Review of The Gleaners and I (2000) by Andy C — 13 Aug 2009
What a wonderful thing. I don't get anything out of the subject of crop gleaning (I grew up on a ranch, so all the wonder at scraps left over from the harvest seems dumb to me), but none of that matters.
It's an enchanting travelogue and character study. The way Varda inserts herself into the film would be terrible by any other filmmaker, but it's Varda, one of the greatest personalities in cinema, and so it works.
The cross-eyed dude who eats what he finds as soon as he picks it up and then teaches African immigrants French at night is one of the great hero characters of cinema- he's the Jean Gabin of French documentary.
This review of The Gleaners and I (2000) was written by Andy C on 13 Aug 2009.
The Gleaners and I has generally received very positive reviews.
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