Good post.

I think the chalk and mandrake root were unneccesary but I prefer to think of it as an allegory and not a fantasy, this makes me enjoy it more. I think, flawed or not, it's a very good, original film about a girl that retreats into a fantasy world when she plays no purpose in the real world.

You're bang on about movie snobbery and foreign cinema. I had been apprehensive about seeing PL on the basis of the hype it received at the Oscars, I thought it may have been a half-hearted atempt to get behind a foreign language film that might not have been up to the standard of other, better films, foreign or not. I was happy to be proved wrong.

But yes, world cinema gets more praise than it deserves and Hollywood gets a rough time. France produces as much rubbish (Baise Moi) as it does masterpieces (La Haine) and so does America. If someone doesn't go and see 'Birth' because it's got Nicole Kidman in it (and I know a few), then it's their loss.

Posted By: tim berry, Jul 11, 20:20:21