The City of Lost Children Forum

Welcome to Weird: City Of Lost Children

Topic started by No_name_here on Sept. 1, 2011. Last post by IronRinn 1 year, 8 months ago.
Post by No_name_here (105 posts) See mini bio
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And he wonders why he scares children.
And he wonders why he scares children.

Dogging on France is easy (and fun!) but any proper cinephile ought to be grateful for how it’s a place where art’s in so high regard that an utterly strange flick like City of Lost Children can be made with such an impressive bankroll behind it. A lot of times, cash and vision have to be inversely proportioned on a budget sheet. Look at this flick, though, and you won't see any moment where its reach exceeds its grasp. Its scenery looks real, not like a too-clean back-lot set or a seamed matte painting, and its on-screen illusions come from a time when CG effects got enough time to be rendered in a way that would be timeless.

For as many directors there are who draw a direct conceptual line to the films of the silent, German expressionist era, I can think of no other modern picture that could be more seamlessly programmed into a bill with Robert Wiene or F.W. Murnau’s work. So many movies aspire for lucid surrealism, but few feel like a true dreamscape travelogue like this does.

See for yourself...

Doesn't tell you much about the plot, does it? Remember when trailers didn't spell everything out? I'll fill you in the details, and stop me if it doesn’t sound like the record of some nightmare…

The tacit strongman known as One (Ron Perlman, long before Hellboy) is searching for his little brother, Denree. A cabal of cyborg cyclopes have kidnapped the boy by the bidding of Krank, a rapidly-aging mad scientist who’s long lost the ability to dream. Krank’s having children brought to his island fortress to steal their dreams and reverse his condition. Problem is, the man’s such a scary creep, he only ever gets nightmares out of these kids, and those things simply aren't going to help him. However, when One crosses paths with Miette, a streetwise orphan, he may have found the ally to help him bring down this wretched old man's reign of terror.

Somewhere throughout all that, we run into dwarves, cloned quintuplets, a talking brain in a jar and a whole gang of the most sinister Santas you’ll find outside of the South Pole.

It's like Descartes' famous brain in a jar... in a music cabinet.
It's like Descartes' famous brain in a jar... in a music cabinet.

It isn’t constructive to want a director to stick to one particular genre or, worse yet, to make the same movie over and over. However, I can’t help but see this as a film that Jean-Pierre Jeunet could only ever make at this very precise transitional point in his career. It was his last collaboration with Marc Caro and I find it comparable to Sam Raimi on Army of Darkness, Wes Anderson on Rushmore or Alex Proyas on Dark City. Jeunet got hired to do Alien Resurrection because of this, and the extra clout he earned allowed him to make Amelie, Micmacs and A Very Long Engagement--films that all had traces of this dark quirkiness, but within sunnier heightened realities instead of an all-encompassing industrial nightmare. And that’s fine (lord knows Amelie had far more crossover appeal than this,) but it's still a little wistful for me that we’re unlikely to ever see this kind of wonderfully-dark vision on screen again.

And “on screen” is perhaps what should most emphasized there. You hear a lot about “visionary directors” today whose work is supposedly like seeing comics in motion. Next to the Fifth Element from a year later, of course, this is the one original flick that unequivocally feels like something you could only otherwise see in a French comics album painted by the likes of Moebius or Juan Gimenez. Incidentally, comics are regarded with much higher esteem in France, too.

Putting aside the old jokes about Jerry Lewis and frog legs, maybe there is something preferable there?

The girl's the more adult of the two, would you believe.
The girl's the more adult of the two, would you believe.

Check out some previous "Weirdies" below...

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by Funky_Pasta_Tommy (140 posts) See mini bio
Online Now
I read that first line as "Dogging in France is easy" and thought "blimey, must give it a visit!"
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by BenX02 (32 posts) See mini bio
It is weird that you guys post this now. 
 
I just went to screening of this last night at school. 
 
A weird movie indeed.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by Mento (98 posts) See mini bio

City of Lost Children is a lot of fun. I prefer it to Delicatessen, but the two movies are so closely related in style that they really work best in tandem. It's why the Jeunet/Caro double feature DVD boxset is such a great purchase. It even comes with a really grim, claustrophobic short film the two made.

People - perhaps fairly - deride Alien: Resurrection, but it somehow becomes more watchable after seeing those two movies. You get a better sense of where the distracting weirdness is coming from.

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by smithz2 (23 posts) See mini bio

I used to work at a video store when I was 13 and I just remember thinking how weird the picture was on the box. It really creeped me out so I never watched it, maybe I will give it a try.

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by TheDuder (66 posts) See mini bio

I love Juenet, with the exception of Alien Res, but its nice to see a feature on City of Lost Children!

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by dezvous (92 posts) See mini bio

It's hard to go wrong with Jeanne-Pierre. City of Lost Children is really cool.

