City of Lost Children City of Lost Children You can have your Tarantino-Schwarzenegger-Stallone-pumped-up-on-steroids-Hollywood action flick any day. It's not often you get to see a truly entertaining, twisted, and imaginative story with visual effects that are straight out of a dream, or a nightmare.
"The City of Lost Children" is one of these films. Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunot, who last brought us the whacked-out, post-apocalyptic "Delicatessen," directed this amazing piece of work.
The characters include an acromegalic strongman named One, played by Ron Perlman; a smart young orphan named Miette; a set of Siamese twins nicknamed The Octopus; six genetically engineered clones; a talking brain inside what looks like a fish tank; a trained flea; and a mad genius whose only flaw is, he cannot dream.
To work around this flaw, Krank, the genius, kidnaps children from the nearby town to steal their dreams. But after seeing him, their dreams turn out to be nightmares, so he must find a child who is not afraid of him.
It's a disturbing view, not quite as much fun as "Delicatessen," but definitely worth the time and effort. "The City of Lost Children" is in limited release around the country, so be sure to go find it.
Copyright 1996 Alex Lau