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It’s not often that a foreign film is nominated for five Academy Awards.
As I watched Amélie I could easily see why this one was. What I couldn’t
understand at all was why it didn’t win any.
Amélie is a truly colorful film. The cinematography is shot with bright
colors, so it’s literally colorful; metaphorically, the characters are
colorful and deftly drawn. And the plot is full of quirky twists.
The title character of this French film is, of course, a 23-year-old girl named
Amélie, a waitress by trade and an observer by nature. She tries to make
the world a better place for those around her—and miraculously enough,
she manages to enrich both theirs and her own life in the process. It’s
partly a love story, but mostly a life story.
The writing is excellent in this movie—there’s no question why it
was nominated for an Oscar for best original script. Even if you hate subtitles,
you’ll get caught up in the quick—though not too quick—pace and
delightful humor of this story. You’ll barely notice you’re reading.
I haven’t truly enjoyed a movie as much as this one in a long time. Just
marvelous.
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