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Review: The City of Lost Children (1995) ★★½

<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">There is no denying that Terry Gilliam is a brilliant filmmaker&comma; and he is deserving of the veneration and even imitation of his peers&period; In Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro’s 1991 black comedy&comma; <em>Delicatessen<&sol;em>&comma; the style and dystopian setting pay homage to Gilliam&comma; but still manages to function well as a unique film all its own&period; It is funny&comma; dark&comma; disturbing&comma; baffling&comma; and a wonderfully surreal experience to watch&period; Similarly&comma; its spiritual successor&comma; <em>The City of Lost Children<&sol;em>&comma; though it strikes a somewhat lighter tone than its predecessor&comma; still succeeds in being disturbing&comma; baffling&comma; and surreal&period; The only problem is that&comma; while <em>Delicatessen<&sol;em> is a very entertaining film&comma; <em>The City of Lost Childre<&sol;em>n is dreadfully slow&comma; and not nearly as engrossing as it aspires to be&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><em>The City of Lost Children<&sol;em> is set in a dystopian city on the water&comma; wherein children live in fear of being exploited for profits or kidnapped by a group of militant cyborgs known as Cyclops&period; The cyborgs kidnap children and bring them to a mad scientist&comma; Krank &lpar;Daniel Emilfork&rpar;&comma; who resides in a nearby oil rig&comma; along with a functioning brain in a vat&comma; a dwarf named Martha &lpar;Mireille Mossé&rpar;&comma; and six identical clones &lpar;all played by Dominique Pinon&rpar;&period; Krank brings the children to his laboratory in order to steal their dreams&comma; as he is unable to have his own dreams&comma; which has caused him to age prematurely&period; One of the kidnapped children&comma; Denree &lpar;Joseph Lucien&rpar;&comma; is the defacto child of local strongman&comma; One &lpar;Ron Perlman&rpar;&period; Devastated by the loss of his closest friend&comma; One joins up with an orphan named Miette &lpar;Judith Vittet&rpar; to try to save Denree and the rest of the lost children&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Visually&comma; <em>The City of Lost Children<&sol;em> bears a strong resemblance to its predecessor&comma; insofar as the mise en scène is dark&comma; even depressing&comma; but nonetheless highly stylized and fantastic&period; The sets are perhaps the film’s crowning achievement&comma; creating a gloomy and unforgiving dystopia in which the characters face injustice or indifference at every turn&period; The characters themselves fit well in the environment&comma; almost like extensions of the crooked streets and harbor that looks like it was pulled straight from a surrealist painting&period; However&comma; their behavior is clownish to an extreme&comma; and while this was also generally the case in <em>Delicatessen<&sol;em>&comma; it felt more natural and justified in that particular narrative&period; In <em>The City of Lost Children<&sol;em>&comma; all of the characters feel like unsavory cartoons&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;1324" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-1324" style&equals;"width&colon; 850px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-1324" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;02&sol;197-1-300x165&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"850" height&equals;"469" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-1324" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The City of Lost Children &lpar;1995&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Though it is aesthetically impressive&comma; the narrative is rather erratic&comma; and not in a fun and whimsical way&period; One&comma; who serves as the film’s primary source of morality and goodness&comma; does not drive the narrative in any particular direction&semi; parts of the plot are poorly explained and leave the viewer to surmise certain points on their own&period; In some respects&comma; it is refreshing to have dystopian films that don’t over-explain things&comma; but in such a strange and inexplicable narrative world&comma; a few moments of exposition would have been welcome&period; This confusion is made worse by the fact that the plot meanders about without any rush to reach its conclusion&period; It seems as though the filmmakers put so much effort into visual extravagance that they forgot to pace the film in an effective or entertaining way&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Even if one can forgive the poor pacing&comma; filmmakers Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro have the uncanny ability to frame their actors in a way that makes them highly unappealing&period; Perhaps this is just an incidental side effect of the cinematography&comma; but&comma; incidental or not&comma; it gives one a certain queasy feeling that does not work in the film’s favor&period; Krank is particularly off-putting&comma; his veins bulging as he spits vitriol at his subordinates&comma; but it also holds true for virtually all of the characters&period; This was particularly disappointing&comma; as I found myself cringing every few minutes&comma; hardly able to look at these bizarre figures bounding through dismal streets and attaching themselves to frightening laboratory equipment&period; In a film that prides itself on exceptional photography&comma; it is antithetical to make spectators want to look away&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">While it is a shame that such a visually unique film disappoints in so many respects&comma; <em>The City of Lost Children<&sol;em> is still worth watching&comma; particularly for those interested in surrealist cinema&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Rating&colon; <&sol;span><span class&equals;"s2">&starf;&starf;<&sol;span><span class&equals;"s1">&half; out of 5<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><em>The City of Lost Children<&sol;em> is available to rent or purchase via Amazon <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B000MQ787U&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B000MQ787U&amp&semi;linkId&equals;c946e3e4f0247f45fae1994c70a5af3e">here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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