'Triplets of Belleville' quietly steals the show
If it weren't unseemly to gush, this review would tell you flat out that Sylvain Chomet's "The Triplets of Belleville" is done with so much creativity and skill that it's among the best animated features ever made. Embracing superlatives, we'd say there's everlasting magic in Chomet's witty French-Canadian-Belgian union of cartoon minds, because "Triplets" takes the best of classic inspirations and transcends them, even more effectively than did Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away."
There'd be equal praise for the darkly involving story, which finds a clubfooted madame coaching her grandson to enter the Tour de France, unaware that kidnappers lie in wait at the race to smuggle him into slave labor. Conveyed in hand-drawn 2-D and 3-D animation, it's captivating enough that you'll hardly notice almost no words are spoken.
Though it's probably too European to snuggle up to most American youngsters, this film is so good that it would be right to tell you it's the one festival entry not to miss. Only it's unseemly to gush.
JANICE PAGE
Blanket coverage of Chaplin
Richard Schickel is nothing if not thorough. A film critic and author in addition to being a documentary director, he's delivered works that so exhaustively present their subject du jour (Samuel Fuller, D. W. Griffith), you feel you should get academic credit just for sitting through them. "Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin" is no exception, even if its subject can make the film appear more playful than it really is.
In this latest biography, the much-examined Chaplin comes alive through contemporary interviews, archival footage, and a trunkful of classic clips. It's narrated by Sydney Pollack, with commentary by everyone from Richard Attenborough to Bill Irwin. Most interesting are tales of Chaplin's on-camera brilliance and off-camera dysfunction (cue the womanizing and ego battles). This is everything you ever wanted to know about the Little Tramp, and then some.
J.P.
Growing pains in Germany
Amid all the talk about "Thirteen" and its comparisons to "Kids," you might not even notice "Big Girls Don't Cry." But that would be too bad, because Maria von Heland's delicious lesson in German teen cruelty is a good deal better and more credible than most of the dramatic renderings we see involving adolescents.
Though the plot may seem far-fetched, with one girl plotting nasty retributions against the unsuspecting daughter of her father's mistress, stranger things happen among cheerleading families in Texas. Von Heland's savvy screenplay and crisp direction elicits terrific performances from Karoline Herfurth (the psychopath) and Anna Maria Muhe (her best friend), who drive this film with the right combination of vulnerability and MTV sass.
J.P.
A firefighter's 9/11 memorial
Today, on the two-year anniversary of historic tragedies, Mike Lennon's "Brothers . . . on Holy Ground" is here to remind moviegoers that the cinematic record-keeping goes on.
Lennon, himself a retired New York City firefighter, has directed a documentary that stands in loving tribute not only to friends and former colleagues who were called into action for the last time on Sept. 11, 2001, in Manhattan, but to those who survived, and who still struggle with the guilt.
There's not a lot that's visually new in "Brothers"; it's full of news footage that has aired countless times. And Lennon creates something of an incompatible firehouse casserole in pairing intimate interviews and too-formal narrations. Still, it's a work from the heart, which is a welcome thing on any day.
J.P.
A long and messy breakup
It's called "19 Months," but you'll swear it goes on for years. This pseudo-documentary by writer-director Randall Cole is like the protracted breakup at its center: dumb and unconvincing.
The whole thing is based on a theory that romantic love has an expiration date of 19 months. By ending their coupling short of its shelf life, Rob (Benjamin Ratner) and Melanie (Angela Vint) hope to thwart heartache and help each other in a transition to new relationships. Guess how well that works.
Shot in such a lame mock-umentary way that Subway commercials look more real, "19 Months" couldn't be less involving. It is occasionally funny but, as anyone in a real relationship knows, sometimes sarcasm just isn't enough.
J.P.
The Triplets of Belleville
Directed by Sylvain Chomet
(France/Belgium/Canada)
Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin
Directed by Richard Schickel (USA)
Big Girls Don't Cry
Directed by Maria von Heland (Germany)
Brothers ... On Holy Ground
Directed by Mike Lennon (USA)
19 Months
Directed by Randall Cole (Canada)
