Movies & TV - Sept. 18, 2008
"King of England" mixes tragedy, absurdity and wit
The ambitious young Czech Jan Dite recalls Charlie Chaplin, but Czech director Jiri Menzel's two-hour comedy, "I Served the King of England" banks so much on a Jean-Pierre Jeunet-style mix of wit, tragedy and playfulness that in the end this 2007 film feels more like Jeunet's "A Very Long Engagement" than Chaplin's "The Great Dictator."
Tags: Chaplin, Jeunet, Jiri Menzel, Dite, I Served the King of England, Ivan Barnev, Julia Jentsch, Oldrich Kaiser, Bohumil Hrabal

Movies & TV - Dec. 17, 2004
Jeunet tries his hand at war with "A Very Long Engagement"
Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet could have taken the easy way out for his follow-up to his smash film "Amelie," but instead he chose to put his unique imprimatur on Sebastian Japrisot's respected World War I novel "A Very Long Engagement."
Tags: Jeunet, Pinon, Amelie, Japrisot, Ulliel, Tautou