Delicatessen (1992)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

I don't know if this is the kind of movie anyone ends up liking, but it can't be said that it isn't interesting. Taking place in a dystopian, almost apocalyptic world, "Delicatessen" takes one on a surrealistic and nightmarish voyage populated by freaks tending toward normalcy, but one has to look hard to find it. The woman with voices in her head was strange enough, but the guy who lived in a swamp for an apartment, populated by frogs and snails, had me wondering just what kind of boarding house Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) was running. Of course we get that answer in due course. The only likeable character in the film for me was Clapet's daughter Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac), though I did have to question her judgment in men when she fell for the advances of newest boarder Louison (Dominique Pinon). Then again, the chances of meeting anyone more appealing was probably out of the question with this entire band of merry misfits. With "Delicatessen", you don't quite get the gory spectacle of Sweeney Todd, or the understated menace of 1960's "The Little Shop of Horrors", but what you have is a distorted look into the frenzied imagination of directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet who blend an eclectic cast of characters into a nightmare world where anything can happen. My favorite piece was the choreographed Hawaiian bed spring scene, which doesn't seem to make any sense when I describe it, but stands out as one of the more 'normal' sequences in the entire story.

(Flash Review)This is a very bizarre film. Arguably a dark romance film. The atmosphere takes center stage as these people live in a world of dank gloominess. Understandably as in their world's food has become so rare that a satchel of corn is of high value. An apartment building is where the people of this film live with a butcher who sells a 'special' kind of meat. A new arrival comes there to work and falls for the butcher's daughter and conflict ensues. Scattered about the main plot point are peculiar little vignettes of the other residents and all seems to impact one other at key times. Overall, this film felt like Terry Gilliam was being the creativity as well the bold cinematography. Strange and unusual.

In a post-apocalyptic France of the future, meat has become exceedingly rare. So much so that it now can be used as currency. The residents of an apartment block above a deli have come to depend heavily on the strange man, Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) employed as their butcher. Then one day an entertainer named Louison (Dominique Pinon) comes to the place to accept a job as a handyman. Louison finds himself quite taken with Clapets' sexy daughter Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac), but his new life may not be what it's cracked up to be. He may have some other purpose in the building other than odd jobs.At its best, this completely off the wall and extremely stylized French take on post-nuke and cannibal cinema is one of the most original films of its kind. The co-directors, Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, give "Delicatessen" a striking visual design, largely avoiding cool colours like blue (although there are occasional flashes of green); the colour palette consists of a lot of yellows, oranges, reds, and browns. It's a clever hook, but also making this a worthy entertainment are the incredible energy and the consistent tone of dark, and farcical, humour. There's nothing else this viewer has seen that is quite like "Delicatessen", and that can only be a good thing.The performances themselves are very stylized, with the well chosen actors going for broke a lot of the time. Pinon and Dougnac are appealing in the leading roles. Also leaving a big impression are Dreyfus, Karin Viard, Ticky Holgado, Anne-Marie Pisani, Howard Vernon, and especially Silvie Laguna as the troubled Aurore, driven to stage very elaborate suicide attempts by "voices". Caro can be seen on screen as Fox, one of the cave dwellers.Caro and Jeunet are able to reach some appreciable heights of lunacy here, matched by the wonderfully memorable imagery throughout.This one gets a solid recommendation.Eight out of 10.

DelicatessenIn a post-apocalyptic future the world's Cheez Whiz supply would have to be used to re-caulk all the buildings.Thankfully the tenants in this sci-fi comedy don't have to lick cracks for sustenance.On the ground floor of a dilapidated apartment is a butcher (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) who always has fresh meat despite there being a food shortage.Answering an ad in the newspaper, Louison (Dominique Pinon) lands the job of assistant to the butcher.Eventually Louison's charms win over the butcher's daughter Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac). But with her father planning on putting Louison on the menu, she seeks the assistance of an underground cell of rebellious vegetarians. Conceptualized by the director of Amélie, Delicatessen is a quirky cannibal love-story crammed with eccentric characters that never takes itself too seriously, or too lighthearted.Furthermore, with all the hormones and preservatives we ingest, human meat would have a very long shelf life.Green Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca