MovieChat Forums > Dans la ville de Sylvia (2007) Discussion > Just got back from the screening...

Just got back from the screening...

posted 16 years ago by raspberryjamlove
3 replies | jump to latest

Hey All!
Just returned from the screening of IN THE CITY of SYLVIA at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
I could here other people converse about it, they loved it, couldn't fathom it, still processing it, etc as I left the theater.
I personally really fell for the film, I'm an observant girl so this was really my cup of tea. One of the festival directors briefly spoke about it before the film began and described it as a keenly observant film and to pay close attention.
Basically you've a persistent fellow in Strasbourg whom is looking for 'Sylvia', a girl he made a connection at a bar 6 years before which sends him on a sort of 'stalkerish' pace through Strasbourg. Very beautifully shot, unique, street artists may enjoy this as well, lots of angles I've never seen before - mainly of people, facial expressions and the like. All and all I'd recommend it to the open minded.

I hope those of you who've seen it have enjoyed it as well.

Best of luck to all who was involved in the film!

[–] crappydoo 16 years ago

Well observed, raspberryjamlove. I simply loved this one and I believe that the director had gone back to the roots of cinema and delivered to us a piece of art using the media of visuals, sound and atmosphere similar to how Kubrick also did in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The result is a beutiful sense of peace and tranquility amongst the audience members.

[–] r-a-stone 15 years ago

Yes, this is a carefully, lovingly calibrated construction of time and space by means of framing, focus and editing of sound and picture. Pure cinema, in other words. The first sequence in the cafe is a masterclass of framing and editing, playing on the audience's construction of narrative in a manner that draws on allusions to Rohmer. Maybe, to be fair, the various females are a bit too pretty to be wholly convincing as passers-by and cafe clientele, but then this also relates to Godard's adoration of Anna Karina in time-images that deliberately stall the narrative and prompt questions of the value and meaning of the aesthetic experience of just observing the figure in the frame (and query why shouldn't that figure be gorgeous?). Thereafter, the construction of the time and space of the city streets is masterful. Each time the camera returns to specific streets they are different places, different times; perhaps in one such branch of time he'll find the girl he met 6 years ago?

[–] prodigylover 15 years ago

The film it most reminded me of was Tati's Playtime. Guerin's city -- with its bustling ambient noise, prominent and recurring extras, constant background action, wry sense of humor, and its use of scenery as a kind of character -- reminded me a lot of Tativille. Fun and meditative at the same time.