Paris in the spring: The DaVinci Code

Jesus apparently knocked up Maria Magdalena. Or so THE DAVINCI CODE would like to have us believe. The eagerly-awaited movie opened here in France, including the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, a week before the rest of the world.

The Publicis Cinema is screening the V.O. (Version Originale, Sous-titrée en francais) and watching the movie yesterday I noticed three things:

1.
The movie is really good, but it is very long.
2.
Tom Hanks is actually really good, but his hair is very long.
3.
The Sony and Sony-Ericsson product placements* are relatively subtle, considering it is a Columbia Pictures [a Sony company, ed.] release.

Forget all the religious mumbo jumbo. This is a murder mystery first. And a good one at that. (I hate Flash intros on web sites, ignorant people on any sites and special effects in movies, and it didn't work for me this time either).

The casting is excellent. At first, Tom Hanks, seems totally out of place, but his very under-acted performance works very well once you’ve thrown out your imaginary Robert Langdon. It seems the entire population of planet Earth has created an image of Robert Langdon in their head, so it is a very ungrateful position Tom Hanks has taken upon him. The multi-Oscar winner is one of the few actors, who can handle the role. George Clooney would be another candidate, but he is probably too handsome. Another bid for the leading man could be Christian Bale, but he is probably too young.

Ron Howard directed, Brian Glazer produced (along with the author, Dan Brown) and composer Hans Zimmer wrote the soundtrack.

AUTHENTICITY, INDEED I watched DER UNTERGANG in an underground cinema in Berlin. I cried when I entered the modern streets of Berlin. I watched THE DAVINCI CODE in an advertising agency-run movie theatre in Paris. I thought of nazi-occupied France, when I walked to my car parked near Triumph D’Arc.