Model Shop (1969)

Thanks for the memories!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Crappy film

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Model Shop (1969) Director: Jacques Demy Watched: May 2018 Rating: 5/10 An "A" for effort, Proves Demy should stick with French, Not co-writing this. George refuses work, Loves a girl he hardly knows, Fears the draft and death? Abysmal acting, Especially Hays who has No language excuse! Aimée plays "Lola", With far less dazzle this time, Though still beautiful. Props for nostalgic L.A., "Spirit" band, life insight quotes. #HaikuSonnet #PoemReview #French ---- Haiku Sonnets are comprised of 4 3-line haiku plus a couplet of either 5 or 7 syllables, totaling 14 lines, the same number of lines found in a sonnet. (5-7-5, 5-7-5, 5-7-5, 5-7-5, 7-7/5-5) The perfect pairing of Asian and Western poetry?

I saw this movie last night in T.C.M i am a big fan of Anouk Aimee i have see more than few of her movies and always love the way she look even today as an older lady, the movie is slow but very romantic and very sixties , Aimee play this type of prostitute living in USA and she meet this guy younger than her and he fall in love with her i think she play the same part as her other Demy movie Lola, Anouk all the time is wearing white and she was in her late 30s i have to said very few actress are as beautiful and perfect as Aimee, i like the movie very much the first time i saw a movie with Aimee was called A second change she play the friend of Catherine Deneuve by this time she was older but beautiful, the actor Jean luis trintignat said aimeee and bardot were not good actresses but good to look at

The empty lives of a would-be architect and a bored French woman collide in Jacques Demy's American film. It's not dull, but it's not easy to sit through either. What the viewer is expected to get out of this is anyone's guess. Gary Lockwood carries the film as a kid about to be drafted and Anouk Aimee plays the French woman. They're fine but Aimee's command of the English language is pretty distracting. She's very distant and it's impossible to tell if that's the actress or the character she's playing. She is of course stunning (and never looked more like Sophia Loren). The film, set in Los Angeles, makes good use of the Sunset Strip. With the terrible Alexandra Hay as Lockwood's frustrated girlfriend and Severn Darden, who has one creepy line of dialog.

Two somewhat lost souls are studied in this ambling, low-key film, covering a 24-hour period. Lockwood plays a 26 year-old architect student who's left his job because things aren't happening quickly enough for him and he's disenchanted with the time it takes to really make a mark in the field. He lives with his actress girlfriend Hay who, while maybe not soaring to the top, is at least on a track to someplace, unlike him. With money scarce, his car is about to be repossessed unless he can cough up $100. Aimee plays a remote, austere French woman who catches his eye and who he practically stalks in order to meet. Their simultaneously simple, yet complex, existences collide briefly with each giving the other a portion of what's missing in his or her life. Lockwood (who's looking very fit and hunky here) tries to give his often-expository dialogue a realistic, unaffected touch, but often he's defeated by the contrivance and occasional pontificating nature of his lines. He's understated to the point of near disinterest at times. However, he's intriguing enough to hold attention most of the movie. Hay is clearly trying, but she just doesn't have the acting skill or ease of manner to put her character across without seeming forced and unnatural. Top-billed Aimee, who actually has a smallish role, is appropriately jaded and mysterious (and compelling looking), but is almost a little too vague to really grab hold of the viewer. This was director Demy's only Hollywood film and his lack of grasp with the language translates to his cast. It's clear that he didn't have the security with English in order to help his actors massage the dialogue and make it sound as comfortable and as dynamic as it needed to be. Too frequently, lines are delivered with the wrong words emphasized and this bleeds away some of the impact of them. The film does afford a priceless view of Los Angeles in the mid-60s and fans of vintage automobiles ought to have a field day ogling the many, many cars of the era that Lockwood drives alongside in his frequent sojourns on the road. Music in the film vacillates between songs by the group Spirit and classical selections, all of which, in a very odd decision, appear to come from the very same radio station in Lockwood's car!! Cultural touchstones such as rock music and underground/independent newspapers (as well as a seedy model-for-hire joint) provide some moments of interest amid the soul-searching and almost dreamlike meandering of Lockwood. This is definitely not a film for everyone, but for those inclined it's worth a look.