Review of My Dinner with Andre (1981) by Mark C — 24 Nov 2009

I absolutely loved this film. A predecessor for such high-art, dialogue-driven pieces as "Waking Life" and "Clerks". Louis Malle's unforgiving tempo is so rhythmic, it almost puts you into a trance.

As a close friend of mine explains, "You get so invested with the words, you begin creating images of what they're talking about." This film performs as a playground for the mind. The writing is phenomenal; topics range from theater to surrealism to Orwellian futures to drum circles.

What particularly fascinated me was Malle's beautiful devotion to sound design. This film is rather bland, visually. But Malle has these genius sound cues which add a layers to the film. I would even argue, it makes it a film.

Otherwise, this is a complete stage play. If you can get over how bourgeois and intellectual it is, it's very rich, philosophically and very anarchistic, politically.