Thaumatrope Features: Blueberry (2004)

Historical Note: A very early version of a "magic lantern" was invented in the 17th century by Athanasius Kircher in Rome. It was a device with a lens that projected images from transparencies onto a screen, with a simple light source (such as a candle). In 1824, the Thaumatrope was invented by (the earliest version of an optical illusion toy that exploited the concept of "persistence of vision") by Dr. John Ayrton Paris. (Film History Before 1820 by Tim Dirks)

Today's posting represents the first of my "Thaumatrope Features", an opportunity for me to reflect on a recently viewed (or rewatched) motion picture or television show that might be of interest.

First a confession... I dig French movies. In particular, I enjoy French action movies. An oxymoron, you say? Au contrar mon firer. This appreciation began, I think, with my first viewing of the movie Léon (1994), more commonly known on these shores as The Professional, starring Jean Reno and directed by Luc Besson. After Besson's Amercian "hit" The Fifth Element (1997), the flood gates opened. While some French directors have found some success in the American marketplace (most notably Besson and Christophe Gans), others have just made interesting films, often with "big" American actors, which have not found much of an American audience. Director Jan Kounen has done a little of both.

Perhaps motivated by my recent affection for the HBO show Deadwood, I recently took another look at Kounen's 2004 psuedo-spiritual Western Blueberry. While this movie had been on my media radar prior to its intended release, due primarily to the sbuject matter (based on a popular French graphuc novel) and its star (Vincent Cassel), it was not widely released in theaters here. It did, however, eventually get released on DVD as Renegade...IMDB.com sums the plot up thusly:

In the 1870's, U.S Marshal Mike S. Blueberry tries to stop Wally Blount, the man who killed his girlfriend, from getting to a stockpile of gold hidden in Indian territory. On his way, he meets Prosit, a German villain on a persistent mission to find gold in the Superstition Mountains.

This would be a good summary if it were to cinlude the real draw of the movie: long monologues about "the warrior's way," crazy Native American-inspired vision quests, hallucigenic visions, and a final peyote-fueled "battle" between an evil spirit snake-man, Blount (Micheal Madsen), and Frenchman gone way-native, Blueberry (Cassel). Throw in performances by Ernest Borgnine, Colm Meaney (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator), Temuera Morrison (Star Wars Episode 2), and Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear) and you have one crazy ass Love Boat of a movie.

"Animals are beasts, but men are monsters."~Wallace Blount (Micheal Madsen)in Blueberry

Yes, friends, it IS as whack as it sounds, and if you are looking for a beautifully shot, bizarre, yet oddly engaging, blend of Euro-American movie-making... this is it.

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!