When/If you post a comment (and I hope you will!), be sure to put in a URL --- even if you just use mine (http://alan.batie.org/) --- if you don't, your email address will get put in as a link on your name, and you'll suddenly find yourself on Spam Central. Not my doing, I promise you! They scan websites for embedded email addresses. You've been warned --- I really don't wish spam on anyone (well, ok, maybe the spammers themselves)!
Finally, if you want to be notified when I post the this blog, signup on the lemmings mailing list.
After the Gaydar shorts, Merci Docteur Rey (IMDB) was the tenth film in my list. The film festival guide describes it as "a whimsical homage to film and celebrity, and a plot reminiscent of Agatha Christie at her best", and I missed the "whimsical" part and was expecting more of a mystery story. That is there, but it's very funny as well. It got a rather bad review by someone on the IMDB, but I think they were taking it way too seriously.
Elisabeth (Dianne Wiest) is an opera diva and mother to Thomas (a very cute Stanislas Merhar). He's closeted and doing personal ads, without much success, but one older gentleman talks him into a voyeuristic scenario where he doesn't have to do anything but watch from a closet. Watch he does, as the older gentleman (Simon Callow) is stabbed to death right in front of the closet door (the kind with horizontal, angled, slats so you can see through). The rest of the movie is Thomas' attempt to find the murderer as he goes from one misadventure to another with various revelations and plot twists keeping us both interested and in stitches. I have to give this an 8, but I think it's the best feature so far in the festival.
Posted by abatie at October 17, 2003 02:08 AM