Starbuck

[Beate]

When Celini offered me her tickets for tonight I had to look it up to make sure it wasn't a documentary about tax evasion by any chance. Thankfully it turned out to be a French comedy. The screening at the Courthouse Hotel was preceded by a drinks and canape reception which was nice but prolonged the evening considerably. It was supposed to start at 7.30pm but it was nearer 7.45pm when we finally had lift-off. I was a bit miffed that the usher lady had reserved herself the best two seats without giving anyone else a look-in, and this really is not a good screen for a subtitled film owing to heads being constantly in the way.

The story is about a guy who in his youth used to donate sperm to fund himself and it has now come back to bite him. Apparently he fathered 533 children of which 128 now wanted to meet him. He didn't want to give up his anonymity but when he was sent an envelope with info about them, he looked them up one by one, never revealing who he was, always finding an excuse to be in their lives.

I found it charming but improbable and not as funny as for example Untouchable was. It lost itself in feel-good fluffiness at the end (complete with group hug) but that can be forgiven I think.

Lovely to see funthing29, canadian_turtle and EthanRunt.

7.5/10

[EthanRunt]

Great to see you guys there today.
Really liked the film, I'd go up to 8/10 myself. Thought it was nicely done, very very funny and the heart-warming stuff worked well.

[funthing29]

I thought this was delightful and I left with a big goofy grin on my face. It had some lovely touching moments with nice doses of humour thrown in. My only criticism is that everything is wrapped up a little too nicely at the end. It is still a gem of a film. 8/10.

[canadian_turtle]

Utterly delightful. It was a sweet story with a lot of very funny laugh out loud moments. I really enjoyed seeing glimpses of a few of the children's lives (and oh my, many of his sons were VERY good looking ) and how he watched over them like a guardian angel. And while it's true that the ending came together a little too conveniently, every now and again it's nice to leave the cinema with a smile on your face. The soundtrack to this film was great too. 8.5/10

Thanks to Celini for alerting me to this film as it wouldn't have been on my radar without you

[soonforgotten]

I absolutely loved Starbuck. One of my favourites of the year.

http://londonfilmfanatiq.com/2012/11/21/starbuck/

[hopeprince]

This is an awesome film. I loved it, left grinning. 9/10
Shame it isn't showing at many cinemas.

[Ms Thrifty]

Looking forward to seeing this tomorrow!

[Ms Thrifty]

I really enjoyed this and everyone here who has seen it has liked it, so what a shame it isn't having a wider release. I hope the Hollywood remake isn't too much of a travesty of the original. I know this is French-Canadian but watching it, I could imagine a French version with a younger Gerard Depardieu in the lead, though it was refreshing to see someone unknown to me playing that part.