Another Man, Another Chance

After years of searching, when I finally got a copy I was almost nervous that I wouldn't like it, but I was not disappointed. OK - it's flawed: some scenes run on too long, there is a lack of overall refinement, Beethoven's 5th pops up in some odd places (why would you, when you have Frances Lai making the soundtrack?) but even these flaws somehow add to its overall unique, slightly odd flavour. The tone is of elegiac 1970s Westerns but it's more of a historical romantic drama than that. Westerns-wise, it feels somewhere between Heartland and Heaven's Gate with a touch of The Grey Fox (there is even a small but pleasing turn from Richard Farnsworth). However, you can tell it is European - and not American - made. It's not quite as artistic as some people make it out to be, it's more naturalistic, casual even, with some scenes and dialogue occurring in the unvarnished manner of Mike Leigh films. I loved seeing the American west from the French perspective and how the movie showed the immigrant experience. Respect is given to working class struggles in a way that you'd expect from such European cinema. I loved too how the story built, watching their two lives in separate countries (and cultures) gradually circle inwards towards their inevitable meeting. Through all the hardships of that era and in life in general, love blooms in a relatable way. And just when you'd decided this was a romance drama after all, it finally reminds you that 'this IS a Western' with an ending scene that satisfies as much as any decent revenge Western. In all - a quiet epic.

James Caan is very believable and does a great job. But could there be any worse cinematography than this? Camera shots taken directly into the sun, then transitioning in and out of shadows-very amateurish.

I am studying sound design and this movie blew me away. Watched it late night only because of the excellent James C. The most striking thing is when ever there is a violent scene, the director choose to fade out and loose all natural sound and simply play a simple but striking piece of piano. It distances you from the horror of the violence, it seemed to me to be as if I was being sheltered from the full effect. Powerful and poetic this was a revisionist western way ahead of its peers and only to be matched by Clint Eastwood's High plains drifter and Beguiled.

Frenchman and his wife come to Old West America circa 1870 in search of new lives for themselves, but he is soon killed and she becomes acquainted with a shy, gentle widower. US-French co-production from writer-director Claude Lelouch, who has keen eyes and stirs up an appropriately dusty, windswept scenario. Unfortunately, the film (in English, French and Spanish) is lumbering and overlong at 130mns. The casting of James Caan and Genevieve Bujold seems promising at the outset, but their characters generate little interest. Fascinatingly detailed, however, with beautiful cinematography by Stanley Cortez and Jacques Lefrançois, but a narrative that might've stood some tightening. ** from ****

Rediscovering Lelouch on DVD, not having seen his films since they were aired on TV in the 70s and 80s, I enjoy them even more than expected.

This is not a western, not a love story, not a historical picture... it is all of it and none of it, it is about how lifes cross depending on random changes of fate. If you like mindless action, down-to-earth westerns or tear-jerkers pass your way as you will not have the patience or the "gusto" to watch (just rent any mindless Stallone or Schwarzenegger movie, that should do). If on the other hand you can be moved by the little things of life and you want a real story, with lots of content and brought with great skill, this is definitely for you. This is not an artsy movie, it's a great movie!

Lelouche has a knack of developing his characters over the duration of his movies, so you feel like you are part of the environment and not someone peeking in on what happens or a distant spectator. In "Un autre homme, une autre chance" he bridges the ocean to tell us about a french woman and an American man that could not be more different. The way they both evolve and finally come together through ups and downs, is made very special exactly by the fact it is so common... a reality show without the voyeuristic element that often leaves a bitter after-taste. It is told with such ease and with great performance of the actors.

Definitely one of Lelouche's best movies and a must-see.