Chroniques et points de vue:Amazon.ca Canadian Essential: Leolo is a black comedy about an impoverished Montreal boy who creates his own mental world in response to his real-world chaos and his family's weirdness. This critically acclaimed art-house favourite, directed by Jean-Claude Lauzon with music by Tom Waits, is rendered in an amazing series of surreal images, creating a beguiling world of fantasy and reality.
Un incontournable québécois:lnspiré par sa propre enfance, le réalisateur Jean-Claude Lauzon signe un film en forme de poème visuel, dense et touchant, retraçant la vie d'un petit garçon rêveur habitant un quartier pauvre de Montréal. Gagnant de trois prix Génie, du prix du meilleur scénario du festival de Vancouver et lauréat d'une mention spéciale du jury au festival de Toronto en 1992,
Léolo peut également compter sur les interprétations convaincantes de la chanteuse Ginette Reno et du jeune Maxime Collin.
Amazon.ca:Second et dernier long métrage, après
Un zoo la nuit, de la comète Jean-Claude Lauzon,
Léolo est un vigoureux poème visuel, jamais sentimental, toujours dense et touchant. Entre une mère monumentale de tendresse (Ginette Reno), un père toujours là et toujours absent, un grand-père libidineux (Julien Guiomar) et des frères et soeurs marqués par la peur et la folie, le petit Léo (Maxime Collin) rêve. ll rêve d'ltalie, d'une famille inventée et d'improbables trésors au fond de l'eau. ll rêve sa vie parce que, répète-t-il constamment : “Je rêve, donc je ne suis pas”.
Présenté en compétition officielle au Festival de Cannes en 1992,
Léolo a causé un émoi dans le cinéma québécois. Entre la poésie de Forcier et la virulence de Kusturica, Lauzon a su créer de toutes pièces un univers unique dans notre paysage cinématographique. Sa grande force réside dans les images : images-chocs (le garçon se masturbant dans du foie de veau !), images simples (la mère et son fils dans la salle d'attente d'un cabinet de médecin) et images fortes (la “naissance” de Léo), qui composent le véritable vocabulaire de ce cinéaste surdoué. Si l'enchaînement de ces vignettes apparaît parfois décousu, et si la narration, superbement dite par Gilbert Sicotte, est souvent redondante, Léolo reste une oeuvre vibrante, un formidable hommage à l'enfance.
À l'instar des
400 Coups ou de
Ma vie de chien,
Léolo montre, sous le couvert d'une autobiographie fantasmée, la naissance d'un grand réalisateur, dont la mort prématurée a laissé un grand vide dans une cinématographie souvent trop sage… --
Éric Fourlanty
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L'avis des consommateurs
Note moyenne:
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Touched by Genius this is a Beautiful film **10 Stars***
Jean-Claude Lauzon was, no doubt, a troubled genius. I have seen Leolo many times and also the documentary about its director titled Lauzon Lauzon.
Leolo is a work of art. Lauzon attacked this project like a composer attacks a symphony. Its said that he played tapes of the musical scores for the producer, while standing over his shoulder and demanding that he read the script immediately.
Lauzon used music like a knife to make his points in some scenes. We hear the sacred tones of classical hymn while we see the gritty sometimes profane reality that Leolo lives in. There is Catholic symbolism and guilt oozing out of this film. The voice who speaks to us off an on throughout the film is excellent; through the voice of the archivist, of Leolo's
papers and deepest thoughts, we are allowed access to his psyche. The voice is also in English on the DVD.
Maxime Collin is an incredible young actor. He plays Leo who refuses to be a french Canadian boy from the poorest part of Montreal and instead he is Leolo's a white shirted Italian boy who lives for romance and beauty (oh yes and the Italian Countryside is beautiful). Our main charter repeats over and over, "I think therefore I am not". There is a lot here that Leolo would "not" want to be. Crazy for starters as his family home is a bit of an asylum.
If you're squeamish, steer away, there are gritty scenes here. Yes a cat gets defiled (among other things), but for the prudish reviewer who claimed he smashed his tape at this point, I really doubt that the cat was hurt. Kinda of like the horses didn't really die in Brave Heart, my friend! Look beyond the cat to the social statement that is being made about the boy who is involved. Remember his mother worries that he is smoking, but has no idea what she ought to be worrying
about. I won't say anymore, spoilers annoy me almost as much as Philistines who watch art film and then get all self-righteous about the gritty bits. (Hint, rent Disney instead, my friend)
This is an art film there is no other way to describe it. It is a comedy but it's a dark art comedy so don't buy it for a laugh out loud evening, there are some really heavy and troubling elements here that will leave you thinking afterwards.
The movie is beautifully filmed and well worth purchasing. I note that the DVD is only available through Amazon.ca, at the US site they are only selling the VHS. Buy the DVD, invite over a good friend, open some wine and enjoy the film and the long conversation that will follow it.
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Perverse, deep and difficult to forget
Do not believe the boxcover that portrays this as a delightful comedy about sexual curiosity! Leolo is much darker than that.
Here we find a gritty life through the eyes of a youngster who happens to be a bit of a magical realist. Some moments are witty, such as the imagined story of his conception while others are downright awkward and painful.
What I liked best about the movie were the several thematic areas it covered in a symbolic and mythical fashion. It addresses an individual's and family's psychological disintegration, the status of the urban underclass, & sexuality. It also portrays the boy, leolo, as a sort of magical escapist messiah for his hopeless family.
Leolo also happens to be one of only two films I have seen where a piece of raw liver is violated. (warning for the squeemish) If you are in any way prudish, do avoid this film.
In summary, this is an excellent & deep film for viewing with friends if you care to stimulate a strong discussion.
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* Mad Genius ...
Leolo is a powerful, one of a kind masterpiece. I have never seen a film with such great photography, writing and acting. The first time I saw this movie in a theatre, the audienced sat stunned in their seats, after it ended and the lights came on. Mr. Lauzon was the best kind genius.
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SICK, SICK, SICK
As a cat lover, who had not read a review of this atrocity, I was appalled at the torture of the poor animal in this film. I can't help but wish the director had been hanged above his bathtub instead ofthe lecherous grandfather character. Can't comment on the film after the cat torture scene as that is when I pulled it from the VCR and smashed the tape with a ball peen hammer.
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* An amazing film. ...
There are few movies that are this sick, this beautiful, and this funny. It is unforgettable. It's been a personal favorite for years and no one who I've shown it to or lent it to went without a deeply running reaction to it.
