I love Agnes varda, her whimsy, her pluck, her imagination. But this film is one silly lemon that does not fit into to Varda's usually creative body of work. To be blunt, the film is only a pretext to get very famous names on the screen for 5 seconds or 5 minutes on a flimsy pretense of a script. Varda is lucky: she has the clout and longevity in cinema that allows her to call on all these big names and get an answer (heaven, even Robert de Niro and Harrison Ford showed up for their cameos!) but there is no plot, or a sophomoric one, and hardly any thread to get moved by. It is a nice collection of cinematic quotations, visual or oral, and a nutty collection of famous faces that were asked to show up probably only to increase the chances of this dud to interest any audience. It is light and inoffensive, but so silly at time that one is bewildered: all that time and money for this self absorbed nonsense? An homage to cinema? Naw. Mostly of waste of time for all involved. I am glad Varda has done many better films to be remembered by.

I'll try to be brief, as usual in my posts on the board. I've always suspected Mrs Varda's work to be part of the Demy mystique not only in kinship. Part of is, certainly, in a way ironic people would expect: there's so much sadness and gloom (Demy's touch) underlying the simple joy in life it can only pass in the work's blood by language (usually faked for the circumstance and made to cheat on everyone, Varda's touch for instance).Take actors for example: they are known for having motors like greed, or jealousy. Movie world asks for this, and this is public's demand, so there's no way it can possibly end. This is timeless as cinema is- and the current devout to this transmission of aloofness, and also feverish love, so Mr Simon Cinéma's childish, ever-cheating, ever- awesome Michel Piccoli is never to die, an ever jealous, ever sentimental, born to play this metaphor man who is Cinema as a whole, is essentially language, not picture. There's something more sordid about this film either- not even its "in- your-face" approach (somehow (curiously, Varda's hypocritical touch) a five year old could see this film and enjoy it- why not, this is playful too) and past the "greatest movie moments and quotes" is his belief in nostalgia. It's shocking when you think this was thought of as a tribute essentially. It plays with your nerves and brains, even though it gives you a feeling of "you were never there, but WE were. Nay, you just sat there but you were NEVER there" (and this is missing a whole lot of the film's initial purposes, as well as the movie-crazy audiences in the first place). So this film is a lack of respect and a sh!thole, playing for what it has never invented, and only playing with the minds of the movie-crazy-audiences mentalities it should respect in the first place. Don't be fooled, brethren.

If you love film, and especially if you love French films, this small gem of a movie will get under your skin delightfully. Agnes Varda has created an utterly engaging, witty, wry, self-deprecating and altogether irresistible tribute to the directors and stars of classic French cinema and some American ones as well. Varda manages to poke fun at all the ridiculous pretentiousness of movie-making while understanding all the reasons why we---audience and actors and filmmakers alike---still fall hopelessly, helplessly, and contentedly in love with the magic of moving pictures. See this movie on a warm summer night with someone you love and who also loves the movies...

Agnes Varda, one of the best film directors from France, takes us on a nostalgic trip through the world of cinema. Ms. Varda pays homage to the Lumiere brothers, the inventors that revolutionized the art of making movies, as they keep appearing whenever Simon Cinema, the old character at the center of the film calls for them. The two men show up enveloped in lights, perhaps a tribute and a reference to their surname.The film concentrates on Simon Cinema and his memories. After all, he has been around for quite a while and has survived many movements and styles during his time as a creator. Simon lives in splendor in a château in the country, attended by his male servant, Firmin, and two maids. Simon decides to employ an assistant to help him sort out his memories. When he engages the lovely Camille, he gets an eager young woman who is in love with a young would be director.There are great moments in the film as when Simon is visited by Marcello Mastroianni. Both actors, now of a certain age, compare notes from their pictures. Simon Cinema accuses Fellini of copying his bathroom scene in Godadard's "Contempt", in his own "8-1/2". Hanna Schygula and Jeanne Moreau arrive together to see the great man. Alain Delon comes in a helicopter, only to be turned away by Firmin, the servant, who only wants to tell the actor how much he admired him and have him sign his autograph album.There are other poignant vignettes, like the one involving Sandrine Bonnaire, who arrives at the estate dressed as the vagabond she played in Ms. Varda's own film. Then she changes into a noble woman and finally she transforms herself into Joan of Arc. Catherine Deneuve and Robert DeNiro have a good time together in a small vessel in the pond.Michel Picolli is excellent as the older man who is recalling the movies. Julie Gayet makes a luminous contribution as Camille. Henri Garcin, is the servant Firmin, a crazy combination of servant and personal assistant. Mathieu Demy, the director's son appears as the aspiring director, Mica.Ms. Varda created a light film about making movies. The material covers many years of film making, not only in France, but in America, and other places as well. It is indeed a sentimental journey that no cinema fan should miss.