Ugly Frenchmen in Film

[baavgai]

They're advertising a new animated movie type thing called Arthur and the Invisibles, though currently IMDB only lists it as Arthur et les Minimoys. I noted the writer/director was Luc Besson, who definitely looks like the uncle who should not be minding the children.

I then noticed that Besson is responsible for at least two movies I really like. One is The Fifth Element, which makes sense, keeping with the fantasy genre of the first movie. The other is The Professional, aka Leon, which is a different movie entirely.

The Professional is exceptional; violent, artistic, quirky, sympathetic. The lead, Leon, is played by
Jean Reno, who I recently noted to someone was the ugliest leading man in Hollywood. Reno is also brilliant, always fun to watch, even the bit parts he usually get's in the big stuff, e.g. Mission: Impossible.

Might have to see Arthur :p

Comments

[baavgai.livejournal.com]

Just watched Leon again. Unfortunately, not as good as I recalled. I'd somehow totally blocked out the heavy Lolita vibe. Still, worth watching.

Seeing it now, you can see other things it's influenced. The little girl is Natalie Portman, which is amusing in it's own right. The actor playing the big bad guy (Gary Oldman) also played the big bad guy in The Fifth Element.

[tashadandelion.livejournal.com]

Just discovering Besson, eh? Lucky you... you have a bunch of good stuff ahead of you, sounds like. Ironically, I *stopped* liking his stuff when he made The Fifth Element. Everything before that very.much.rocks. He made Reno famous, pretty much. His first full-lengther is a post-apocalyptic called Le Dernier Combat, and Reno has a major role in that. No real dialogue in the movie (which is part of the plot) and yet it's still fascinating and nail-biting and poignant. Also, Le Metro is wonderful (Chris Lambert with spikey white-blond hair, Isabelle Adjani, timeless beauty), as is The Big Blue (which is in English). La Femme Nikita -- you've probably seen that or at least heard of it. Lots of fun. Anyway, he used to be my favorite director, but I feel like Hollywood half-destroyed his quirky auteurship -- at least, they took the "French" out of it.

[baavgai.livejournal.com]

No so much discovering as making connections. I don't honestly know if I'd hunt down a Besson flick like I would, say, Kurosawa or Terry Gilliam. Still, maybe now I'll consider hunting around a little.

I was shocked to find that Jean Reno is actually "Don Juan Moreno Errere y Rimenes", a Spanish national. Always thought of him as horribly French, even when he's not supposed to be.