Bye Bye Blackbird (2005)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

This movie is a visual masterpiece! Stunning photography, camera placement and motion was a feast for this writer's eyes. So much so, that I feel compelled to write my first review. The whole mood of the film was engaging and the acting - pitch perfect. I was unfamiliar with any of the actors, however I feel their performances can not be rivaled. The musical score was fitting and necessarily punctuates the mood. I am not in the motion picture business, and certainly not qualified to judge the technical aspects of such, but I am so glad I ran across this film and I would definitely recommend Bye Bye Blackbird to anyone.

It is a sad fairy tale taken place at the beginning of the last century. The beautiful camera works and the production design always leave you the feeling of the surreality. The dialogues are poesies rather than real conversations which I didn't feel at ease at the beginning. The stunning last scene is like a theatrical version of the ending of "Over the cuckoo's nest." To me it is a classic film but not obsolete.James Thierree appeared to me the most attractive in this title than in other films. Jodhi May displays her acting ability sometime overwhelming Isabella Miko.I saw this film in Tokyo last October. In the theater, we found Wim Wenders discreetly among the audience. He seems to like this film very much, which I understand.

Saw this at the Mill Valley Film Festival. The actor who plays the main character, Joseph, is a grandson of Charlie Chaplin and there is a significant resemblance both in face (Chaplin was a very handsome man without the Little Tramp makeup) and acrobatic grace.Much of the film takes place in an early 20th century European circus. The story was inspired by a Kafka story about a circus performer who refuses to leave his trapeze (in the story, you never learn why).The film is beautifully photographed and has many exquisite effects, but the melodramatic plot and lame dialog resulted in many unintended laughs as far as I was concerned (but nearby audience members were eating it up, so different strokes for different folks). Jodhi May badly cast as gypsy with a heart of gold. Director Savary spoke at film fest and said he believes in as little dialog as possible; to that end, he didn't bother to subtitle several sequences in which characters spoke French or English. That's okay, what dialog there is was pretty bad. I'd say this director is all eye, no ear. Derek Jacobi chews the scenery (he's supposed to, character-wise, but it's a badly written character).

The first portion of this film is gorgeous and mysterious and mesmerizing. Then it just degenerates into strange soliloquies and depression. It even adds a bit of depravity thrown in for good measure. It's as if the writer was trying to say something profound. But he really doesn't. It's a confusing mess at the end. The pacing, editing, design, and even the acting are so wonderful in the first part of the film. Unfortunately, most of these elements become tiresome by the end. Such a shame because the first 3/5th of the film is really amazing. Wish they'd taken more time to flesh out the ending.I'd still recommend seeing it though. This director should have a bright future. I would watch it again myself.