Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Dansmith14 I had always winced at the idea of watching The Big Blue - the title, on release, put me off. Anyway, for my 48th birthday I puckered up and watched it; and what a relief I have. It's a great film...very mildly directed, but actually puts a bit of magic back into film (are you listening, Hollywood?) The acting is first-rate; and there is a great number of stars, which is good for people of a certain age (yes, I do mean me).Technically and Production Value-wise it is a peerless. Luc Besson sure knows how to place the camera for the maximum reward; and the music is faint, yet pleasing, courtesy of Eric Serra.Lovely to watch, it has put a spring in my step all day.

FiveAlpha ThreeBravo Classic Luc Besson - slightly surreal, other-worldly story about free-diving.Beautifully-shot, this film tells the story of childhood friends and free-divers Jacques and Enzo, and Besson cleverly captures their slowed-heart-rate world, in a relaxed, slow-pace film. Even when there is excitement, it feels slow-motion, from the camera angles and lighting, to the musical score, which also has an ethereal quality.It's a dreamlike film, well-shot and well-acted - on the edge of 'art house' but with enough to be popular with regular blockbuster watchers as well.Give it a look, if you haven't already. 8/10

Citizen_Auteur Before a reviewer pans a movie, you should know something about that person...I enjoy avant garde and foreign movies. Especially movies that are not the typical Hollywood block buster.The Big Blue isn't a typical Hollywood movie, it's a French produced film. It's a meandering, tedious 2 hours and 48 minutes of pointless scenes, that have no reason for being spliced into the film other than the director shot them.The idea of the movie would seem to be a winner: Two men who love free diving and have known and competed with each other since childhood are engaged in a dangerous contest to break the world's record in free diving. Sounds good but...The movie misses the mark by a mile. The acting, if you can call it that is ridiculous. The characters seem to be in some state of daze and behave in a unbelievable manner. And the script? It seems to have been written without any skill level at all.Rosanna Arquette and Jean-Marc Barr characters might be the stupidest written characters in cinema. Which is sad for both the actors, if they had been given some sort of a decent script to work with, they might have looked better.

dmh-gunson This movie has become part of my psyche. With very few words from the protagonists, the film manages to leave the viewer with a philosophy to challenge every day norms of thinking about existence and the meaning and value of life.There are pictorial essays about nature, the environment and man's place in the world. There are subtle hints at the possibility of returning to simpler modes of life style and alternative/counter-culture.There is a very clear theme of respect for others and respect for nature.There is also a wonderfully gentle reminder that not every editorial of the mind is worthy of publishing. Sometimes that which is left unsaid has a greater impact than the spoken word.I truly love this film and I am grateful to its makers for bringing it to life.