The City of Lost Children
by Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Briac Barthelemy, Geneviève Brunet, Guillaume Billod-Morel, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Marc CaroDirector: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro
Brand: PERLMAN,RON
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
Published: 1999-10-01
DVD Release Date: 1999-10-19
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Anamorphic; Black & White; Color; Dolby; DVD; Full Screen; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC
Movie Reviews of The City of Lost Children
Movie Review: La Cité des enfants perdus
Summary: 5 Stars
A frightened child sits helplessly in his crib while numerous, ghastly Santa Clauses invade his home, through the chimney of course. This then segues into the maniacal and senseless screams of six identical men and one seriously demented senior citizen. Only the slaps from an angry, albeit caring, female midget can bring them back to their senses. This is no flashy introduction meant to grab the attention of the viewer; much of the film is just as surreal and inventive.
The City of Lost Children is a French film released in 1995. CoLC is a film noir which takes place in a fictional Victorian era port city in France. While this film is a bit confusing, and certainly bizarre, the viewer will find himself emerged in a richly detailed fantasy with endearing characters and a thought provoking story line. The complexity of the film in fact makes repeated viewings more rewarding. Also to the film's credit are its many endearing and original characters.
We are introduced early on, to Krank, an evil-genius who kidnaps children and uses an anachronistic device to monitor and enter into the children's dreams. Irvin, a brain submerged in an aquarium, informs the viewer that his motive for doing this is because he cannot dream, and thus he is growing old at a highly expedited rate.
In another burst of events One, a circus strongman, finds his boss murdered. Before he can even properly mourn his dead, he finds his `little brother,' Denree, kidnapped by the Cyclopes, a quasi-religious cult that is napping the children for the evil genius. The Cyclopes, though blind, have been granted artificial sight from Opticons, another of the fantastical mechanical devices found in the film. He finds some unexpected help from Miette, a young, street-smart girl from a local orphanage. Although more realistically minded than One, a man many years her senior, Miette can't help but feel sorry for him after hearing his story and decides to join him, even tough doing so means leaving the orphanage and angering the Octopus, a pair of Siamese twins that run the orphanage, adding yet another enemy to the duo's list.
All this is a shock to the senses and can be a bit too much for the first time viewer. CoLC is a rare experience in lieu of the by-the-book filmmaking that makes up the film industry today. Therefore, when the unexpecting viewer mentally assaulted by these images, it is expected that he will emerge with mixed emotions. This is certainly how I felt when I first experienced it. The images, though, stuck with me and I knew I had to buy the DVD and watch it again. The cinematography is undoubtedly breathtaking. A gritty urban setting is the stage for most of the film's events. Other aesthetic locations are the inside of the Scientist's laboratory and the cloud covered night Sea that our heroes must traverse in a rowboat to reach it. The CG special effects are also nice to look at and are used sparingly and in unconventional and inventive ways.
The movie has a bit of a controversial aspect in the fact that ultimately the movie is about the love that develops between the two mismatched characters, the little girl and the strongman. While their relationship is certainly platonic and mostly alluded to, the ambiguity of the film can lead to less innocent interpretations. Of course within the zany context of the film it barely seems out of place. Other plotlines involve the interrelations of a trio of sinister organizations - the genius and his underlings who need the children, the Cyclops who are kidnapping them for him, and the orphanage that forces children to steal for them.
The film is filled with the fascinating, yet fictional, Victorian inventions that are ubiquitous in Steampunk: clockwork, steam, and analog devices. Besides the aforementioned Optacons, other inventions include: mirror security cameras, sound amplifiers, cloning tubes, scuba gear, and many others.
The music is a beautiful and original classical suite of music composed by Angelo Badalamenti. The score perfectly fits the dark and rarely cheerful world of the film.
CoLC is the brainchild of French directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, whose work also include the experimental film, Delicatessen. Jeunet has since moved on to direct the international hit Amelie. The two started work together on short films, cartoons, and advertisements after meeting at a film festival in 1974. They perhaps worked well together due to a shared dark outlook that is signature to their films. After the relative success of Delicatessen, the two were able to make CoLC, the masterpiece that they had wanted to make for some time. Sadly, these films were the only two feature length films the two produced as a team. They did however work together to a lesser extent on Jeunet's Hollywood film, Alien: Resurrection. Their teamwork is reminiscent of that of another pair of experimental filmmakers - Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.
CoLC is available on DVD with three language tracks and subtitles. Also included is a commentary by Jeunet and Ron Perlman, trailer, and some concept art. The film is rated R but for little reason. There is not really any nudity of profanity. The occasional violence is mostly responsible. Certainly appropriate for children, although they doubtfully would understand it.
Summary of The City of Lost Children
One of the most unique and visually stunning films in years, The City of Lost Children concerns a malevolent scientist who attempts to unlock the mystery of dreaming. To this end, he kidnaps young children and studies them as they sleep. From Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of Amelie and Alien: Resurrection.The fantastic visions of Belgian filmmakers Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet find full fruition in this fairy tale for adults. Evoking utopias and dystopias from Brazil to Peter Pan, Caro and Jeunet create a vivid but menacing fantasy city in a perpetually twilight world. In this rough port town lives circus strongman One (Ron Perlman), who wanders the alleys and waterfront dives looking for his baby brother, snatched from him by a mysterious gang preying upon the children of the town. Rising from the harbor is an enigmatic castle where lives the evil scientist Krank (Daniel Emilfork), who has lost the ability to dream and robs the nocturnal visions of the children he kidnaps, but receives only mad nightmares from the lonely cherubs. Other wild characters include the Fagin-like Octopus--Siamese twin sisters who control a small gang of runaways-turned-thieves--Krank's six cloned henchmen (all played by the memorable Dominique Pinon from Delicatessen), and a giant brain floating in an aquarium (voiced by Jean-Louis Trintignant). Caro and Jeunet are kindred souls to Terry Gilliam (who is a vocal fan), creating imaginative flights of fancy built of equal parts delight and dread, which seem to be painted on the screen in rich, dreamy colors. --Sean Axmaker
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