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Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) It's not me, I swear! (Read 14,160 times)
josephk
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It's not me, I swear!
21. Sep 2008 at 18:28
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C'est pas moi, je le jure!

I don't remember seeing anything about this upcoming Canadian (Québec) film here.

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It looks pretty good, I think. Trailer and other stuff on the official site (click English to see the trailer with subtitles).

Comes out in theatres next week in Quebec. Don't know about the rest of the world.

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josephk
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #1 - 21. Sep 2008 at 18:29
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PS: Feel free to move this thread to the reviews forum once you create the profile.
  
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zork
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #2 - 22. Sep 2008 at 11:37
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Thanks for the info.
This movie looks really nice, hope I could see it someday.
  
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Zabladowski
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #3 - 23. Sep 2008 at 15:58
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Definitely on my watch list.
I'm glad you found a poster, joseph.
A profile will be coming along shortly.  Smiley
  
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cal-Q-L8
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #4 - 28. Sep 2008 at 16:42
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I'm already confident I'll enjoy this film.
  
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josephk
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #5 - 08. Oct 2008 at 03:11
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Well, I just got back from the theatre, where I saw this movie with my sister. We both loved it.

Right from the very first scene, I was reminded of another québécois film that takes place in the 1960s: Léolo. It was obvious that we were entering a similar, somewhat dark, vision of childhood. A few things even made me wonder if this opening scene wasn't a conscious, deliberate homage, most notably the character's name (Léon in this film, Léo in Léolo) and the way the mother comes rushing out, yelling, "Léon, Léon, respire!" (i.e., breathe, Léon). That's right... the film opens with Léon in the process of hanging himself ("accidentally'" according to his parents, though we have good reason to doubt that), and that line from the mother is almost exactly the same as the one in Léolo when his grandfather tries to drown him in the pool. (In this film, we also learn later that the family used to have a pool, but they decided to get rid of it after Léon "tried to take a nap" at the bottom of it.)

But in spite of these recurring suicide attempts - and there will be others before the end of the film - the film doesn't feel too dark or heavy. In fact, it's a lot "lighter" than Léolo, and not as "weird" (to use a word that certain members of this site have used to describe that film). In fact, there's a lot of humour in the film, especially in the first half, and for a while the audience was laughing out loud at almost every other line. Léon's narration is not at all the kind of poetic, existential, mostly abstract voice over that we heard in Léolo. It's a lot more direct, and consists mostly of sarcastic and biting observations on just how messed up everything around the character seems to be. (It's also delivered in the voice of the character as a child, as opposed to the adult voice heard in Léolo.)

A lot of other things reminded me of Léolo, such as the character's relationship to his mother, and the way he keeps dreaming about Greece (in Léolo it's Italy, and for different reasons).

Everything about this film was top-notched, including the writing, direction and cinematography. But in particular, I was impressed with the acting, and especially the performance of Antoine Lécuyer, who plays Léon and virtually carries the film on his own. He provides the voice-over and appears in every scene. He even plays piano (according to the credits, he really did perform at least some of the pieces we see him play in the film). In all respects, he does an amazing job and is always a pleasure to watch and listen to. (The other actors in the film, though not quite as spectacular, do a decent job as well.)

I've been comparing the film to Léolo a lot, but that's not to say it lacks originality, or that other films didn't come to mind. I was also reminded of Rushmore and my sister was reminded of Harold and Maude, and in one scene especially, Antoine Lécuyer  physically reminded me a lot of Régis Arpin in Je suis le seigneur du château.

I can't recommend this film enough. I hope it gets released in your countries and you get a chance to see it. It's the best film from Québec I've seen in a very long time, and it's probably also my favourite boy-related movie of the past few years. The last film I got this excited about was Son of Rambow, but I think I liked this one even more.

10/10
  
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Zabladowski
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #6 - 08. Oct 2008 at 03:22
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So glad to hear this got high marks. Maybe positive word of mouth will help it travel beyond Quebec.....
  
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josephk
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #7 - 08. Oct 2008 at 03:28
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Check if the director's previous film ever made it to DVD in your region. Sometimes that's a good indication. It's called Congorama. It was a big success here, but I suspect the rest of the world never heard of it.
  
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Zabladowski
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #8 - 08. Oct 2008 at 03:54
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Available at Netflix, so I guess that's a yes....but I've never heard of it and I don't think my local store carries it in their rental inventory.
  
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hosenhaus
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #9 - 08. Oct 2008 at 10:56
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Congorama

  
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cal-Q-L8
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #10 - 08. Oct 2008 at 17:01
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Righto!

.. this goes to the top of my 'must see' list, especially as 'Leolo' is one of my favourite films.
  
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Zabladowski
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #11 - 12. Apr 2009 at 04:03
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I got to see this recently as well. I highly recommend it. I have my doubts about Andreas signing on to praise the film, but I thought there were similarities between this and Grave Decisions so who knows.
The acting was far superior in this film however.

While some of the film was too bizarre and meanspirited for me, it did do a good job of getting you into the strange mind of Leon.

Antoine L'Écuyer did a fantastic job in the lead role and showed such range in the part. While he was able to pull off the enfant terrible scenes that will make up the bulk of what you will read about the film, he was also able to show vulnerability as well - particularly in the scenes with Lea, the neighbor girl, who has a few problems of her own.
  
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #12 - 12. Apr 2009 at 11:27
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Zabladowski wrote on 12. Apr 2009 at 04:03:
I got to see this recently as well. I highly recommend it. I have my doubts about Andreas signing on to praise the film, but I thought there were similarities between this and Grave Decisions so who knows.


Roll Eyes Well, I actually needed to downgrade Grave decisions - my initial 9 was a result of the immediate impression it had had on me coming straight from the cinema. Sometimes I tend to give too high ratings right after seeing a movie.

I don't like it too bizarre and weird (thank you joseph for an obvious reference to me and my opinion on Leolo Cool), because all too often weird equals disgusting (like in Leolo's case), but sometimes it doesn't - I'll have to see it myself and find out whether or not I'm able to watch it through without being repelled by it =)
  
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #13 - 13. Apr 2009 at 06:56
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I personally welcome the challenge of watching it all the way through...  Grin ... now, if only I could get it soon.  Unfortunately, I'll have to wait for the Netflix queue to move a bit, since I share that with several other people in the family (which brings up the problem we're somehow discussing on Ben-x now).
  
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Zabladowski
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Re: It's not me, I swear!
Reply #14 - 14. Apr 2009 at 05:30
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Timewise, it will work out for you.

It's Not Me I Swear is only on the Netlfix save list for the time being. I saw it in a theatre.
  
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