Sui generis French animator Sylvain Chomet (THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE/’03; THE ILLUSIONIST/’10) has just released his first animated feature in 15 years, A MAGNIFICENT LIFE, a bio-pic on French writer/filmmaker Marcel Pagnol (not seen here). Which begs the question; what’s he been up to between his hand-drawn projects? Here’s part of the answer, this wondrous live-action fable that to a remarkable degree carries the same sensibility as his animated fare, giving off the sort of personalized charm, delight, darkness & touching whimsy you can’t fake without seeming coy & saccharine. (It’s what Tim Burton and Wes Anderson so often miss achieving.) Chomet also unafraid of bold color, bad taste & sentiment when that's what's called for. Guillaume Gouix is the wide-eyed Paul Marcel, orphaned son of Attila & Anita, ‘Apache’ dancers who died in front of the toddler. Since then, he’s not spoken, and been raised by his two spinster aunts, dance teachers whose classes he accompanies. But his piano skills go to virtuoso level. If only he could breakthru before hitting the competition cut off age of 33. He’s got a wide local rooting section, but is most indebted to his secret sessions with Mme Proust, a neighbor who serves madeleines and hallucinatory tea so he can dream back to toddler POV memories of his parents. The best ones appearing in his mind as full blown musical ‘Numbos’ with catchy tunes and gorgeous looks (settings & performers). Special stuff here.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Make your own olde time movie show by starting with an early Chomet animated short, THE OLD LADY AND THE PIGEONS/’97. Looking a bit like George Booth New Yorker drawings, this free link has French subtitles for the opening (and closing) ‘Ugly’ American tourists. Elsewise it’s all but dialogue free and best experienced without explanation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0PioYGdLI4
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