The Triplets of Belleville review

 Number 455 on the top 1000 films of all time is the French animated adventure comedy-drama 'The Triplets of Belleville.'

Champion (Michel Robin) is a little boy who dreams of being a cyclist. Growing up he realises his dream by riding in the Tour De France. However, he and two other cyclists are kidnapped by the French mob. His grandmother Madame Souza (Monica Viegas) and her dog Bruno resolve to rescue them. They are helped by the eponymous Triplets of Belleville - former music hall singers.

I've been working through this list for longer than I care to remember. Every so often, I've come across an animated film that has really surprised me with its uniqueness. You had the incredible stop-motion Mary and Max, as well as the beautiful 2-D animated Persepolis. Now you have the wholly special Triplets of Belleville. I haven't seen anything like it. Considering I've watched over 700 of the film on this list, that is really saying something.

Similarly to Persepolis, the Triplets of Belleville utilises a simple 2-D style to tell an unchanging story. It's all complete nonsense obviously, yet I was more than willing to suspend my disbelief. I could totally see the plot happening in the weird steampunk-esque universe they created.

The animation style paid homage to the Jazz era initially, as well as the Post WW2 era. It evoked a grimy, industrial but also timeless feel. This film could be set in the thirties, the fifties or in its own little universe.

The animation also allowed for plenty of absurdity and therefore offbeat humour like Madame Souza and the Triplets of Belleville taking on a whole room of French gangsters with nothing but a frying pan. Yet it also had plenty of scares too like when we find out what happens tot he kidnapped cyclists if they displease the mob.

The most unique aspects of the Triplets of Belleville was how the story was told through minimal dialogue. Pantomime and music were used instead. This betrays the confidence of director Sylvain Chomet and his animation team. This confidence was not misplaced, as it allowed for some brilliant visual story-telling. There was no script full of cheesy one-liners and corny speeches, but striking imagery and memorable music. The Triplets of Belleville sung the film's most famous song Belleville Rendeyvous, which was Oscar-nominated.

I would definitely recommend watching The Triplets of Belleville. I can guarantee it won't be like anything you've seen before.

Amour review

 Number 450 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Michael Haneke's French psychological drama 'Amour.'

Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) Laurent are former music teachers and elderly couple in Paris. When Anne suffers a stroke that leaves her unable to take care of herself, Georges dutifully accepts the role of carer. However, the stress of the work becomes too much for the both of them.

Upon directing this film, Michael Haneke constantly reminded his cast to avoid over-sentimentality at all costs. This is what stopped the film from being a cheesy love story. Instead it was an utter devastating tragedy. Like Georges, I worked as a carer, so I saw first-hand how this stress can impact a couple's relationship.

I can attest there was nothing corny or overly-romanticised in Amour. We saw the authentic side of caring in all its brutal detail. We also saw the pour of amour - French for love - nowhere was this more present than in the relationship between Georges and Anne. Amour was the perfect title for the film - if you are taking care of a loved one, you need nothing less than love itself. And to allow somebody to take care of you, you need to trust and love somebody implicitly. It was obvious Georges and Anne loved each other unconditionally.

This was obvious from Trintigant's and Riva's excellent characterisations. Anne was obviously in an awful situation. Nobody ever wants to suffer like she does, but despite being in a pitiful situation, she wasn't a pitiable character. Riva played her with the utmost humanity. Despite being in a sorry situation, she never surrenders her humanity. Not once. It was this brilliant portrayal that saw her win the BAFTA and Caesar award as well as receiving an Oscar nod.

Trintignant was equally good as Georges. As Anne's carer, the stress quickly takes its toll - his position is almost as bad as his wife's. Yet similarly to Anne - although we feel sorry for Georges, Georges is not a sorry character. He remains faithful to his wife all the way up the shock ending that I didn't see coming. Just like Riva, Trintignant also won the Caesar award for his portrayal of Georges.

Amour was a powerful but tragic film which depicted one of the hardest parts of life with the utmost humanity. And if my praise wasn't enough, it also won the Best International Film Oscar. Well-deserved.

The Chorus review

 Number 415 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2004 German-French-Swiss musical drama 'The Chorus.'

Clement Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot) is a failed musician and teacher starting at the notorious Fond de l'etang French boarding school for delinquent boys. Once there, he is shocked by the headmaster Rachin's (Francois Berleand) tyrannical methods. To instil some discipline and morale, Mathieu decides to turn the delinquent boys into a choir.

