Delicatessen

Delicatessen is a 1991 French post-apocalyptic black comedy directed by Marc Caro (City of Lost Children) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, City of Lost Children). It stars Dominique Pinon. We watched it in French with English subtitles. The Younger Son had seen it before, liked it and suggested it tonight. I thought it was funny. The Husband didn't care for it at all and said it reminded him of Brazil, which he also did not like. [update: The Husband denies not liking the movie and says that he is, in fact, completely neutral. ouch. not much of a movie from his perspective, if "eh" is the only response it elicits.] The Daughter liked it but wasn't feeling well and so wasn't at her critical best.

trailer:


Moria opens with this: "When this French film came out it took the whole world away with its sheer freshness and vitality" and says it "is a film that sparkles with freshness and originality." Variety describes it as "Beautifully textured, cleverly scripted and eerily shot... a zany little film that's a startling and clever debut..." The New York Times says it

does not aspire to much more than simply flinging these characters together and intercutting their exploits in a quick, stylish fashion. The results can be weirdly hilarious.... They can also be frenetic and pointless, which is the case more and more frequently as the film spins out of control.

Slant Magazine says,

Delicatessen, in addition to suffering from the same preening preciousness that made Amelie ultimately forgettable, also overdoses on its cartoonishly oppressive surroundings—a rapist mailman, food-snatching neighbors—all too repetitive of Terry Gilliam's Brazil and far less meaningful.

3/21/2012: filmsquish has a positive review, calling it "fun but luckily not entirely predictable" and "a visual spectacle".