Chicken With Plums

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Georgan G A fairy tale of love & loss, happiness & grief. The visuals added to the pleasure of the film. Very unique & lovely. Needs voice-over for English speakers to increase their understanding. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 08/06/23 Full Review Audience Member made me cry the fist time I saw it... I always get lost in the beautiful images and the peculiar way of tellings such a melancolic story Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member A beautiful fairytale in the French tradition, but with some magically realistic elements that reminded me of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's AMELIE or the Latin American filmmakers of the 90s. Sorry to see that this film didn't get as wide a US release as those films. Beautifully sculpted and circular in structure, the timeless look of this period piece will hopefully attract more of an audience, through those who find interest in Marjane Satrapi's work may be the first to seek it out. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member From the creators of PERSEPOLIS comes the tale of a man who loses all hope and decides to die after his favorite violin is destroyed. That might sound odd, but of course it is a gross oversimplification of what goes on in CHICKEN WITH PLUMS. The central character, Nasser Ali (Matthieu Amalric), does indeed lose his precious violin, but its significance is revealed is multiple flashback sequences which give him background, motivation and depth. I don't really want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that the end result is rather poetic and touching. From a visual standpoint, it continues from the same place that PERSEPOLIS came from, while imbuing it with lots of color and fantastic elements. The film feels like a fairy tale at times, with a sense of whimsy and free-flowing creativity that flies in the face of rather depressing subject matter. Matthieu Amalric does a standup job as Nasser Ali, bringing a certain world-weariness to his character as well as youthful optimism in the flashback scenes. Ultimately, by the end of the film you understand why Nasser has chosen to just give up (although I don't condone suicide). Thematically, I think the film works on a couple of levels. First, there is the surface story which is about losing hope and one's raison d'etre. However, with a character named "Iran," I also think that there is a subtle political allegory as well. The film takes place in the 1950's and references are made visually and through dialogue to indicate that Marjane Satrapi is making commentary on this particular period of Iranian history. She also takes some potshots at America that I thought were slightly uncalled for, although no less funny in the context of the film. My only real issues with the film are that the supporting characters are mostly sidelined and/or underwritten, and the narrative structure lends itself to being a little episodic at times. That being said, though, I was quite pleased with the end result and emotionally invested the whole way. Overall, CHICKEN WITH PLUMS is a delightful cinematic confection from Marjane Satrapi about her native Iran. The subject matter is kind of depressing, but plenty of visual sugar (along with some emotional heft) helps the medicine go down smoothly. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member More depressing than Persepolis, but still carrying Satrapi's sarcastic wit and her visual talent, "Chicken With Plums" is a melancholic but stunning journey into a fantasy land of whimsy and woe. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member in this movie, nothing happens but everything happens. A creative meditation on a man's life! Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Chicken With Plums

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