If you look past the predictability and cliche, this was an enjoyable enough film.  It's a film that has been done many times before - arguably better too - especially in Dead Poet's Society. Jugnot was no Robin Williams, but he was certainly charming enough as the bumbling, but well-intentioned teacher turned choirmaster. And Rachin was no nurse Ratched but he made for a slimy and scary villain.

Yet it was difficult to look past the cliche. Mathieu is trying to desperately reach his students, so he turns them into a choir. Without too much arguing they quickly and fall into line. I found this all a bit too convenient. I understand the boys do need to agree to be part of the choir for the film to work, but it's difficult to believe they wouldn't have resisted this idea more at first.

The boys themselves were more underdeveloped in comparison to the adult characters. You had Pierre Morhange (Jean-Baptiste Maunier) who despite being one of the best singers is very badly behaved because of a vague troubled homelife, Pepinot (Maxence Perrin) forever waiting for parents who will never come and the hot-headed Mondian (Gregory Gatignol) whose side purpose is to create conflict rather than being a fully-formed character. Most of the boys felt like rough stretches than proper characters.

The film also felt directionless. I couldn't see the end goal for Mathieu's choir. This wasn't like the Blues Brothers when they were trying to stop their childhood orphanage from being closed down. I thought Mathieu would enter the boys in a singing competition or use them to secure more funding, but other than a showing for an investor, there was little else at stake.

The Chorus was certainly an entertaining film, but only entertaining. It was too predictable to be anything more.

A Prophet review

 Number 389 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2009 French prison-drama 'A Prophet.'

Malik El Djebena (Tahir Rahim) is a French-Algerian petty criminal who is sentenced to six years in jail. Naive and alone, he soon falls under the sway of the ruling Corsican gang led by Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup.) At first Luciani and the others look at him as nothing less than an annoying bug, but Djebena soon rises to the top of the prison hierarchy.

A Prophet was a brutal and unflinching look into French prisons. I always say that you can't shy away from difficult subject matter like this - you either have to go hard or go home and A Prophet definitely goes hard. It's no surprise that it was nominated for the Best International Film Oscar. While it ultimately lost to the the Secret in their Eyes, it won the equivalent Bafta, the Best Film Cesar as well as further awards at Cannes. In many ways it reminded me of the equally brutal Midnight Express.

Sure, you can argue that petty criminal Malik El Djebena isn't the most likable of protagonists - he's in prison for a reason and once there he commits further crimes like murdering the other inmates, but Tahir Rahim moulded him into a very interesting character. In some ways, he is reminiscent of Michael Corleone from the Godfather films - he begins the film as an outsider to the criminal world, but finishes as its uncontested king. 

Tahir Rahim has the same acting talent as Al Pacino, as he won the Cesar award for Best Actor. Rahim took Djebena on a fascinating arc from a teenage boy haunted by his past crimes, including murder, to the kingpin of the prison.

Every bit his equal was Niels Arestrup as Cesar Luciani - the hitherto king of the criminal underworld. He strongly reminded me of actor Brian Cox bringing the same level of grounded intensity. Luciani was an unpredictable character - in a second he can go to sharing a joke with you to digging a spoon into your eye, as Djebena found out first hand - it was this unpredictability that made him so frightening. Arestrup helped to keep this villain scary without turning him into a cartoon.

If I were to criticise this film for anything it would be its title of "A prophet." Sure Djebena does demonstrate some prophetic tendencies like helping to avert the car he's in from crashing into a deer, this doesn't happen until midway through the film. This idea of him being a prophet didn't seem relevant enough to justify titling the film, but this is a minor criticism.

A Prophet was an uncomfortable but thrilling movie with great performances from its lead actors. Also, can we just talk about how interesting the Corsican language is? A language, similar to the Tuscan-dialect of Italian, being spoken on a French island? Amazing.

Breathless review

 Number 358 on the top 1000 films of all time is Jean-Luc Goddard's French crime-drama film 'Breathless.'

Michel (Jean-Paul Bermondo) is a petty-crook who after stealing a car and killing a policeman in Marseille hides out in Paris where he quickly starts up a relationship with American exchange-student Patricia (Jean Seberg.) In love with her, he tries convincing her to run away with him, but she has other ideas.

Breathless received much fanfare for its visual style which was pioneered by none other than by leader of the French New Wave movement - Jean-Luc Goddard. When it came to editing down the film rather than cutting whole scenes, Goddard instead cut out parts of the scenes themselves employing what has come to be known as jump cuts. Watch any Youtube video from the 2010's and you'll understand what I mean. Reportedly, Goddard improvised most of the film writing most of the dialogue in a journal that only he was allowed to see. As for the actors, he told them the dialogue while filming. It was all very experimental.

Was it an experiment that worked? In my opinion, no. Unless the experiment was to see whether Goddard could make the most boring film known to man. Mother-in-heaven I have seen 3 or 4 - hour long films that have more life than this 90-minute snooze fest. At least Ben-Hur had the exciting chariot race and things actually happen in Gone with the Wind. Granted, not the best things but things nonetheless.

Very little happens in Breathless. The film starts interestingly enough with Michel killing the police officer, but the narrative tension screeches to a halt when he reaches Paris. Goddard then mostly treats us to thrilling scenes of Michel and Patricia arguing in a smoky Parisian bedroom. Fascinating...not. Nothing was happening and there was a sense that nothing was going to happen. It was all so boring.

It didn't help that Michel wasn't a likeable character. Yes, he is a petty crook, thief and cop-killer, but he isn't even interesting to watch. Patrick Bateman in American Psycho is a freaking serial killer, but I was actually interested in reading about him. I had no interest at all about following Michel's journey.

And I had no interest in this film either. 358th on the 1000 best films of all time? More like 358th on the 1000 most boring films of all time.

Three Colours: Blue review

 Number 336 on the top 1000 films of all time is Kryzstof Kieslowski's first installment of his French Three Colours trilogy: Blue.

Julie (Juliette Binoche) has just survived a car crash. Her daughter and famous composer husband did not. Shutting down from the world, she tries to close herself off to everything, but her past life continues to intrude into the present.

As is the nature of this list, I often watch film trilogies out of order. Here I watched the final film 'Red' first. Luckily, these three films are only linked thematically and not narratively. Each film in this trilogy corresponds with a colour of the French flag - in this case, blue. This film also explores the theme of 'libertie' or freedom.

As much as Julie tries freeing herself from her past, it always finds a way to resurface. She was a tragic character. And Binoche made her both believable and likeable. Kieslowski used her a way to explore the theme of grief. Shutting down as Julie does is an all too common response to this severe trauma. Yet she has constant reminders of the past to having a stranger trying to return her daughter's necklace to her having a relationship with her late husband's best friend. Together, they try to complete her husband's final symphony.

The colour blue was also factored into the film's cinematography with many of the scenes having a distinctive blue filter achieved by placing a filtered gel over the lens. This is another motif that carried over to the other films. It made the film look so nice on-screen, as well as really dialling into Julie's grief.

Three Colours: Blue was a good film with a unique colour aesthetic which really helped it to explore the theme of grief.

Persepolis review

 Number 301 on the top 1000 films of all time is the French 2007 adult-animated, coming-of-age, biographical drama Persepolis.

Persepolis was directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud. Satrapi also wrote the film adapting it from her autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. It tells the story of Marjane (Chiara Mastroianni) a young woman growing up in the midst of the Iranian revolution. To escape the horrors, her family reluctantly send her to a French lycee in Austria, but after struggling to fit in and going through much trouble and strife, Marjane grows homesick and returns to her parents in Iran.

Ever since I started doing the challenge of watching the top 1000 films of all time, I've had the opportunity to watch some of the most amazing films that I never would have had the chance to have done otherwise. If it wasn't for this list, then I never would have heard of Persepolis, but thank God I did, because it was a great film.

Firstly, it looked beautiful on-screen. The animation was gorgeous. Granted, it was only simple two-dimensional drawings, but this was completely intentional. Satrapi requested that the animations were kept as simple and as traditional as possible, so as not to date the film. To that end, she also deliberately chose to have the film rendered in black-and-white. This all had the effect of giving the visuals a gentle beauty. Everything was subtle and understated. There was nothing to distract you from the story.

Just like the animation, the story was simple, but no less masterful. If you strip away the horrors of the Iranian revolution, we have a basic coming-of-age story. One where Marjane, who like everybody else, is looking for acceptance and meaning. In this sense Persepolis was a microcosm of real life. In a case of the grass being greener, Marjane reluctantly leaves her home for a new life in Europe, only to realise that her fantasies don't match up to reality.

