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CQ

Play trailer Poster for CQ R Released May 12, 2001 1h 31m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
66% Tomatometer 76 Reviews 69% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Paris, 1969. A director's obsession with the actress who plays the sexy secret agent Dragonfly (Angela Lindvall) has clouded his judgment and the film has no ending. A young American (Jeremy Davies), in Paris to document his life on film with total honesty, is brought in to finish the movie with a bang. This proves to be difficult when the line between his fantasy life and reality becomes blurred, and he too finds himself seduced by the charms of Dragonfly.
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CQ

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Critics Consensus

CQ is a stylish and fun homage to campy 1960s flicks.

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Critics Reviews

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Susan Stark Detroit News Rated: 1/4 Oct 18, 2008 Full Review Marc Savlov Austin Chronicle It may not be art, but it's vastly more entertaining than anything Coppola senior has done in far too long. Rated: 3.5/5 Aug 25, 2002 Full Review Loren King Chicago Tribune A film that is visually compelling and highly entertaining in an in-jokey sort of way. Rated: 3/4 Jul 20, 2002 Full Review Joe Leydon The Moving Picture Show Coppola and his production team have taken meticulous care to faithfully copy the costumes, production designs, peek-a-boo sexiness and budget-crunched special effects of their source material. Jul 19, 2014 Full Review Josh Larsen LarsenOnFilm Coppola gives CQ a sense of style and humor that makes the navel-gazing bearable. Rated: 3/4 Feb 2, 2013 Full Review Kurt Dahlke Apollo Guide Rated: 77/100 Oct 18, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Bahad j I felt like the characters in this movie could feel the happiness and difficulties that they faced in real life. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/07/24 Full Review Jeffrey P Stylish and interesting at first, but it only carries things so far. Why this was in the sci-fi section, I have no idea... ONDEMAND's categorizations are kind of a mess. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 06/26/23 Full Review jon c Jeremie Davies, Giancarlo Gianinni, Jason Schwartzman, Angela Lindvall, Billy Zane, and Gerard Depardieu It's the year 1969 and a passionate filmmaker is making a movie about the future His actress is the Jane Fonda of Hollywood playing a secret agent named Dragonfly But he faces trouble getting it off the ground Shot in 1.33 full frame format and in black and white director Roman Coppola amazingly captures the 1960s aesthetic of moviemaking He has an authenticity from the costumes to the music to the dust spots to the effects to the sex appeal as well as the free love vibe of the era Paul however gets lost on the line between his fantasy life and reality becomes blurred, and he too finds himself seduced by the charms of Dragonfly Can he make the most of his documentary being truly honest or fall prey to this actress' charms? After all he still needs to work on the ending to the film I definitely got a lot of Barbarella vibes off this which adds to its likability Coppola you can tell loves this 1960s aesthetic style as he gets a lot of techniques working to his advantage This filmmaker wants to get across how he feels to the audience but it is a tough road This serves as a great homage to the old campy flicks of the decade as well as observational and satirical skills Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member There's no doubt that director, Roman Coppola, knows how to shoot. The look and feel - and the music - was good. But the point of a film is to tell a story. And if your film is going to be about a bland editor/director (Jeremy Davies) who has nothing to say... then, you've basically got a 89-minute insider's joke. And for me, that was a waste of time. [I don't know if Jeremy was directed to be lifeless and boring -- or if that's his acting style - but having him on screen was like watching paint dry.] There's nothing new or insightful in this story. It's trying to be something like "Contempt" meets "Barbarella" but does little to make the story engaging or memorable. In the end, it's derivative trash that probably would have never been made without the support of Papa, Francis. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Absolute perfection--Lindvall and Coppola. Go watch this movie now, do not pass go for $200--go directly to viewing... Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member CQ is a brilliant story about a young man who is working on a 60s sci-fi movie, and also a personal autobiographical film at the same time. There are strange parallels between the two and occasionally real life crosses over into the sci-fi world and vice versa. Ordinarily I would balk at this kind of surreal intermingling of reality and fiction, but I thought it worked so well in CQ. It has been days since I watched this movie and I cannot get it out of my head. It does an amazing job of building drama as the film progresses, better than any other movie I’ve seen that is about making movies. There’s this mystery set up where we are left to wonder how the film within the film will end, and I was holding my breath waiting for that reveal to see what the protagonist would do. Jeremy Davies does some amazing work in the movie as this young director who can’t seem to balance all the things he is trying to accomplish. But the film comes alive because of Angela Lindvall. She is gorgeous, charming, and captures the feeling of an actress in an old B-movie. I was so delighted by CQ that I found myself wishing that Codename: Dragonfly was a real movie they made so I could watch what came out of the events in this film. There are some puzzling elements in CQ, because of the way they intertwine one story with another, but I think it all works when you just focus in on the themes and let go of the need to explain everything (which is a weird thing for me to say, but the magic of this movie is that it allowed me to let go and just enjoy the magic of it all.) I definitely recommend CQ as a unique take on the things that happen in the making of a movie. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/25/18 Full Review Read all reviews
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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Paris, 1969. A director's obsession with the actress who plays the sexy secret agent Dragonfly (Angela Lindvall) has clouded his judgment and the film has no ending. A young American (Jeremy Davies), in Paris to document his life on film with total honesty, is brought in to finish the movie with a bang. This proves to be difficult when the line between his fantasy life and reality becomes blurred, and he too finds himself seduced by the charms of Dragonfly.
Director
Roman Coppola
Producer
Gary Marcus
Screenwriter
Roman Coppola
Distributor
United Artists, MGM Home Entertainment
Production Co
Sawyer Productions, Luxembourg Film Fund, United Artists, Delux Productions, American Zoetrope, CQ Productions
Rating
R (Some Nudity|Language)
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 12, 2001, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 16, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA)
$411.0K
Runtime
1h 31m
Sound Mix
Dolby SR, DTS, Dolby Stereo, Surround, Dolby A, Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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