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Talk of Great Things

I figured I should touch upon some of the wonderful films I have seen while in France, during the Annecy Film Festival.

A wonderful french film was featured, entitled Tous a L'Ouest: Un Aventure de Lucky Luke. (To the West! An Lucky Luke Adventure). It was funny and engaging, with plenty of slapstick humor and a storyline both children and adults could appreciate. Set in America during the early 1900's, it revolves truly around four brothers in crime, and their attempt to swindle and overcome the lackadaisical cowboy, Lucky Luke fastest draw in all of the U.S. I wasn't so impressed with the film, although I did enjoy it. I felt there was an exceeding amount of 3-D models used for things like cars and wagons and horses. This wouldn't have been such a problem for me if they hadn't firstly stuck out like a sore thumb in the 2-d world, and if ALSO they were different colored models that perhaps weren't synchronized with each other. I mean, come on people, its not hard to mess up the timing so everything doesnt look robotic! All in all I gave the movie a C, though I know I'll get kicked for it.

I also got to see the beautiful Nocturna, which is a film I have been simply itching to see. Unfortunately, I scheduled myself , unwittingly, to see the French version of this films and it had no subtitles. I was however, able to use my rudimentary french to understand the most of it. I also believe the clear visuals helped me to understand exactly how each character felt, and the acting was wonderful. The visionary world of Nocturna is dark and wonderful, and I was in love with it, even if the story was perhaps not the deepest out there. Honestly folks, though, I can appreciate simple storylines, and why shouldn't I? I felt much more attached to this feature than any I had seen, and I give it a B+, A-.

Though I regret not seeing it, the winner of feature film at Annecy was Die Drei Rauber. I have heard wonderful things about this film, and I intend to see it. It apparently is off of the folk tale, the three robbers. This film I have been told is hysterical for all its upbeat kooky-ness, and also a touching film at that. It centers around a young girl who is "abducted" by three robbers, who end up becoming closely like family to her, and take care of her. I believe it ends up that the four of them attempt to free orphans from the awful clutches of some terrible lady at an orphanage... That's really long winded and all I know. Anyway- Three Cheers for DIE DREI RAUBER winning the feature crystal. <3>