On a more macro level, Persepolis also showcased the horrors of the Iranian revolution in stark and brutal detail. The horrors that the regime committed were laid bare for everybody to see. Nothing was dressed-up or exaggerated. Everything was real. The voice performances and the animation all added to this powerful presentation.

I thoroughly enjoyed Persepolis. It was a relatable story told and presented with basic, but gorgeous animation. Yes, it was simplistic, but simplicity is not always a bad thing, as Persepolis proved in spades.

Paris, je t'aime

 Number 618 on the top 1000 films of all time is the anthology film 'Paris je T'aime.'

Paris, je t'aime is a collection of eighteen short films all set in Paris and exploring the theme of love. Each film has its own director and cast. Directors include the Coen Brothers, Alfonso Cuaron and Gerald Depardieu. Some cast members include Maggie Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Steve Buscemi, Rufus Sewell and Emily Mortimer.

In a film containing eighteen short films, it is inevitable that some would be better than others and that was certainly the case here. However, it didn't always come down to overall quality, but ]how some of the films were structured. Some of them were full stories with a beginning, middle and the end. Others just seemed to have a beginning. They left me asking "is that it?"

The obvious example is director Gurinda Chadha's short film: Quais de Seine where a young man befriends a Muslim woman. The short film centres on the beginning of their friendship and that's where it ends. Obviously, it is only a short film, but I think it could have explored their relationship further.

The same could be said for Le Marais where a Frenchman speaks candidly to a new colleague believing he has found a kindred spirit. This story could have used a bit more foundation to have been truly effective. It had a good middle and ending, but the beginning needed more work.

Out of the eighteen films, I have three favourites: Tuileres by the Coen Brothers which starred Steve Buscemi as an American tourist who breaks the cardinal rule of never looking at somebody on the Paris Metro. It had all the trademark surrealism and humour that we would expect to see from the Coen Brothers. Secondly, there was Alfonso Cuaron's one-take Parc Monceau focussing on the relationship between an older man (Nick Nolte) and younger woman Ludivine Sagnier which was topped off with a clever twist, and the emotionally powerful Place Des Victories where a young mother comes to terms with her son's death.

The nature of an anthology film means that it allows different directors to interpret the theme of love in so many different ways. This led to some truly creative and kooky ideas. No more so than with Quartier de la Madeline which saw Elijah Wood falling in love with a vampire. It was a wonderful exercise in creativity.

Overall, Paris Je T'aime is an entertaining if uneven collection of stories set in the city of love.

Ne Le dis a personne (Tell no one) review

 Number 753 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2006 French adaptation of Harlan Coben's thriller of the same name.

Dr Alexandre Beck (Francois Cluzet) is a paediatrician in Paris who is slowly recovering from the murder of his wife eight years prior. However, when he discovers that his wife might actually be alive, he is hurtled into a dangerous and mysterious world.

This is the second adaptation of Harlan Coben's work that I have seen after Netflix's Safe. The two both have a doctor protagonist investigating the disappearance of a loved on. Both adaptations are incredibly complicated I wonder if it's fair to describe Coben as one of those crime writers who's too clever for their own good.

Don't get me wrong - I did enjoy Ne le dis a personne, as much as I understood it. And I'm not just talking about the fast-spoken French, but the complicated plot line that often took precedence over the characters especially the female characters.

Beck has a number of different women in his life from his sister to his sister-in-law to his lawyer, but they all blended into one with no distinguishable features. I also found it unlikely that a middle-class doctor like Beck would have an unexpected friend/ally in the local gangster Bruno who feels indebted to Beck after he treated his haemophiliac son. Whenever Beck is in trouble Bruno is the deux ex machina come to save the day. Honour among thieves, I guess?

I think I just about understood everything by the end of this fast-paced crime thriller. Perhaps convoluted, overly-complicated plots is just the nature of the genre and I best get used to it.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly review

 Number 264 on the top 1000 films of all time is the French biographical drama: 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.'

Based on the true story, TDBATB tells the story of Jean-Dominique "Jean-Do" Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) the editor of Elle magazine. After a stroke leaves him with locked-in syndrome, he is forced to adapt to a whole new way of living.

TDBATB is based on the story that the real-life Jean-Do wrote while he was in locked-in syndrome, all through a letter chart, a pain-stakingly slow system of blinking and a very helpful assistant. It is a tragic story, but also an inspirational one.

The movie adaptation does the story justice. Director Julian Schnabel did brilliantly to make us feel the shame and humiliation that Jean-Do felt during his ordeal. He goes from being a healthy forty-two-year-old to not even be able to wash himself without assistance. It is a pitiful existence, yet we have a lot of empathy for Jean-Do.

