This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”. To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry.
Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond)
Did you ever have the experience where you would go to the video store and see a movie and think you'd like to get it every time you go in, but you always end up picking something else you think you're a little more in the mood for? But somehow you always look at this movie and mull it over. And the more and more you do this, the more and more you start to get an idea of what the movie is like in your head so you can convince yourself whether or not you can see it. And the longer and longer you think about it without choosing it, the more you have to think about it again next time. And eventually, based on looking at the cover so many times, and reading the synopsis and just imagining the movie, you almost create an entire movie in you head (this might actually be a good way to write a script). Of course when you finally do see the movie, it would be pretty amazing if it actually was even close to this totally detached and slightly informed idea you had in your head that ballooned and was built off previous assumptions.
I'm saying that because it happened to me with this movie. And this isn't the only one. With so many movies on my list of movies to see, this is bound to happen a lot.
Actually some of the mood was similar to what I was expecting. But I think I was expecting the protagonist to be a bit more sympathetic. Someone who was beaten down and forgotten by her society despite her good attitude and kind heart. Well I would say in this movie there were lots of times that society did treat her badly, but her attitude was generally worse. Of course there were times when people were very kind and helped her out, and there were also times when she had a good attitude as well. I guess the aimlessness of it all without really any interesting consistency to hold on to was what kept the film from being great in my mind.
It still certainly had it's enchanting moments though. Actually the landscapes and locations were usually more interesting to me than the characters. There were some interesting buildings and places and images that I don't think I'd ever seen or pictured before.
Rating: 7/10