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by LoktarOgar (41 posts) See mini bio
More than a few scenes with Perlman and the little girl were kiiiiinda creepy.
 She was really cute though, almost in a way that would make me creep myself out.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by Aetheldod (241 posts) See mini bio

Jeunet and Terry Gilliam are the only 2 directors that is really easy to discern that they made a film because of visuals/story/quirkiness , too bad there aren´t more film directores like these 2 ... oh yes City is really cool and all but it is not Jeunet´s best piece , Delicatessen is much better , but have in mind a not so awesome film by Jeunet is still a 1000 times better than most films (except Alien Res which is ok but not great either compared to other Alien flicks)

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by Kyodra (10 posts) See mini bio

They made a video game based on this movie for PS1, I remember it being very bizarre. Didn't know it was based on a film until now, I should check this out.

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by vinsanityv22 (375 posts) See mini bio
"Dogging on France is easy (and fun!) but any proper cinephile ought to be grateful for how it’s a place where art’s in so high regard..."
 
Don't forget true video game fans, Mr.Pinchuk. Not the sh*theads who are married to their Xbox Live Headset, and only seem to play used copies of COD and Madden every year. But the real gamers, who support creative, memorable titles like Kya: Dark Lineage, Rayman 2: the Great Escape, or Beyond Good and Evil. Heck even Red Steel 2 and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon are made in France. Ubi Soft has some of their best studios there, and they're one of the biggest names in the industry. Anyone who dogs on other countries is an idiot; probably a NASCAR watching, Beer-drinking, Brown people hatin', Blue Collar Comedy loving, un-PC, delusional, walking piece of offensive language.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by TheCheese33 (109 posts) See mini bio

I had no idea Ron Perlman was in all these critically acclaimed foreign films until recently. First I saw him in Cronos, and now I see that he's in this? What an awesome actor! Too bad he's stuck doing shit like "Season of the Witch" now.

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by MrPink (586 posts) See mini bio

Don't think I heard of this one. If I did, long forgotten, so its good to see something in this category which is more or less new to me. Sounds interesting.

France may have a higher regard for comics, movies, wine, food, and sex, but....wait, all I can come up with is I have my freedom. Ha!

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by Jeffmoocow (156 posts) See mini bio

I really like what I've seen from Jeunet so far so I can't wait to check this out.

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by Nicked (49 posts) See mini bio

This movie's R rating totally baffles me. I watched it about a year ago and from what I remember it was pretty PG. I say that because I don't think you get this kind of imagination in kids movies these days. Everything's based on an old IP or its characters are anthropomorphic creatures. I'm not saying that those movies are bad, but I get bummed out that there's hardly any live action stuff for kids anymore. My 8-12 year old self probably would have loved this movie as much as I do today.

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by PatVB (3,546 posts) See mini bio
Moderator

@Kyodra: Oh, God, that sounds terrible. What kind of game was it?

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by GiveUpNed (200 posts) See mini bio

Thanks so much for this article series. I have seen most of the films on the list, but some (like Bubba Ho-Tep) fall through the cracks. City of Lost Children is another missing film. I'm acquiring it now and looking forward to viewing it.

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by Ronald (323 posts) See mini bio

@TheCheese33 said:

I had no idea Ron Perlman was in all these critically acclaimed foreign films until recently. First I saw him in Cronos, and now I see that he's in this? What an awesome actor! Too bad he's stuck doing shit like "Season of the Witch" now.

He seemed to use those roles to get in each director's bigger budgeted American movie, Alien Resurrection and Hellboy.

And he also has Sons of Anarchy, so he's not fully in only terrible Nicolas Cage movie territory yet.

Posted 1 year, 8 months ago
Post by IronRinn (34 posts) See mini bio

I agree, Tom, it wouldn't be fair to keep Jeunet in the same place to make the same movies repeatedly but, all the same, I wish he and Caro were still working together. He was not a good fit for the Alien franchise and — I'm sure I'm in the minority here — I really couldn't stand the saccharine sentimentality of Amelie, something that Caro seemed to balance out. I sort of gave up on him after those two, though Micmacs looks interesting. He also keeps giving Dominique Pinon work, though, which can only be a good thing.

@Mento I may have to import that boxed set, if only for The Bunker of the Last Gunshots.

Edited 1 year, 8 months ago
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General Information Edit
Name The City of Lost Children
US Release Dec. 15, 1995
UK Release Sept. 1, 1995
AUS Release Dec. 21, 1995
Runtime 112
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French
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Adventure
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Rating R
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  • In today's dollars
    Domestic $1,738,611
  • = total worldwide gross $1,738,611
  • - a reported budget of $18,000,000
  • = a -90.3% net profit of $-16,261,389
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