This was partly because the first third of the film is told entirely from his POV, accompanied by his cynical narration. The audience are figuring things out the same time as him. This intimate, even claustrophobic perspective put us firmly in Jean-Do's shoes. Even if we didn't want to, we were forced to experience how awful his life had become.  

The rest of the film is told more conventionally leading it to lose its unique perspective. I understand that a first-person POV might have been difficult to sustain throughout the whole film, but its intimacy is what made it so powerful. We weren't looking at Jean-do through an external lens with an external bias, but through his own eyes, hearing his thoughts, his feelings and his voice.

Considering Mathieu Amalric had little to act with, but his voice, he did well in making Jean-Do, a sympathetic, yet powerful character. And his character was never reduced to a joke or a cruel cartoon.

In many ways, the film is a deep introspection into Jean-Do's life, as he reflects on his successes, many failures and different relationships. The most notable of these is his relationship with his ageing father, Mr Bauby SR, played masterfully by Max Von Sydow. His father is very much a mirror-image of his son. Whereas his son is trapped in his own body, Mr Bauby is trapped on the top floor of his apartment building, too scared to use the many steps. Sydow was brilliant in the part, and their relationship was very moving.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a brilliant introspective into not only locked-in-syndrome, but also the human condition. Even with locked-in-syndrome, Jean-Do is a still a human who deserves our love and respect. Sometimes that is something we forget.

La Haine review

 Number 220 on the top 1000 films of all time is the French social thriller 'La Haine.' (The Hatred)

Vinz (Vincent Cassel,) Hubert (Hubert Kounde) and Said (Said Taghamaoui) are three friends and second-generation immigrants living in Paris. The day after a riot, where one of their friends is brutally beaten, we see the three young men navigating life in the ghettoes of Paris.

Part immigrant experience, part gritty drama, part slice-of life, La Haine was an illuminating look into working-class life within Paris. It was a far cry from the romanticised Paris that we see on social media. It was raw, gritty and stark. There were no frills - just an authentic portrayal of life in Paris. It strongly reminded me of similar dramas set in London like Kidulthood or Top Boy.

Those dramas have no pretensions; they don't impart any judgement on their characters. Instead, they give you the facts and allow you to decide for yourself. And that's what the best film makers do. They leave their biases behind and leave matters in the hands of the audience.

You could argue that Vinz, Hubert and Said aren't the most likeable of characters. They're destructive miscreants causing trouble wherever they go, but they're not meant to be liked. They aren't heroes. They aren't villains. They just are. We're forced to see the world through their eyes and nothing more. We have no choice.

What made La Haine so powerful was its realism. Everything felt so real. I was right there with the characters walking through the dark streets of Paris. And that was only made better through the excellent decision of rendering the film in monochrome. The stark black-and-white only made the action all the more poignant. There are no distracting colours to hide behind. 

Watching La Haine was a hell of a ride. It was intense and it didn't let up for a second. But it had a brilliant authenticity that carried things along very smoothly. For those who are thinking Paris is like the way you see in Amelie, think again. La Haine presents the oh so painful, but also necessary truth.

Three Colours: Red review

 Number 222 on the top 1000 films of all time is the French final part of the 'Three Colours trilogy: Red.'

Valentine Dussaut (Irene Jacob) is an aspiring model who accidentally runs over Rita - a German Alsatian belonging to an old, bitter ex-judge Joseph Kern (Jean-Louis Trintignant.) When Valentine tries explaining, Joseph couldn't care less, but it is revealed that he whiles away his time eavesdropping on people's phone conversations. One of these people is Valentine's neighbour Auguste (Jena-Pierre Lorit,) a trainee lawyer.

This is another film trilogy that I'm writing out of order, as is often the nature of this list. I enjoyed Three Colours: Red much more than I thought I would. I thought it would be a pseudo-intellectual arthouse film, but it was actually very interesting and thought-provoking.

Joseph Kern was an instantly engrossing character. Misanthropes are not the most original of characters, but they are engaging. He posed lots of interesting questions that I wanted answering. Why was he so callous? So lonely? Why was he listening into these conversation? And what can these conversations tell us about the human condition? That behind closed doors, the facade drops and we're not as nice as we like to think we are? Jean-Louis brought this man to life and stopped him from being a cliche.

