Cafe de Flore (Jean-Marc Vallee, 2011)

7.5/10
I would have to think, that in most reviews of Cafe de Flore, the word "ambitious" cropped up quite a bit. I wouldn't disagree. It's an impressive twisting of two seemingly unrelated stories, one in Montreal in 2011 and another in Paris in 1969. In addition to trying to figure out how these stories will come together, we're also tasked with figuring out the stories themselves, which are presented in jagged and knotted forms. To me, there's a thin line between a movie unveiling its surprises organically, and a director intentionally withholding information from the audience to create these surprises artificially. I felt more often than not, CdF fell on the side of the latter. Both timelines, and the grand connection as a whole, are so obfuscated it made me wish more time was spent on the story and a little less time on the surrounding smoke and mirrors. I was reminded of a very relevant lyric by the end of the movie - "the time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say".
But I will definitely say that the smoke and mirrors were impressive. I give the movie a lot of credit for telling a couple of interesting stories in a highly unique manner, and for making the way these stories connected credible. A heap of praise is also deserved for the soundtrack (and for the central theme of the importance of music as well). God knows that Sigur Ros don't need any accompanying pictures to evoke emotion, and "Dark Side of the Moon" already carries 40 years worth of baggage with it. But the movie used this and other music in a very authentic, natural, and credible way - rather than feeling like the director is just bragging about the stuff on his iPod, a la Cameron Crowe.
I don't typically get the urge to watch a movie a second time to better "figure it out", but I did get that feeling with Cafe de Flore. Even though I think I got the general idea, a second viewing certainly wouldn't hurt. I'd also really like to see the director's previous effort, C.R.A.Z.Y., as I've been putting that off for ages as well. If it's half as ambitious as Cafe de Flore, I'm sure it'll be worthy of interest as well.