Love Songs
(1984 aka Paroles et Musique/Somerville
House DVD)
Picture:
D Sound: C- Extras: D Film: D
Believe
it or not, there are movies out there that are too crappy for TV syndication. Case in point: Elie Chouraqui’s Love Songs (1984). This French film follows the story of two
struggling musicians and the married-but-separated woman that one of them falls
for. This plot is maddeningly slow on
top of being entirely uninteresting. Plus, the entire movie is punctuated with
horrible ‘80s mellow jazz/rock song sequences and just generally saturated with
every part of the ‘80s that we don’t love.
The
picture quality has clearly not stood the test of time with a slight blur over
everything. It is presented in anamorphically
enhanced 1.78:1 widescreen and has softness throughout despite this. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound quality is better,
but considering the music in this film, it would be a mercy if it weren’t. The only extra features are a theatrical
trailer with no English subtitles and a stills gallery.
Really
the only pleasure to be had from this movie is from watching Christopher
Lambert (The Highlander, Greystoke – The Legend of Tarzan, The Sicilian, Rayden from the first Mortal Kombat) dress up like Nash
Bridges and make a fool of himself. But
after about ten minutes you start to wonder why you’re still watching, even
with Catherine Deneuve here. If you make
it through the entire 107 minutes of this movie then you’re obviously on the
worst plane ride of all time or you’ve integrated it into your S&M/bondage
play. Here’s a hint, the safe word is
“Eject”.
- Matthew Carrick