Irene Jacob was also very good as Valentine Dussaut. In many ways, she is the audience proxy. As she is simultaneously intrigued and repulsed by Joseph's actions, so are the audience. The only character I was unsure about was Auguste whose storyline wasn't really given a chance to shine. He felt like he should have been a main character, but he was portrayed as a subplot.

Nonetheless, this was still a very interesting film. Now, I just have to go back and watch the first two parts of this trilogy.

La Vie En Rose review

 Number 603 on the top 1000 films of all time is the musical biopic La Vie En Rose.

This French film tells the story of famed singer Edith Piaf, otherwise known as the Little Sparrow. Marion Cotillard stars as Piaf. From her impoverished childhood to her untimely death, we see the rise and fall of France's national chanteuse. 

I didn't like this film. It wasn't just that the subject matter didn't interest me - I am neither French nor a baby boomer so Edith Piaf has never been something that's high on my music list. Call me a culturally ignorant millennial, but c'est comme ca. I didn't like the way the story was told. It seemed random, chaotic and very incohesive. Like many other films it is told in a non-linear fashion and regularly plays around in time. 

It opens up on Edith as an adult and then cuts to her childhood and then to her as an adolescent, but whereas with other films there is a logic to this time-jumping, I failed to see any logic here. It was like the film-makers had realised at the last minute they had forgotten something important and stuffed it in anywhere they could. For example, near the end of the film we find out she has a child who died from Meningitis. We find this out in a flashback, but why was something of this magnitude not revealed until so late in the film? Not to mention all the numerous flash-forwards where we see Edith's ailing health.

And I certainly don't mean to diminish Marion Cotillard's performance. She won the Best Actress Oscar for this role - just one of six actors to win the award for a non-English speaking role - and she was good as Piaf. We bore witness to the many trials and tribulations of Piaf's life and Cotillard took us through her emotions well. And I think she embodied the character well. Reportedly she shrunk her already petite 5"6 frame to reach Piaf's diminutive 4"11 role. And I do remember reading somewhere that she worked with a dialect coach to capture Piaf's speaking voice as best as she could, although all the singing was dubbed by French singer Jil Aigrot.

Maybe this film would have been better suited to a lover of classic French music and not a philistine like me, but c'est la vie. Non, je ne regrette rien. 

Papillon review

 Number 275 on the top 1000 films of all time is the historical drama epic prison film 'Papillon.'

Henri 'Papillon' Charierre (Steve Mcqueen) is a famed safecracker who is sent to prison after being wrongly convicted for the murder of a pimp. He is sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal system of French Guiana in a supposedly inescapable prison. Within the prison, he meets famed counterfeiter Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman) and the two become fast friends as they scheme to escape the prison together.

This was the 350th film that I have watched since I've started slogging through this list. And I've come to the conclusion that two hours is my cut off point. If a film is over two hours there has to be a very good reason. The Godfather, the Green Mile and Braveheart are all notable exceptions, but then you get films like the Last of the Mohicans, Gone with the Wind or, indeed, Papillon that just go on and on and on. You think you've reached the ending, but then there's another ending and another and another. This isn't to say that they are necessarily bad films, but they're all much longer than they need to be. Papillon is no exception to this rule.

Similarly to the Last of the Mohicans, it was very bloated. There was a lot of slow-motion and grandiose music that made the film half an hour longer than it needed to be. And then we come to the various endings. We see Papillon, Degas and orderly Maturette (Robert Deman) escape the prison and wash up on Honduras. We could have ended the film there, but then we see Papillon being taken in by a native tribe, in probably one of the slowest portions of the film, before being recaptured and taken back to the prison. 

Again, it could have ended there, but Papillon is moved to the remote Devil's island where he re-unites with Degas who has since lost his marbles. Papillon then tries another escape attempt by diving into the sea. We could have ended things here, but we get a voiceover telling us that he survives and finally the film ends. These constants endings really killed the tension. It would have been nice if things were left up to the viewer, but any ambiguity was completely dispelled. 

Also the sound mixing wasn't very good either. There were multiple scenes especially when Papillon and Degas are being brought by boat to the prison, where it was difficult to hear the characters speaking over the sound of the waves. I'm sure I missed many important details there.

The film wasn't all bad though. Steve McQueen was great as the formidable Papillon. He is sent there after coming to Degas' aid by attacking a guard. Degas returns the favour by sneaking him food in solitary confinement and Papillon never gives up his friend. Papillon almost loses his mind in solitary as the guards starve him and leave him in darkness. It is difficult to believe that anybody could survive torture like that. And the scene where we see a prisoner being guillotined, as a warning, was disturbing to watch.

