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Posted: Tue., May 27, 2008, 4:28pm PT

Cannes

Monsieur Morimoto

(France)

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A Tricycle production, in co-production with Chaya Films, Les Films de la Jetee, Les Productions du Sommeil. (International sales: Tricycle, Paris.) Produced by Nicola Sornaga, Henri Zylnicki, Pierre Nicholas Combe. Directed by Nicola Sornaga. Screenplay, Sornaga, Salvatore Sansone.

With: Morimoto Kenichi, Eve Gollac, Vicki de Sainte Hermine, Lola Gonzales, Andre S. Labarthe.

Unable to speak French, an elderly Japanese painter wanders through Paris' Belleville looking for a place to sleep in tedious comedy "Monsieur Morimoto," a self-indulgent second feature from French helmer Nicola Sornaga. Playing like some juvenilia the Dada group might have cobbled together, nonsensical no-budgeter boasts long monologues recited by the neighborhood demimonde, with over-the-top perfs and homemovie-like lensing. At the press conference, Sornaga noted he worked against a "dictatorship of the script." It shows. Prospects outside France are nil.

Evicted from his apartment, eccentric, white-bearded Monsieur Morimoto (Morimoto Kenichi) meanders around the streets of the 20th arrondissement, dragging his colorful artwork "Dance Butterfly." He encounters a wild-eyed royalist (Vicki de Sainte Hermine), as well as the operator of a marionette theater (sometime helmer Andre S. Labarthe) and his slutty daughter (Lola Gonzales). In the park, he discovers a not-so-innocent Eve (Eve Gollac) who later steals his painting. More visually interesting than these shenanigans are short interludes featuring an odd-looking cat puppet with wings. Like the acting and script, the tech package leaves a lot to be desired.

Camera (color, DV); editors, Franck Littot, Melanie Pavy, Caroline Shaw; music, Franck Williams, Fantazio; production designer, Patrick Chauveau; sound (Dolby Digital) Nelly Gourves, Laurent Gabiot, Dana Fazanehpour. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (Directors' Fortnight), May 23, 2008. French, Japanese, English dialogue. Running time: 122 MIN.

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