
Lars orders a sex doll, and what's worse

What's worse? (chorus here please)

Lars think she's his one true girl!
The whole town is shaken and stirred
So they elect the doll to the local school board
And so the story goes, my friends and foes

There are two scenes in Lars and the Real Girl that make you fall in love with movies all over again. The first is the bowling alley scene with Margo and Lars - you can feel Lars' attraction for Margo and not a single word is said, its just shown by the way Lars looks at her and how he bowls badly in the beginning of the scene and how he tries really hard to bowl well at the end of it. How much thought would have gone into making this scene and how quickly would the audience miss it! The second scene is when Lars is talking to his brother Gus (wonderfully enacted by Paul Schneider)...here it goes (thanks to Imdb)


Lars: How'd you know? 
Gus: How'd I know what? 
Lars: That you were a man 
Gus: Ahhh. I couldn't tell ya. 
Lars: Was it... okay, was it sex? 
Gus: Um. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's uh, yeah, yeah it's kind of - it's uh - no. Well, it's kind of sex but it's not uh, you know? I don't know. I don't know. It's - uh - good question, good question. 
Lars: Yeah, but I have to know 
Gus: [dryer buzzes] Hold that thought. 
Gus: [in basement] You know, you should ask Dagmar 
Lars: I did ask Dagmar. And she said that I should ask you. 
Gus: Okay, you know I can only give you my opinion. 
Lars: That's what we want 
Gus: Well, it's not like you're one thing or the other, okay? There's still a kid inside but you grow up when you decide to do right, okay, and not what's right for you, what's right for everybody, even when it hurts. 
Lars: Okay, like what? 
Gus: Like, you know, like, you don't jerk people around, you know, and you don't cheat on your woman, and you take care of your family, you know, and you admit when you're wrong, or you try to, anyways. That's all I can think of, you know - it sound like it's easy and for some reason it's not.

Its true. That's when you know you're a man. Highly recommended but not for people who can't stand a slow, moody film.

Imdb link here

Royal O'Reilly Tenenbaum 1932-2001 Died Tragically Rescuing His Family From The Wreckage Of A Destroyed Sinking Battleship

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Rating 5.00/5.00
where 5 is a Bill Murray film I should've reviewed here...


People who read this blog (last count around 5) would've noticed that I seem to have a liking for nearly everything I watch or listen to - nearly every movie or album I review here has a 4+ rating and some kind words and golden wungu wungus. This is far from the truth. I watch a lot of movies/TV series and listen to a lot of music but I tend to write about only those which really make me pick up the pen so to say. My blog is not FIFO (first in first out) review site - it doesn't have reviews of everything that comes my way - it is a review site for music and films that excite me - and that's what it was meant to be from the very beginning.

The para above is to justify the fact that I have within a fortnight found two movies which deserve a 5/5 in my terribly tough, achingly objective and statistically enricofermish rating scale. The first was Four Lions (reviewed just before this) and the second one is this beautiful film. If you have a film with Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson writing the script together then you can assume the film is going to be perfect - here are three fantastic example of perfect moviemaking -

1. Bottle Rocket - in my top 10 of the best movies of all time. Frienship can't be captured better than this.

2. Rushmore - Jason Schwartzman started somewhere here I guess and look where he is now. Bill Murray is there too - Murray seems to be a Wes favorite - he's there in all his movies I think.

3. The Royal Tenenbaums

How can they write these films - what do they smoke - what did they sniff? This is magic!

And yes, Gene Hackman is a new man in my eyes today. What an actor!

IMDB link here

You just killed the special needs donkey!

Four Lions (2010)

Rating 5.00/5.00
where 5 is a film I thought of while watching this

I watched two movies this weekend.

The first one was Noah Baumbach's Margot at the wedding (2007) which was insightful, funny in parts and as expected from Baumbach - described a dysfunctional family's love and hate yo-yo. Good but not really something I want to write about - Baumbach made the Squid and the Whale and worked with Wes Anderson on Fantastic Mr. Fox so I expect a lot more from him and it was a bit of a let down.

The second film - Four Lions - stunned me - infact I kept staring at the screen long after it went blank! The film was outrageously funny - a brilliant mix of British dryness and Indian/Pakistani slapstick. 5 people, 1 crow and 1 sheep get blown to bits (also some other folks get shot and blown to bits too but that's just the story) - do the makers of the film expect you to shed a tear or "feel" for the misguided jihadis? No. They want to you to laugh and maybe think a bit. Isn't that wonderful?