It is a shame about the bloating and the slow motion and the multiple endings, because it did have the potential to be a great film. 

The 400 Blows review

 Number 174 on the top 1000 films of all time is Francois Chauffert's 1959 coming of age drama 'The 400 Blows.'

Antoine Daniel (Jean-Pierre Lenard) is a school boy growing up in Paris. Plagued by behavioural problems, he acts up in schools and causes trouble at home.

The 400 Blows is considered to be one of the best French films of all time, but I am at a loss to why. Partly based on Chauffert's own troubled childhood, The 400 Blows did remind me of Ingrid Bergman's work. Granted it wasn't as nearly as abstract or surreal, but the same themes of introspection and a misunderstood character rebelling against a tyrannical system were present. 

Now I have no problem with character-driven films that study characters in depth. But for these to work, the characters in question have to be interesting and empathetic. Antoine Daniel was neither of these. He is barely even a rebel. Stealing type writers and writing on school walls hardly makes him a rebel without a cause. On that note Rebel Without a Cause explores similar themes and does it so much more effectively, mainly because of James Dean's brilliant performance. I really believed the alienation and isolation he was feeling.

Not so with Jean-Pierre Lenard. I just didn't care about him. Later on, upon trying to return the typewriter, he is arrested. His despairing parents send him to a psychiatric institution where it's revealed that he was an illegitimate child born to a mother that didn't want him. While this goes some way to explaining his behaviour, I think it came too late in the film. I had just stopped caring at this point. Plus Antoine reveals how his mother would shout at him, but I saw little evidence of this. Rather, his parents seemed to resort to bribes to control his behaviour as opposed to violence.

Honestly, I thought Antoine was just another poxy little kid causing trouble for the sake of it and the 400 Blows was a pale imitation of its far superior predecessors.

My top ten films of all time

 In 2015, I embarked on the challenge of watching the top 1000 films of all time. Six years later, I am sadly only 307 films into my quest, but I've watched enough to films to form my top ten list.

Most of these films I've only watched because of this list, but one or two of my all-time favourites have also slipped in. Apart from my number one film, which I'll save until last, this list is in no particular order.

The top ten list

City of God (2002)

One thing that I've loved about this challenge is that I've been able to witness the best that World Cinema has to offer. And City of God is undoubtedly the best. It tells the unflinching story of two boys growing up in the drug-fuelled favelas of Rio De Janerio. It is a brutal and painfully realistic look of how drugs can destroy somebody's life. Expect a roller-coaster that doesn't slow up for a minute.

Old Boy (2003)

Another classic of World Cinema. This Korean film is a revenge thriller focussing on Dae-su Oh who seeks vengeance on the man who locked him up for fifteen years. Brimming with gorgeous Korean proverbs, this film will keep you guessing all the way to the shock ending which is one of the biggest twists in movie history.

Rang De Basanti (2006)

We've come to the realm of Indian cinema. 3 Idiots was a close second but Rang De Basanti edges it for the sheer power of its narrative. Following the story of a British film maker who is producing a documentary about early leaders of Indian independence, this film will have you laughing, crying and everything in between. Sure there are a lot of musical numbers, but what else can you expect from Indian cinema?

The Hunt (2002)

Onto an absolutely fantastic Danish film. Lukas (Mads Mikkleson) is a school teacher falsely accused of sexually abusing one of his students. A witch-hunt ensues and the whole town turns against him. In a film where truth and lies merge into one, you'll be on the edge of your seat. This outstanding film blew me away.

Full Metal Jacket (1987) 

Forget The Deer Hunter or Apocalypse Now, Stanley Kubrick blew every other war film out the water with his brutal portrayal of the Vietnam War. Full Metal Jacket left me in absolute awe. From Vincent D'Onofrio to Lee R Ermey to Adam Baldwin, this film is littered with acting talent. Some might say that the film is unbalanced and mismatched, but I think the two halves compliment each other beautifully. A must-see.

Her (2013)

Finally we're onto a film with slightly more happy subject matter. I say slightly as Her will still be tugging at your heart strings. Rom-coms aren't my thing which is why Her surprised me so much. Subverting the genre with a science-fiction twist, Her tells the story of lonely divorcee Theodore Thwombly (Joaquin Phoenix) who falls in love with an operating system voiced by Scarlett Johanson. With much to say about the importance of human connection, Her  is a very underrated film.

