With a single dessert and just two glasses of wine our bill was kept in check - but the effort of doing so was not much fun
Babbo
Film
This is a film with beautiful performances and a visual style that urges you towards reflection
Bright Star
Theatre
Although the first half of Kwei-Armah’s production is pacy, funny and intelligent, the energy level then drops off
Seize The Day
I loved this film from start to finish. Take the girlfriend, tell your mum - I'd see it again tomorrow and will buy the dvd.
I saw this last night and can't remember the last time I was so moved in the theatre.
I have been to many of London's so-called best Japanese restaurants and none have been as good as the food that I've had at Aqua Kyoto
London,
Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Luc Jacquet.
Cast: Bertille Noel-Bruneau
Description: A freckled, red-haired 10-year-old girl merrily traipses along a woodland path, surrounded by the colours of autumn, until she spies a fox. Enchanted by the majestic creature, who she christens Lily, the girl arrogantly decides to impose herself on this untouched wilderness. "I decided I would tame the fox... I had no idea it was the beginning of a great adventure," she confides excitedly. The girl spends long hours shadowing the fox, until a broken limb forces her to spend much of the winter at home, recuperating with a cast. When spring arrives, the meddlesome tyke gets her wish and she attempts to domesticate the fox, with truly horrific consequences.
Country: FR. 2007. 94mins
Doggy tale: the scenery of the French Alps is the film's real star
This French film from Luc Jacquet, narrated by Kate Winslet in its English version, is set on the mountainsides of Ain. Like March of the Penguins, the director's successful first feature-length film, it is ravishingly shot.
It tells a simple tale about a little girl who makes friends with a fox but finally realises that to love doesn't necessarily mean to possess. Children will undoubtedly adore the film, and the local tourist board will probably have to take its phones off the hook.
Unlike Penguins, it is not nearly ruined by a maudlin American-style commentary, since Winslet has reasonably unsentimental lines and handles them well. But it does suffer, like Penguins, from a swirling and repetitive music score overlaying nearly every scene.
It wins most of its points because the vixen, who ever so gingerly becomes the girl's friend before reverting to the wild again, is not painted as a human with nice fur and a beguiling disposition. She's an animal who can just about be persuaded to climb the stairs to the girl's bedroom but soon gets hysterics, smashes up the room and jumps through the the window.
A vixen called Titus plays the part and very nicely, too, while the girl (Bertille Noel-Bruneau) has a charming smile and a look of wonder that's entirely appropriate.
But when all is said and done, it's the Alpine scenery that steals the picture as we go through the seasons before concentrating on a gloriously-hued autumn. I hope it wasn't tarted up with CG effects - it doesn't look like it.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
A lovely film to watch and an insight into animal behaviour and a child who appears refreshingly natural, happy to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. This film is remarkable in that the acting of both the girl and the fox (the only two characters) don't appear contrived at all making it both interesting and absorbing. The scenery is beautiful as the seasons change; to watch the young foxes play in the sun is a joy. There are highs and lows and may be worrying for a young child under 6 as in the scene where the girl is lost in the caves and forest at night, and the fox is badly injured. On the whole an ideal film for a children and adults of most ages.
The Fox and the Girl is a stunning film which leaves you wondering how the scenes with the fox were so cleverly filmed, not to mentioned all the other animals involved. A real treat not to be missed!
- Reeves, Hemel Hempstead, England
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