Well, it's fast approaching the end of the year. We all know what that means'best movies of the year lists! Here's the thing, though: I don't know what the best movies of the year are. I live in Madison, Wis.; I barely have a chance to see the successful movies, let alone the best ones. Those are probably just now hitting the art houses of New York to squeak in Oscar contentions.
So, I'll tell you about one of my favorite movies of the year, instead. \Le Fabuleux destin d'Am??lie Poulain,"" or ""Am??lie"" as it's called here, is wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful. Wonderful all around. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, famous for ""Delicatessen"" and ""The City of Lost Children,"" has created another movie that earns those exclamation-point-laden adjectives, ""stunning,"" ""lovely,"" ""surreal"" and ""beautiful."" And, ""wonderful.""
The elfish Audrey Tautou plays Am??lie, a country girl who moves to Paris. Once there, she sneaks unobserved into the private lives of those around her. She videotapes moments of happy accident and the minor miracles of life for an elderly housebound painter. She changes the speed dial numbers on the phone of a cruel grocer. She sets her father's garden gnome free to travel around the world. Mischievous and generous at once, Am??lie finds protection in her anonymity, only to become trapped by it when she falls in love. Too afraid to give up her protection, Am??lie sets up elaborate schemes to bring her crush close, while still keeping him safely unaware.
Jeunet is a visual craftsman, mixing special effects normally held in the science fiction genre with this quirky love story. We see Am??lie's paintings and lamp come to life while she sleeps. Passport photos argue with each other over how pretty Am??lie is. It's all shot beautifully and sumptuously.
Not to say that this is some kind of frilly, European coffee-commercial world. It has its porn shops, its wild sex in a caf?? bathroom making the glasses hop toward the edge of their shelves. It's not a frilly world, but even these aspects of it are lovely and funny.
There's a liberating experimentation to ""Am??lie"" that you don't see in many American movies. I guess ""Mulholland Drive,"" ""Hedwig and the Angry Inch"" and ""Moulin Rouge"" all took certain visual and storytelling risks. That's why, if I were to make a list of the best movies of the year, they would all join ""Am??lie"" on it. But ""Am??lie"" takes another risk'it doesn't take itself so seriously. It views the world as lighthearted and fun, the way only children's movies tend to get away with. In fact, ""Am??lie"" is kind of like ""Matilda"" all grown up.
Will ""Am??lie"" turn out to be the best movie of the year? I don't know. It's hard to compare it to a film like ""Mulholland Drive."" ""Am??lie"" certainly isn't as intellectually engaging, but it is as much, if not more, entertaining. And the year's not up. I'm keeping my hopes up for both ""Ali"" and ""The Lord of the Rings."" Then, there's ""The Royal Tenenbaums."" Can't count my chickens before they're hatched'or something like that. All I know is that I'm going to see ""Am??lie"" many more times before it leaves Westgate Cinemas, 340 Westgate Mall. It's wonderful.
If you see ""Am??lie"" and like it, try ""Delicatessen"" or ""The City of Lost Children"" or even ""Matilda,"" if you enjoy children's movies. The one to definitely see is Wong Kar-Wai's ""Chungking Express"" for another mischievous, elfish, prankster girl in love.