Three and Out (2008)

Speaking of underrated, we come to the Indie British black comedy Three and Out. Panned by audiences and critics alike, I must be the only person in the world who would put Three and Out, on a top ten list, but I am. Paul Callow is a train driver/writer who wants nothing more than to leave the hustle-bustle of London and write on an island. When he runs two people over with his train, his colleagues tell him that if he runs over a third person, TFL will pay him off with ten years wages. Ensue hilarity and heartbreak as Paul tries to find his third victim. Mackenzie Crook, Colm Meaney, Imelda Staunton and Gemma Arteton all turn in winning performances. But perhaps this film is an acquired taste.

The Full Monty (1997)

I have never officially reviewed this film as I watched it long before I started this challenge. However, it remains one of my favourite films ever. Having won the Bafta for the best film in 1997, this movie was adored by many. We follow a bunch of former steel workers and layabouts becoming strippers in the hopes of improving their lives. While the premise might sound spurious, the execution is anything but. The Full Monty tackles themes like masculinity, father-son relationships and suicide in powerful ways. Tom Wilkinson and Mark Addy are great in supporting roles, but can we all agree that Robert Carlyle is one of the best actors that Scotland has ever produced?

Snatch (2000)

Out of all these films, Snatch is the one film I could watch over and over again. A fantastic crime-caper, Snatch will have you laughing in the aisles. We see two interlinking narratives: one follows boxing promoter Turkish (Jason Statham) as he navigates the criminal underworld, but we also see every gangster in London trying to get their hands on a rare diamond. Snatch is one of the most quotable films ever with brad Pitt offering his most unlike-Brad Pitt performance ever, as the Gypsy bareknuckle boxer Mickey O'Neil. Bloody hell, does he do that Irish accent well?

The Godfather (1970)

Finally, we have reached my number one film of all time. What can I say about this film which hasn't been said already? Everybody knows Nino Rota's magnificent score, they know Marlon Brando as mafia don Vito Corleone, his son Michael as his reluctant protege, played by Al Pacino. This film reignited Hollywood's fascination with the mafia. At three hours long it is paced brilliantly with every shot pushing forward the narrative. It is not just the best gangster movie of all time, but the best film of all time. After all, it was the subject of my ten-thousand word dissertation. Let's just not talk about the Godfather part three.

Honourable Mentions

I've watched too many great films to not include at least a few honourable mentions. These are all great films in their own right, but not quite good enough to scratch the top ten.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Originally RFAD was in my top ten but I demoted it because it's too upsetting to watch again. Amazing for sure, but too heartbreaking for repeat viewings. Charting the self-destruction of four drug addicts in New York, RFAD is the best anti-drug PSA you'll ever see with a killer theme tune and fast-paced editing. Watching this film gave me the best high but with an absolutely awful come down.

The Princess Bride (1987)

This subversion of the traditional fairy-tale still stands up even after thirty years. with so many quotable scenes and iconic characters, the Princess Bride will have you rolling in the aisles and reaching for the tissues. Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright, Andre the Giant...the amazing cast goes on and on. And who can forget one of the most quoted film lines ever: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Mary and Max (2009) 

This Australian stop-motion, claymation dramatic comedy absolutely blew me away. I've never heard of it before, but it was simply fantastic. I've never seen anything like it before or since. Following the unlikely relationship of the two titular characters, this film is pure arthouse. If you're looking for something completely different, a movie with offbeat humour, a unique visual style and the most haunting rendition of Que Sera Sera, Mary and Max is the film for you.

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

I watched this film once many years ago and it was too upsetting to watch again, hence why there is no review. I've grown up on Studio Ghibli, so one of their films had to make an appearance on this list.  Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro were also in the mix, but Grave of the Fireflies is undoubtedly the best. Set in the twilight days of WW2 Japan, we watch a teenage boy and his little sister desperately try to survive the war. When you watch this, make sure you have the tissue box handy.

Untouchable (2011)

This French feel-good comedy drama rounds off my list nicely. I rewatched it the other day and it was still as magical as ever. Following the story of quadraplegic billionare Philippe and his unconventional carer Driss, this film holds a special place in my heart because of my own work as a carer. The anti-climactic ending is the only thing that stops it from going on my top ten.

So there we have it. My top ten films with a few HMs. But with 693 films left to watch, this list is far from being set in stone. Watch this space.