Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The Fifth Element (1997)












The Fifth Element is one of those movies that is rooted deep in my childhood/adolescent years (which seems to be a recurring theme in most of my posts this summer - byproduct of being homesick). I watched it again recently when I had some downtime and I realized I hadn't properly said anything about it here. Anyway, for some reason during the late 90's it was always on TV on the weekends and my sister and I would plop ourselves down on the floor/couch to watch. At first it was a cheesy guilty pleasure - I'd laugh at the slow, dim-witted Mangalores, be utterly bewildered by the insanity of the costumes (all designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier!), and overall just wondered who could pull off making this insane movie.

With repeat viewings it really started to grow on me - all the little details (cigarettes that are mostly filter to help you quit, an automatic Chanel makeup kit), the rich scenery and atmosphere, the memorable characters, all make for an amazing cult classic. Milla Jovovich, fantastic as the divine being Leeloo, Bruce Willis of course as the badass former Special Forces turned cab-driver Korben Dallas, Gary Oldman as one of my favorite villains Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, Chris Tucker as flamboyant radio personality Ruby Rhod, and Iam Holm as Father Vito Cornelius - all give perfect performances that make the Fifth Element a rich, cohesive whole.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thousands of miles away and we STILL are thinking the same. The Fifth Element's been on my mind a lot these past few days, wtf. As I was looking through the pictures you posted I was so happy to see you included a shot of the quit smoking cigarettes!!! Love.