Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
'Eternal Sunshine' Director's Unchecked Whimsy Overwhelms 'Mood Indigo'
Director Michel Gondry, best known for 2004's Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, always had the ability to inspire awe from the sheer spectacle of his DIYesque special effects. While Gondry doesn't strictly avoid computer graphics, his indulgent use of in-camera effects with a few unobtrusive digital touchups gives his films an organic feel that's lacking in the numbing CGI smorgasbord of most Hollywood releases. Mood Indigo, adapted from Boris Vian's celebrated novel Froth On The Daydream, is the biggest showcase of Gondry's special effects and wild imagination yet, but unfortunately feels like little else.
Colin (Romain Duris) is a handsome Parisian playboy who lives a carefree, comfortable life in a loft with a miniature man-in-mousesuit (Sacha Bourdo, dressed to look like Lester from Beakman's World) and his manservant Nicolas (Omar Sy), who cooks him decadent, stop-motion animated meals that come to life on table. Independently wealthy by unknown means, he's also the inventor of a "pianocktail," a piano mashed up with a drink dispensing machine that creates potent potables customized to whatever jazz tune and bum notes one plays on its ivories. Colin falls in love with Chloé (Audrey Tatou), and they embark on a whirlwind love affair that has the adorable couple flying in cars that look like clouds, getting married by a priest who descends from a UFO, and driving away from the wedding chapel on a rainbow. It's a preadolescent vision of love and marriage taken to its (il)logical extreme, emphasized by Gondry's unhinged sense of whimsy.
Tragedy strikes when on their honeymoon, Chloé is afflicted by a water lily that grows on her lung. The only treatment is for her to remain bedridden and surrounded by flowers, hoping to force the lily to retreat from her body. Colin winds up bankrupting himself in a vain effort to cure his bride. Morose bleakness undermines the colorful quirkiness in the final act of Mood Indigo and makes its conclusion more compelling, but by then the paper-thin characters and obnoxious sensory overload of Gondry's spectacle do nothing to sustain any sense of interest. Hit over the head endlessly for the first two-thirds of the film, watching Mood Indigo leaves the viewer with the same nauseating regret one gets from eating a gigantic bag of cotton candy all by yourself.
Support for LAist comes from
Mood Indigo opens Friday at the Nuart Theatre in West L.A.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist