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©-DR-THE YOUNG & PRODIGIOUS T.S SPIVET de J.P.Jeunet (2013) p9
10/09/2014 17:49
Avis de presse frenchy
Pour son nouveau film, Jean-Pierre Jeunet décide de mettre quelque peu son univers personnel de côté et reprend à son compte le livre épo du même nom de Reif Larsen pour un petit conte de Noël très touchant et visuellement ingénieux.
Imaginé dès le début comme l'occasion de recourir à la 3D, le film est avant tout un réel plaisir visuel. Entre ses effets de jaillissement et une mise en scène de la profondeur intelligente, il rejoint la liste très fermée (mais s'agrandissant de jour en jour) des films où la 3D devient un élément de narration et de mise en scène indispensable, au même titre que L'Odyssée de Pi sorti l'année dernière.(en beaucoup mieux celui de Jeunet)
S'apparentant à une version familiale de Une histoire vraie de David Lynch,(son meilleur film avec le très glauque ERASERHEAD) le film est un road-movie attachant, une petite sucrerie à consommer sans modération qui sait faire preuve d'audaces et de surprises, comme la description de la famille du personnage principal, aussi loufoque que terriblement belle. Les parents d'ailleurs, campés par Helena Bonham Carter et Callum Keith Rennie forment un couple improbable et romantique au possible qui réserve au film son plus beau plan, deux mains qui s'effleurent au ralenti pour l'un des moments les plus lyriques de l'année.(?!)
Tout comme le film d'ailleurs, par moment d'un grand romantisme et d'un réel humanisme, auquel la très belle musique de Denis Sanacore apporte un surplus de fraicheur réellement grisant. Pourtant, le film n'a jamais peur d'aborder frontalement et avec une vraie justesse les moments les plus pénibles de la petite vie du jeune T.S.L'Extravagant voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S. Spivet propose une vision de l'Amérique fantasmée par un réalisateur français qui y apporte son propre ressenti.
En résulte une magnifique chronique douce-amère qui sait se montrer aussi drôle que touchante et sortant des sentiers battus grâce à un réel univers qui colle parfaitement à l'esprit du jeune et prodigieux T.S. Spivet. Les plus cyniques trouveront certainement le film trop mielleux,(on les emm...) les gentils trop gentils et les méchants trop méchants. Mais au final, Jeunet livre son film le plus attachant depuis longtemps parce qu'il s'agit surement de son plus simple.(Tenté de regarder "LES ENFANTS PERDUS"...aussi glauque que DELICATESSEN dont je n'ai aîmé que le très beau générique et la scène de l'inondation dans l'escalier)
Par Jordan Kalfon
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©-DR-THE YOUNG & PRODIGIOUS T.S SPIVET de J.P.Jeunet (2013) p10
10/09/2014 18:15
Sites externes
Official Sites
Miscellaneous Sites
Photographs
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©-DR-THE YOUNG & PRODIGIOUS T.S SPIVET de J.P.Jeunet (2013) p 11
10/09/2014 23:06
Jean-Pierre Jeunet visually masterful take on Reif Larsen novel
Author: prescottjudith from France
22 October 2013
Only a director with the creativity and imagination of Jean-Pierre Jeunet would attempt to bring to the big screen in English the best-selling novel by Reif Larsen "The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet". The book, described by author Stephen King as a combination of "MarkTwain, Thomas Pynchon and Little Miss Sunshine", is illustrated with charts, lists, sketches and maps to help recount the adventures of the quirky, gifted 12-year-old boy of the book's title . Jeunet has faithfully reproduced the visual elements of the novel to recreate the offbeat world of T.S Spivet and the use of a 3D format is perfectly suited to breathing life into T.S.'s illustrations which Jeunet's does by drawing on his trademark mix of poetry and fantasy. But the plot does not lift from the page and the young boy's eventful journey seems flat and doggedly two-dimensional.
The adventure starts off promisingly enough. T.S.Spivet (Kyle Catlett) lives on a farm in the 'Big Sky Country' of Montana with his amateur entomologist mother (Helena Bonham Carter), his cowboy father (Callum Keith Rennie) and elder sister (Niamh Wilson). A phone call to the ranch from the prestigious Smithsonian Institute in Washington informs the young Spivet that he has won a prize for one of his inventions. Since the death of his twin brother in a shooting accident, Spivet's mother and father have sidelined the surviving son. Feeling neglected and un-loved, T.S. decides to travel on his own to Washington to accept his prize. The journey takes him across America on a freight train and into a series of encounters with a gallery of colourful characters.
