For years I was asking myself: the beauty of the early French films, the poetic realism, the simplicity and magic of the early Italian neorealists - where have they gone? I was missing that moment of pure cinema magic, the feel of people, the love for life in the movies. The unforgettable pictures of our childhood created by people like Carne and Vigo, Rene Clair, de Sica and Fellini. Now they are back. Patrick Leconte has created a very original, highly enjoyable little masterpiece that has it all in a modern movie. This beautiful black and white love story is a great moment of contemporary cinema that leaves you with that deeply happy feeling, that cinema sometimes seem to have forgotten about. As a producer and director myself, I was searching for a long time for any modern piece of film that picks up on that wonderful poetic movie tradition that combines reality with a flowing, surreal dream-like storytelling that your heart directly understands. Leconte's gentle and lighthearted, yet perfect command of visual language and editing makes this simple little story about a knife-thrower and cabaret artist and his "victim" and partner, a suicidal young woman, one of my happiest cinema experiences in the last 20 years. That people do this kind of movies these days, gives you hope. We need more movies like this. This is a film that nobody should miss that loves poetry, love, life and circus as major elements of cinema and human existence. Congratulations to Patrice Leconte and his inspired DP Jean Marie Dreujou.
