I just watched this terrific French film called Le dernier métro, or The Last Metro, about a theatre in World War II-era Paris. Like many European films — like the other two French films I’ve seen, that is to say — it is more about the fascinating and very important relationships between people than the twisting or grandiose storylines of many American films. The characters are as much a mystery to the viewer as they are to each other, and it is in the discovery of the characters’ real feelings and motives that the audience is satisfied.

As this is my first review here in my blog of blogs, I suppose I should set down some little review guidelines. Basically, I can’t often remember a lot of details and examples of things I can talk about objectively from a movie or play or what have you. I either liked it or I didn’t, sometimes to varying degrees that I will try to make clear. To keep it simple, though, because of my shortcomings as a critic and because of what I myself would like to see in reviews or recommendations, I will just give a sort sort of thumbs up or thumbs down and maybe sometimes a neutral — there’s no way I can score on any sort of point or star scale. I’ll also try to give a concise explanation of why I did or didn’t like a movie (book, show, etc.). That said, we’ll see how it works out and if I can’t find some nifty little icons for “recommend,” “don’t recommend,” and “neutral.”

In the meantime, I’ll just say that I really enjoyed this film and very much recommend it.