Now to the thinking part - the film makes your jaded mind take a fresh look at the news! It has a real story to tell with a message to boot - but it never gets preachy or pedantic - it enlightens because it draws a very plausible scenario which you always knew could happen but chose to ignore. Nowadays, it is difficult to come across a film (dealing with a sensitive topic) which doesn't sound like somebody's propoganda - this film does that well.

A must watch brother!! :-)

Imdb link here

You think fish have dreams?

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009)

Rating 4.75/5.00
where 5 is a criminally ignored classic film noir

Getting drunk on Saturday evenings and beating my leg against something hard and stoic (a commode this time) is becoming a favorite hobby of mine. The pain which comes after that - swollen legs, pain spray heat and my aching old bones makes for a heady combination. I think my mind secretly enjoys this stuff - we all have a psychopathic subconscious but mine is becoming bolder by the day!

So when I watched this film on Sunday - I was in pain and coincidences don't come easy because this film is about people in pain. Now, don't let that deter you from watching this because that's just my "in pain" mind looking at it - there is a lot of other stuff to discover here.

This is fantastic film noir and I'm a fan of the genre - the crooked cop, the psycho villain, the noble prostitute, the drunk father, the iguanas, the crocs and the fishes :-)

And just an unnecessary note - I don't think this is Herzog's tribute to the film noir tradition. No one can give a tribute to Film Noir - the genre is so inspiring and rich that I'm sure every talented director harbours an ambition to make a Noir someday.
A special mention of the background score - its ominous, it is very unlike what you would expect to hear and it plays a very important part in making the film what it is.

Imdb link here

senti mat kar yaar

Sad Movie (2005)

Rating 4.0/5.0
where 5 is a movie which makes you hit the bottle with vengeance

I watched this 3 years back and I was dumbfounded. I was in a way a RomCom virgin - hadn't seen Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually or Bridget Jones Diary - I guess I was saving myself for Sad Movie :-) It made me cry! ME!!!

I watched it again today and it doesn't do that to me anymore. I attribute it to a happy marriage and a steady dosage of romantic comedies.

The only difference from the regular Hugh Grant/Colin Firth crap here is that this is SAD. Capital SAD. The director is a sadist. He creates lovable characters, ensures the script is replete with the tiniest of details to connect the right dots and then makes it tragic to the point that you feel like shooting him. The film is anyway so brilliant in terms of the script and the acting that he could've got an 8.5 on imdb by ending it happily - it is a 7.4 and hardly anyone knows about it while My Sassy Girl is being watched by the jersey cows of a DLF sellout farmer in haryana hinterland.

The cows are called Wellington and Princeton!!

Imdb link here

When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody’s help in any way.

Udaan (2010)
Rating 4.5/5.0
where 5 is an underrated, beautiful film


Two apt words to describe teenage years - cruel, unnecessary. When I look back, I can see utter confusion and bookish enlightenment circling in an endless maze, loneliness inter mingled with times of true companionship , longing and sadness - love and happiness doing their rounds like the school warden. Was it worth it? People say these are formative years - to me that's rationalising in hindsight. Its definitely not worth it. Its just that we're not aware of better alternatives.

Udaan is a film about growing up and its about one of the biggest mysteries in the world - adults forgetting how it was like to grow up! The director has a story to tell and he is very sure of how it needs to be told. The treatment reminds you of films like Half Nelson and Station Agent - long, silent shots where a lot is said with just movements and expression instead of stuffy dialogues. The acting is simply flawless - that's an amazing thing about this film - though nearly the entire cast is either new or lesser known - they have all done a fantastic job. And to add to that, the message is not lost in a sea of cliche. They have achieved the impossible as far as Indian cinema is concerned. A must watch!

Imdb link here

I'm Bill Murray, you're everybody else.

Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Rating 4.00/5.00
where 5 is a brilliant Vincent Gallo film

Michel Gondry made Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - an "art movie" starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. It was a wonderful film - a unique idea, good script and the chemistry that Carrey and Winslet shared on screen made it even more worthwhile (Gondry cast Jim Carrey in the role - I think that was a huge risk and he pulled it off). The best thing about the film though was this shot where Kate Winslet is sitting in a bus (or a train) - she's just sitting there looking ahead and I'm sitting in my tiny room in a poor third world country (that we're all so proud of) wearing boxer shorts and an old, torn vest.....looking at her. Stunned, mesmerised...reaching out for a pack of chips but statued midway. Goddess, that's what she is.