While the scenes in Montana are a triumph to Jeunet's bold, sweeping breadth of vision, once Spivet hops on the train, the action, conversely begins to falter. The characters he meets could have come straight from a cartoon strip – ageing sailor Two Clouds (Dominique Pinon) is a dead ringer for Popeye – and they add little or nothing to the narrative or the tone of the film.
As the lead actor, Catlett carries a lot of responsibility for one so young. No one can deny he is as cute as a button – with his oversized trousers and constant puzzled look – but he lacks the range of emotions needed to create real empathy. This may explain why a film about grief remains oddly unmoving until a a scene towards the film's finale which seems unashamedly designed to pull the heart strings. This latest Jeunet is undoubtedly a glorious visual treat, but it lacks the magic and mystery of 'Amélie' his most successful film to date.
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©-DR- THE YOUNG & PRODIGIOUS T.S SPIVET de J.P.Jeunet (2013) p12
10/09/2014 23:10
Terrific....as usual!
9/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida
29 March 2014
This film is very unusual for Jean-Pierre Jeunet because it's in English and is set in the United States. While he previously directed "Alien: Resurrection", his films are usually in his native language. However, like most of his movies, it is very strange and has a wonderfully unique sense of style that is pure Jeunet. It's hard to exactly describe this style—you just have to see it to believe and appreciate it. This oddness is actually what makes most of his films so wonderful.
As far as the film being set in America, I was not totally surprised by this—especially since a lot of the film is set in the American West. When I have visited France on several occasions, I was very surprised to see that many folks there were very fascinated with the old west and cowboys. The biggest shock was inside the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland Paris, as inside this mansion are, believe it or not, cowboys!
The film is about a very small and unique 10 year-old, T.S. Spivet (Kyle Catlett). T.S. is a strange child who is a lot like Dexter from "Dexter's Lab" or "Jimmy Neutron"—a boy genius with an intellect far, far in advance of his years. You learn just how smart he is when the boy receives a call from the Smithsonian Institution. It seems that the kid has received the very prestigious Baird Award for ingenuity and inventiveness. However, the folks have no idea T.S. is a child and naturally think he's an adult. After all, he's invented an amazing machine to demonstrate perpetual motion.
When they invite T.S. to come to Washington to receive the award, he does something very strange—he accepts and never tells his parents. Instead, he treks from Montana to Washington! What's to become of this little prodigy? In addition to this main plot, there are subplots involving T.S.'s dead brother (who, oddly, appears to T.S. periodically throughout the film and has conversations with T.S.!) and his very quirky family.This film has a somewhat slow and meandering pace that reminded me a bit of the recent Oscar-nominee, "Nebraska". Some may be put off my this or the strangeness of the characters, but to me this is what make this a wonderful and entertaining film.
I appreciated the nice, low-key performance by Catlett and it's a nice testament to Jeunet that he was able to coax this out of the boy. Additionally, I really, really appreciated the uniqueness of the plot and way it was handled. Too often films seem awfully familiar, but this is certainly not the case with this nice film. Well worth seeing for audiences of all ages. This Jeunet film is much more normal than many of his films, but the style is definitely his. Additionally, like in so many of his films there is an appearance by Dominique Pinon—an actor that always seems to show up in Jeunet's movies. I appreciate this, as I have loved Pinon in many films —ranging from "Diva" to "Delicatessen".
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©-DR- THE YOUNG & PRODIGIOUS T.S SPIVET de J.P.Jeunet (2013) p13
10/09/2014 23:13
Award Deserving Story with or without 3D
9/10
Author: in1984 from United States
29 March 2014
Genius kid invents a perpetual motion machine, goes on adventure. Simple but without a well-developed plot and quirky characters like the one Helena Bonham Carter plays (and continues to set her characters apart from every other actor on the planet), this would be heavily dependent on 3D to be worth viewing in theaters.What starts out as seemingly just a nerd on the ranch family comedy, develops into a more complex tale. Then when it seems to have reduced to a road-trip, self-discovery story, it once again expands and delivers more. The other key character in this is played by Judy Davis. There are, however, an ongoing stream of brilliant characters to provide fun and suspense in what really shouldn't be promoted as just 3D kid action.
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