Hold the Fromage, s'il vous plait

If you're a European film buff like me, and you're not completely exhausted by last year's onslaught of apocalyptic end-of-existence sci fi offerings, then rent Delicatessen - an absurdist French film available (suprisingly) at your local Blockbuster.

The movie takes place in a disintegrated society where FOOD is a precious resource. Folks in this world have resorted to - you guessed it - selective cannibalism as a survival tactic. The action takes place in one of the few apartment buildings left, where an evil Superintendant rules over his tenants with an iron fist, selecting which unfortunate soul will die a grisly death to ensure the survival of the rest, who must pay for their meat with precious stockpiles of grains and vegetables. The Superintendant's eventual downfall comes with the intervention of an underground resistance group, the VEGETARIANS!

The most prominent feature of the film is its original, absurdist take on the end-of-the-world theme. In true absurdist style, the characters and story are both hilarious and heartbreaking, and, when viewed in a metaphorical light, profoundly meaningful for our real lives today. For example: there is one sub-plot in which a man must make the decision to sacrifice his 99-year old mother under pressure from society. How many of us today make a similar decision to commit our loved ones to life support or to a nursing home?

The film achieves the honorable: it is visually stunning without sacrificing complex characterizations or its well-structured story. Budding independent film directors take note: this film achieves its rich visuals simply with creative compositions of the shots, and close detail to color and light, not expensive special effects.

Some viewers may be turned off by the film's break-neck pace and ultra-fast dialogue: the French language and subtitles complicate things. I solved this problem by watching Delicatessen more than once (a practice I rarely indulge in).

If you like Delicatessen, you will also like Jean et Caro's "City of Lost Children" - a similarly-themed, more ambitious follow-up, which the directors deemed would be their last film together. (Here's hoping they someday change their minds.) Another recommendation: "Dark City", an American film that unfortunately got very little theatre time, but one which I found very, very moving and, again, did not sacrifice story in spite of complex and layered visual quality.