Overlooked Movie Marathon 2: Amelie (2001)

I don’t have a wide range of foreign films that I’ve seen.  Foreign film is kind of a blind spot in my movie watching.  I don’t see too many films that aren’t American, but that’s something that has lessened over the past few years.  I’ve been seeking out some films from other countries every once in a while.  Other times, I’ve stumbled upon them through podcasts and through this marathon.  The second to last and last films are both foreign.  This post is about the second to last, a French film called Amelie.

Amelie is a 2001 romantic comedy of sorts directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.  Audrey Tautou stars as Amelie, a quirky girl looking for love while also pushing it away.  There is a wide cast of characters that I think it is difficult to get into.  They include her friends, family, and acquaintances.  The movie is about Amelie falling in love with a man who likes to collect unwanted photo booth pictures, but emotionally distancing herself from the man.  That description might be slightly off, but I can’t figure out a better way to describe it.

If you’ve seen Amelie, you know that the first thing I need to talk about is the style of the movie.  Between the look and the attitude of the movie, this is an experience.  The look and feel is what hooks the viewer into the movie at the outset, and it is what brings all of the characters into play.  As each character appeared in the movie, a little piece of their background was presented, as well as their likes and dislikes.  I don’t usually see this in movies, and I found it to be an interesting way to be introduced to the characters.  Knowing more about the characters helps to give a little bit more of a relatable aspect to the entire situation.  As a viewer, you could imagine someone like that existing.  Perhaps you know someone like the people being described.  Perhaps you are like the people being described.  Even in the heightened nature of the film, it’s easy to see some reality in each of the characters from the way they are introduced at the beginning of the film.  They stylistic way in which all of this information was shown really helped to get my attention and pull me into the movie.

Something that I didn’t notice too much was the score.  That’s not a knock on the film.  At what point in this marathon have I actually written about the score of a movie?  I don’t think I have at all.  I don’t usually notice the score of a movie on my first viewing.  That’s my own issue, not a problem with any of the movies.  I spend my first viewing paying attention to the story, acting, and what I see, rather than the music playing in the background.  I’m pretty sure that Amelie has a good score.  I just can’t be sure because I wasn’t focused on it at all.  So to anybody who is out there thinking along the lines of “Does this guy like the scores in any of the movies he watches?” I will say yes.  I do enjoy scores of movies.  But unless the score is at the forefront of a movie, I won’t usually notice it on an initial watch.  So that’s why I don’t typically write about scores.

Getting back to the character work in Amelie, the acting is spot on for each and every role.  I don’t think there was a role in the movie that I found poorly acted.  They were all exactly what they needed to be.  I can’t find a weak spot in the entire cast.  It makes me wonder why I don’t find more French films to watch.  The acting in this, as well as the previous Jeunet film I watched, Delicatessen, is near perfect.  Jeunet knows how to fill the roles in his films to the highest potential, and he knows how to get that potential out of his actors and onto the screen.  He’s easily becoming one of my favourite foreign directors.  Between the stylistic choices that he makes for his films, and the acting that I get to watch, I’m falling in love with his work.  I want to see more of what he does.

I really liked Amelie.  I’m not sure if I love the movie the way that other people do, but I would gladly watch it again and fall in love with it.  The unexpected nature of how I watched it kept me slightly distanced.  Knowing what to expect is something that could get the movie to grow on me the more I watch it.  I liked Amelie a lot.  I will probably grow to love it as more time goes by.

The next, and final film of the second annual Overlooked Movie Marathon is City of God.  It’s another foreign film, except it’s from an entirely different place.  I don’t know what it is.  I only know that I’ve heard good things, and I’ve been meaning to watch it for a while now.  That while is longer than the time that this marathon has been going.  I’ve meant to watch it for a few years now.  I’m looking forward to watching it tomorrow.  I’ll also have the post for it up tomorrow, since tomorrow is the final day of September.