Scribbles

After a long day, I decided to relax and continue with my French training.  What better way to do that than to catch a French flick?  I popped in The City of Lost Children (La Cité des Enfants Perdus), not really knowing what to expect.  Afterwards, I’m still uncertain what to make of it.  I would categorize it as a horror fantasy adventure.  Despite the name, it is definitely not for children, because the horror and violence will give them nightmares.  The movie stars Ron Perlman, our oafish hero who speaks in incomplete phrases.  Hey, it’s not everyday you get to see Perlman play his thug roles (think Blade 2, Hellboy) en francais.  Accompanied by a young orphan girl, he sets out to rescue his little brother from a mad scientist who kidnaps children to perform horrible experiments on them.  The visuals were stunning, from the costumes to the settings, and presented and captured with some fabulous angles.  All of this happens in a dark fantasy world.  What really stood out was the young actress who played the main sidekick, whose charisma and acting absolutely captivated me.  You just know it when you see those truly gifted child actors, and she was definitely right up there.  It was a film that was foreign in every sense, something that made me uncomfortable yet stretched the imagination.