Please don't spend money on this.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

............................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, COLOMBIA and ORLANDO, FL Go to the IMDb.com Search-Window and enter the title: "Paris 36" and what do you get?...VOILA! "Faubourg 36"! Therein lies the problem: Apparently, someone set out to make ONE movie...and ended up making a completely DIFFERENT one! This bizarre Paris/Faubourg dichotomy plagues the movie throughout, but particularly during the last half! Paris did, however, get off to a relatively good start...Showing a lot of promise, in a number of different areas: The interaction between lead characters seemed brisk and focused; the sets had a very authentic mid-30's Paris look and feel; Music that had just the right mix of melancholy, nostalgia and pre-war glibness and sung with just the right inflection and ring; plus, different engaging back stories....But it all starts sputtering about half way through. Paris spins out of control and becomes a total mess. Absolutely nothing works! I can't imagine what was going though Writer/Director Christophe Barratier's mind, as he pressed on with this project! As "Paris" progresses, the characters' actions became constantly more erratic, unpredictable and demonstrate a continually escalating degree of incongruity with the personality and motives of each character. Protagonists capriciously waltzed in and out of the movie, with little or no explanation or raison d'etre. Because of this, the last half of "Paris" takes on a deus ex machina tainted storyline much more akin to a fairy tale or the romantic daydreams of a 13 year-old Parisian girl. Maybe Paris would have been much easier to follow in the original French. The sub-titles are shamelessly below par. Only about 50% of the dialog actually appears on screen! Thusly, you end up missing HALF of the film! First Half = 8*, Last Half = 2*...OVERALL: 5*....ENJOY/DISFRUTELA?!?!?Any comments, questions or observations, in English or Español, are most welcome! KissEnglishPasto@Yahoo.com

"Paris 36" as this film is known in America, takes a look back to an era before the madness that fell upon Europe with the arrival of WWII and its after effects. The setting for the story is an old music hall where vaudeville-like acts are performed, mostly for the people of that Parisian quarter where the theater was located. A nostalgic look at that time is what is at the heart of this French film.Written and directed by Christophe Barratier, the man that gave us "The Chorus", it is a film that evidently resonated with a lot of viewers that enjoyed the story of the old place. There are several themes running in the narrative like the clash of the emerging Social Democrats the party that admired its German neighbor and the leftist ideas from Leo Blum, an advocate for more radical views. Anti-Semitism, the loss of a son after a separation, a love story, are all interspersed in the film, with a bunch of songs with an old-fashioned style are all thrown in.Gerard Jugnot, an actor closely associated to the director, plays Pigoil, the man whose whole life seems to have been lived at the Chansonia. Clovis Cornillac seen as Milou, is the leftist agitator with a connection to the old music hall and the love of a new singer that became a star at the Chansonia, Douce. Kad Merad is an imitator who loves to do Fernandel, without much of the wit of the real actor. Nora Arnezeder is lovely to look at with her Douce.Tom Stern, a man that has worked a lot with Clint Eastwood, is on hand to give the old-fashioned look at the set that was built in Prague to resembled that run down part of Paris that probably could not be found in the present day Paris.

When i heard that the director from " Les Choristes" was releasing a new movie i thought it was a must see. And i was definitely right! the music is very good, the photography and the costumes are excellent and the actors too.Nora Arnezeder came as a big surprise to me, this unknown girl who has such a great voice, she was very good, and, of course, Gerard Jugnot, the great Monsieur Mathieu from " Les Choristes" was amazing again. The thing i most liked about the movie is that it keeps you entertained from beginning to end, you really want to keep watching and you never get bored. The songs take you to the 1930's as well as the scenarios.This movie is beautiful and definitely must be watched, it will definitely entertain you and you will enjoy good french cinema.

Nora Arnezeder reminds me of movie stars of the thirties : beautiful, charming, she can sing, dance, act... Star quality ! As for the film itself, the story is rather simple, which I come to realize, is often what makes it good. It's not so much what the story is about but rather how you tell it. And in that case, you get to laugh, cry, you care about that Pigoil who looses his job, his wife and even his son and who doesn't loose hope, about Milou and Douce's love story. You'll love the great new songs, the homage to Busby Berkeley, Jacky's lousy jokes (a reprise of Kad's own TV skit) and secondary characters played by first-rate comedians like François Morel and the great Pierre Richard. What's not to like ?