CQ (2002)

Who payed the critics

Memorable, crazy movie

Excellent but underrated film

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

My son rented this. Wonderful recreation of the style and atmosphere of the giddy culmination of franco-italian filmaking in the late '60s permeates a hilarious movie- within-a-movie. Reminiscent of Barbarella, 8 1/2, and the 10th Victim, shot in both B&W and color, the struggles of a young editor who is losing connection with his girl-friend because of his obsession with both the film he is working on and the beautiful leading lady are affecting and involving. Given an awful sci-fi film to rescue from a fired director, by a producer who is both intuitively brilliant and ridiculously old-school, the editor obsesses over the ending while falling in love with the star.The stylishness of this film is as important as the story. CG focuses loving attention on the pre-digital world of continental film-making with long shots of threaded-film editing equipment, cameras, reel-to-reel tape-recorders, tiny old cars careening through the streets of '60s Paris, and "8 /12"-style parties. I was astonished at how it evoked the feelings I experienced upon first watching the "fun films" of Fellini, Antonioni, and Godard, and the relationship-centric films of the British "Girl With Green Eyes" period. Rent this film!

I thought that Elodie Bouchez's character is like the soul of movie, but what topped it off was the really enjoyable and ingenious portrayal of the filmmaker's ego. Very funny, establishing that certain look in the sort of spirit of wes Anderson's creations, but different, more romantic and "cool". It's definitely memorable, beautiful girls are always worth the while to film, it's sort of a homage to those sixtie's classy action chicks, which works more in terms of aesthetic enjoyment rather than character development, nevertheless it was a great goal to for, and adds a lot of cuteness to the texture of the film. Another texture of the film was the whole Paris 60's modern romance look, and the transitions to Rome proved that R.Coppola's sense of structure is pretty assuring in addition to his glamorous and lovable film sense.

It wasn't as bad as i was expecting, after reading all those negative reviews. It reminded me somewhat of Woody Allen's Stardust Memories which came out in 1980, but this is nowhere as good as that movie. This movie stars Jeremy Davies as a film editor who is promoted to director after the first two directors are fired. In one scene you can see Sophia Coppola, who must be related to the director. I've liked everything I've seen Jeremy Davies in and Billy Zane is good as a gay leading man. You can also see Dean Stockwell in a cameo as Jeremy Davies father.

CQ could have been good, campy fun. But it commits the only unforgivable sin: it is b-o-r-i-n-g! The pace is deadly slow and the plot is fairly confused and so artificial that it's next to impossible to care where it's going. The story would have been acceptable in a creative writing class from a thoughtful and sensitive eighth grader but this video should have carried a warning label: "CAUTION: Student film. Fit for viewing only by relatives of the film maker."