Michel Gondry

I Believe in Unicorns Natalia Dyer

EIFF 2014: ‘I Believe in Unicorns’ is a fanciful ode to the American road movie

I Believe in Unicorns is an ode to the American road movie that wears its influences on its sleeve. Particularly reverential to Terrence Malick’s Badlands, it even uses a version of its famous ‘Gassenhauer’ theme, although it must be said that other films have done the same. Despite drawing heavily from these renowned sources, first-time writer-direction Leah Meyerhoff isn’t simply mimicking her idols. By explicitly placing her film within this tradition, she’s able to critique the hopeless romanticism of her central character and scrutinise the naivety of her escape.

Audrey Tatou and Romain Duris in Cloud in Paris in Mood Indigo

GFF 2014: Michel Gondry’s ‘Mood Indigo’ is ambitious, unrestrained and utterly transportive

Adapted from Boris Vian’s cult novel, commonly translated as Froth on the Daydream, Michel Gondry’s latest film is a riotous, whimsical journey with a lot more to say than initially meets the eye. The opening sequence threatens to drown you in a cavalcade of offbeat animation and special effects, including a stop motion eel, an insect-like doorbell, a TV chef who passes ingredients through the screen and a miniature man dressed up like a mouse. Gondry’s indulgence throws down the gauntlet right away – either you’re in or you’re out. Mood Indigo can be bewildering, exasperating, infuriating, but, then again, it can be utterly transportive.

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