Dorathen Better Late Then Never

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Hulkeasexo it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Wyatt There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

rsoonsa Four years were necessary by this film's creative team to raise funding adequate for screening the work, with its setting in Montreal, and its essence as a narrative wayward albeit its production characteristics may well offset its storyline weaknesses for some who will view it by video tape. Winner of a record-setting 13 Genie Awards (Canada's "Oscar" equivalent), the film was the directorial début for Jean-Claude Lauzon, who received a standing ovation at Cannes in 1987 after the picture's showing there, the audience obviously of the belief that there were more than enough artistically positive elements within it to counterbalance its patchwork plot. Lauzon directed but two films prior to his death caused by piloting his airplane into the side of a mountain. He once stated of himself "I always need to be in motion", and this trait, in conjunction with a career background in advertising, probably accounts in part for his maintenance of a frenetic pace for this violence weighted affair. As action begins, Marcel (Gilles Maheu) is being stripped of any dignity that he may have possessed by being forcibly sodomized within his prison cell, and soon after we watch him exit from the prison after completing a two year sentence for some type of narcotics violation. Marcel returns to his apartment that he somehow has managed to retain during his absence and is immediately after visited by a pair of dishonest police detectives who demand $200,000 in cash that he "owes" to them and which he apparently has secreted in too cunning a manner for them to uncover. One of the detectives, George (Lorne Brass) is a homosexual steeped in sadism and it is Marcel's determined efforts to keep the hidden money from the duo while fiercely struggling physically against them that comprise about half of a plot line which also focuses upon the young man's endeavour to repair a severed relationship with his dying father (Roger Le Bel). While Marcel's behaviour upon occasion seems to be vacant of sensate purpose, a viewer will be thankful that his girl friend's appearances in the film are brief, and that the bizarre climactic scenes involving father and son are not lengthier. Some of the film's setups must be deemed as intentionally, in addition to symbolically, grotesque, and there are too many instances when both logic and continuity go begging. Endeavours by a viewer to hearken back to any sort of justification for such episodes will be futile. The earnestly diligent cast members work at creating their roles, with Brass being especially effective as an unprincipled policeman. Dialogue is largely Québécois with a sprinkling of English. Subtitles in the latter tongue are for the most part accurate. Although difficulty for viewers to ken a meandering narrative will be a bit of an impediment, the film is not dull. Well past the film's initial release date, the many awards given it for performances by its crew members are completely understandable, as production quality is never less than excellent. However, the general acclaim from Canada and at Cannes might lead one to presume that its competition may have been, at best, somewhat weak.

raychenier In my opinions of course...This film is to be appreciated by those with a bit of insight (or at least a desire to experience different things), an open mind, and sick of same old predictable script hollywood cr*p. If hollywood is your basis for comparison, Un Zoo la Nuit will either enrich your understanding of what movies should be, or show you that you should stick to with hollywood flicks. Not that hollywood doesn't put out good movies. It's just finding that one in a few hundred movies that winds up being a gem.Un Zoo la Nuit is a depiction of deceit, drugs, and dysfunctional human relationships. The father/son relationship is classic, sad. Some scenes are extremely memorable (of course the prison rape scene isn't, but things like that do happen in that real world out there). This movie is not brain dead, it might make you think about your situation and of those around you... The son's emotions of love and compassion come through clearly with his father and you are forced to feel for that relationship. The relationship takes a surrealistic twist when it becomes clear no time is left to catch up. However, the son remains a crook and a murderer.There are no good guys in this movie. Not the stuff of hollywood.What hollywood did to the original versions of Nikita and The Vanishing, just as a couple of examples, should be enough to turn anyone off. When Pacino kills Deniro at the end of Heat, it's just plain wrong!!! :)If you want something that is even more outside the box than Un Zoo la Nuit, check out the recent Maelstom with Croze. Keep an open mind with the fish... But again, a realistic and honest view at real humans.

Jean-Luc-3 It has its shocking elements, but Un Zoo La Nuit is, in the end, a touching film about a son trying to re-establish his relationship with his dying father. The zoo surreal zoo scene is particularily touching, in which the father and son, in an attempt to relive their past by going hunting, shoot an elephant with a sleeping dart gun and put him to sleep. Overall, a well-executed and thoughtful movie.

swan_pr ...Even in death. This movie is more than anything anyone can tell you about it. It is not a cop-action movie, not a sociological study, nor an emotional drama. What you will find yourself watching is what you want to really see. But what mostly comes through, however the director gets there, is the love lost between a father and a son. The father having never questioned his love for his son, the son never having thought about his love for his father. They come together after events in the son's life that could be any other hardship a man goes through in his life. This time it's prison.So the premice is not that original... So the treatment is a bit artsy. But the emotions that flare up between the two men are stronger than the story line, and the acting is what makes it all seem so close to home. The fear of rejection that parents feel when they see their child become an adult, and the feelings of being controlled by their parents, that adults still feel because they haven't grown up yet.A wonderful movie, powerful, simple in it's message but complex in it's meaning. I would pay anytime to watch it again!