Cheap Léolo (Video) (Maxime Collin, Ginette Reno) (Jean-Claude Lauzon) Price

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Customer Reviews of Léolo

More Bitter than Sweet, an Honest Comming of Age Film
Leo, a precocious child growing up in abject poverty, concocts an alternative identity as an Italian boy (Leolo) conceived through an encounter between his mother and a tomato, freshly doused with the onanistic spritz of an immigrant grocer. Surrounded by a (sur)real family-- a father obsessed with defecation, a sister who reigns as queen of the insects in the crawl-space below the family's tenament apartment, a bullied brother hiding from his environment in a steroid-enhanced body-- Leo(lo) excapes into the fiction of his alternative life, aided by a kind stranger who deposits books at his door-step. At night Leo reads these fantastic stories by stolen-light, and later they seep into his dreams, where he is enthralled and inspired by the beauty of an older neighbor-girl he fancies his muse and future lover. "Because I dream, I am..." Leolo reiterates throughout this bitter-sweet tale of a bright mind besieged by the inequities of life. While punctuated with hilarious episodes of mock-heroism, and scored by a delightful Tom Waits soundtrack, the film subtly reveals the brutalities that imperil Leo's comming of age. While we hope, with the protagonist, that art can triumph over the hardships of life, the film refuses the sadder-but-wiser narratives of redemption that usually underpin this genre. The innoscence and wisdom of a child's perspective is relayed in all of its precariousness. If you liked "My Life as a Dog," "400 Blows," or "Slingshot," this film will blow you away! More bitter than sweet, "Leolo" is a comming of age story that dares to question the faith we put in the creative individual to convert our collective social failures into the necessary conditions of art. In doing so, it eloquently evokes the beauty and the danger born of an impulse to fight with no recourse but mental flight. "Leolo" employs the conventions of magic realism while staying firmly within a recognizable universe. And while it crafts its characters with humor it neither patronizes nor lampoons them. The film's true brilliance is its ability to convey the devastating limitations imposed upon its young hero by an unfortunate and uncomprehending family, while all along betraying their plight as similarly epic and heart-wrenching. "Leolo" will haunt you long after you turn off the VCR.

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Perverse, deep and difficult to forget
Do not believe the boxcover that portrays this as a delightful comedy about sexual curiosity! Leolo is much darker than that.
Here we find a gritty life through the eyes of a youngster who happens to be a bit of a magical realist. Some moments are witty, such as the imagined story of his conception while others are downright awkward and painful.
What I liked best about the movie were the several thematic areas it covered in a symbolic and mythical fashion. It addresses an individual's and family's psychological disintegration, the status of the urban underclass, & sexuality. It also portrays the boy, leolo, as a sort of magical escapist messiah for his hopeless family.
Leolo also happens to be one of only two films I have seen where a piece of raw liver is violated. (warning for the squeemish) If you are in any way prudish, do avoid this film.
In summary, this is an excellent & deep film for viewing with friends if you care to stimulate a strong discussion.

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Caution to those who are hurting
The movie is a work of pure genius as it goes into the subconscious mind of a sensitive boy in terrible psychological anguish, raised by people with no ability to love.
Dangerously obsessive, perhaps psychotic, parents are raising their children as if they were less than animals. One by one we see the children losing touch with reality as their only coping mechanism.
For the duration of the movie, we are hoping that our hero Leolo will beat the odds.
This movie is best seen by professionals in the fields of psychiatry and psychology and too strong for sensitive people who are not.