Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “Amelie” is an offbeat look into the life of the titular character, Amelie Poulain, and those around her. Played by Audrey Tautou, Poulain grows up disconnected from her contemporaries, confined to a life dictated by the quirks of her parents. She carries this loneliness into adulthood and is often conflicted between the comfort of solitude and the desire for connectedness.
The film’s beauty, however, is found in the director’s ability to find eccentric humor in an otherwise sullen subject matter. The film never feels dark or cynical. Rather, it embraces the oddities that underlie surface level observation. At times, the film feels a bit slow, especially when juxtaposed with the typical American film. But in between the short term excitement of the brilliant humor is an impactful story about confronting the fear of rejection and connecting with the rest of the world. Stylistically, the film is a bit abstract, but it taps into a very real and common aspect of the human experience. So if you’re feeling weird or lonely, or maybe you just want to laugh and think, you’re not alone. Watch “Amelie.” You’ll be glad you did.
I’m a little confused. While the review is ok, why review a 14-year-old movie at all? Is this part of a “great movies you have never seen series” or something like that that did not translate into Web form well? How is this news or relevant? This feels a bit like someone who saw something cool in Dr. Aust’s film class and decided to run a review about it.