So with Be Kind Rewind, the first mistake that Gondry made was to not have Kate in the film. Forgive and forget, I said, and moved on past the casting. The film is unique (as expected) in its concept, its well acted, its funny and intelligent and dumb at the right places and the best thing about it is that it doesn't try to squeeze a tear out of your eye through the usual American route. Here's the story in a bad rhyme format -

Mos Def is an assistant at a VHS lending store
Jack Black is his friend and has theories which are a big bore
So one day Jack comes into the store all magnetised, I guess
and destroys (magnetises) all the movie tapes, putting Mos in a big turdy mess
So Mos and Jack, to avoid detection, start shooting movies people want to see
They do all the acting and make versions not more than 20 minutes long, c'est la vie
As expected, the "sweded" movies become a rage in the small town where they belong
Then the usual blah blah happens and overall all ends well, strike the gong! Strike the gong!

Good stuff I say. Watch it!

imdb link here
buy it here

Tazza: The High Rollers (2006)

Rating 3.75/5.0

where 5 is a classic korean ishtyle entertainer

At a time when terrible movies like Avatar become blockbusters and the likes of Scorcese and Nolan are hell bent on making mediocre films, Korean cinema is rapidly catching up not only from an artistic standpoint but also - and this is interesting - from a pure entertainment angle. Its interesting because when you consider foreign cinema, most countries claim to fame are movies that reach arty film festivals (Iranian cinema is a case in point) - and Hollywood takes up the mantle when it comes to producing entertainers. Not anymore it seems, our wonderful Korean friends are making slick, fast paced flicks which have an added attraction - a good script! Watch this one to know what I'm talking about.

Imdb link here
buy it here

You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

Inception (2010)

Rating 2.5/5

where 5 is a much better Nolan film

Born in London in 1970, Christopher Nolan began making films at the age of seven using his father's super 8mm camera and an assortment of male-action figures.

So Nolan has been making movies for 33 years now!!!

Scorcese was born in 1942. After serious deliberations about entering the priesthood - he entered a seminary in 1956 - Martin Scorsese opted to channel his passions into film. He graduated from NYU as a film major in 1964.

Scorcese has been making movies for atleast 48 years!

2010 will be remembered as the year when they both made duds! Shutter Island was a terrible Scorcese movie - because HE made it and Inception is a terrible Nolan movie - again because HE made it!!!

As far as concept goes, things are going well. First half is decent but what's up with the second half - what the fuck - people fighting in the snow (for some time I thought I was watching Where Eagles Dare and I was not in the mood for that shit), scene after scene after scene which did nothing to further the story or unravel the mystery (if any). Compare this with the Matrix...every scene had something to add, something to tell and something to hide. I'm not a Matrix fan but this film leaves me with no choice but to compare.

Nolan is young so I guess he'll make up for this piece of good looking junk....one day.

It is 9.2 here !!!!

Serpentine, Shel! Serpentine!

Terrible poster...si si

The In-Laws (1979)

Rating 4.50/5.00
Where 5 is a vewy funny muveee

Vince: Just go with the flow, Shel, just go with the flow.
Sheldon: What flow? There isn't any flow. 


That's untrue. This movie has a wonderful flow. Not steady, no not steady at all but wonderful...like a flood...a nice flood...a flood which erupts suddenly...like a volcano..maybe not like a volcano...like a dysentry struck 12 year old reading Faulkener..*^%#@@$#@#@$#&(*)

This movie is FUNNY. Yes it is.There are moments in the film where you will laugh aloud...%^&%#$#@!!!#@$#%^^$&^%*&^**&&^$%$#

I don't have any flow left. Alan Arkin is superb. The plot and the actors together make magic. Watch it.
Imdb Link here...

can't get over the poster thingy...terribull

You can resist beauty, but you can't resist charm.

Priceless (2006)

Rating 3.50/5.00
Where 5 is a french film you can't forget even if you tried

Romance!

Yesh. Girl wants to marry a rich guy so she wears small clothes and frequents big hotels and does the same things to attract and entice. Guy is a waiter who the girl mistakes for a rich guy, sleeps with him and then finds out about him. She goes off in a huff. He pursues her. This is the love story you've not been waiting for forever...but it is funny and entertaining, doesn't get down to American style slapstick and retains its charm throughout.... I like this movie but Audrey Tautou doesn't have nice ti
 
So if you're down right disgusted 
and life ain't worth a dime
find a girl
who is not so overbearing and correct as audrey tatou
                                                                     ~ inspired partly by Far Away Eyes (Rolling Stones)

French cinema has made overacting a succesful profession - Look at Roberto Benigni, look at Audrey Tautou...you let them do what they want to do and they'll seem like kids in a school play. Example -

• Roberto Benigini in his self directed Life is beautiful - what a terrible actor
• Roberto in Down by Law directed by Jim Jarasmuch....what a great actor.

Imdb link praising Audrey ji here

ts