I can't believe the tone of the external reviews linked to this entry...these guys didn't get this film at all!!! What in god's name did the bozos expect from a film adapted from a novel in French by an author of obvious Eastern European descent?
"Julian Po" is a fable, folks, about life and death and all the states in between. It's funny and sad and bewildering and tragicomic in the way good European fiction can be and even good American fiction rarely is. It's beautifully cast with people from some of my favorite TV series, from "West Wing" to "Homicide" to "Remember WENN" and from some damn good films such as "Fargo" and "Kill Bill". It also has Christian Slater's best performance since "Heathers" and manages to be "quirky" in a way different from those generic indie films that equate quirkiness with quality.
It IS a little slow, because it moves at the pace of life, but this allows it time to fill each moment with the stuff of life. It misses being great because it doesn't have the final twist that takes it beyond our expectations, but it is nonetheless the best surprise I've come across in several years -- a genuine small, unheralded, lost gem.
Please don't read too much about it before you see it. Judge for yourself, with your heart and your head. This film should appeal to both parts of your anatomy.
