Rating: 
Summary: Great film pity about the fixed English subtitles
Review: The irremovable English subtitles get in the way especially if you are trying to learn a language. Normally subtitles are optional, these are not.
Rating:
Summary: Great film pity about the fixed English subtitles
Review: The irremovable English subtitles get in the way especially if you are trying to learn a language. Normally subtitles are optional, these are not. Especially disappointing when it turns up under French Language search on Amazon.ca
Rating:
Summary: overrated, one-note French film
Review: The premise of this movie is that two men (a bank robber and a retired poetry teacher) wind up hanging out together for a few days and discover that each wishes his life had been more like the other's. It's a decent set-up for a film, but the actual movie lacks a sense of authenticity. For one thing, the retired poetry teacher's life is simply too dull to believe that ANYONE would envy him. The guy seems to have no friends, nothing to do with his time... he is the most bored, lonely person on the planet. Women are indifferent to him and even buying a baguette is too challenging for him. The robber, on the other hand, is the cool, silent type. So silent, in fact, that we never really get to know him. If he hates the lifestyle so much, why is he living it? What is it about the teacher's life that appeals to him, really? Finally, the ending is rather trite and predictable. I think the main problem I have with this movie, though, is that the characters serve the plot, rather than the plot stemming from the characters. There's no sense of authenticity to either man; they're both complete stereotypes. The film itself is so utterly contrived to establish the symmetry of the two men, each of whom wishes his life were more like the other's, that there's no room for more personal, authentic moments. I generally enjoy foreign films because they tend to have more depth than the average Hollywood movie, but "Man on the Train" just didn't do it for me. Just because a movie is slow and sub-titled doesn't make it "art."
Rating: 
Summary: weird sequence is the most beautiful scene in the whole film
Review: The weird sequence that the first reviewer could not understand is the most beautiful scene in the whole film. The two characters who long to live other's life get that chance upon their death. The criminal goes to the teacher's house and the teacher gets on the train. Of course they are not real, just two "spirits" acting out on their fantacies.
Rating: 
Summary: An incredible character study of a dream ...
Review: These are the kind of movies that really only the French can do justice to. Two completely disparate lives are thrust into a situation where each years for the full life of the other, one is a sedate retired teacher in a small village in the French countryside, the other, a hardened but also aging thief and bank robber.
The movie is a slow and meandering story, like I said only the French can do this and maintain the viewers interest, as we watch both men inexorably going towards a life changing even. The sedate teacher wanting to live the last years of his life in a 'devil may care' manner on his way to major bypass surgery, and the bank robber doing one of his last jobs and just wanting to be left alone in an old house in a sedate village .....
This DVD of course is not everyone's cup of tea ... the audio is OK and the video is on the dark side but not enough to make it aggravating .... Cretainly a well written plot, and as an added bonus the English subtitles are exceptionally well translated ....
Rating:
Summary: Man on the Train - beautiful cinematography
Review: This film was beautifully shot and skillfully written. The miserable dampness of the stranger (getting locked out of a hotel and sitting in the cold) juxtaposed with the warmth and charm of the elegantly appointed french chateau and the chattiness of the elderly french gentleman set up a wonderful theme - home and meaning and relationships vs. traveller (up to no good) who rarely spoke. The fact that each yearned for a piece of each other's lives was done deftly. The ending, however, was a bit bogged down in over-the-top death images. Overall, though, a lovely movie.
Rating:
Summary: Holds the interest, but paper-thin
Review: This French film about the unlikely friendship of two men, one a poetry teacher, the other a thief, won multiple awards. On one viewing it's a bit difficult to see why. Certainly the performances of the two leads (Jean Rochefort, Johnny Hallyday) are beyond reproach--Hallyday in particular has a striking screen magnetism. The underlying subtext about the way men live their lives and their desires, as they age, for something other than what they have is presented in an understated but clear fashion. As the two men head for their respective destinies there are some insightful scenes--a sharp dialogue between Rochefort and his estranged sister is particularly telling. Still, it all doesn't add up to much beyond the central aphorism, and the conclusion, at once shocking and confusing, seems out of keeping with the rest. "Man on the Train," in sum, is interesting without being truly memorable.
Rating:
Summary: Great but puzzling at the end
Review: This is a movie about an unlikely friendship that develops between two very different middle-aged men after a chance encounter in a village drugstore. I really enjoyed it a lot, and might give it five stars, if I understood the ambiguous ending better. I think it makes a difference in the story's impact if it happened one way rather than the other. I'll have to think on it more, or maybe see it again. Either way, I would definitely recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: What Would We Change If We Could Live Our Lives Again ?
Review: This is a quintessential French film, which in this case adds to the charm and the attraction. And the action is so leisurely that the subtitles are not a problem or distraction although in some instances they are not well timed or seem to be incomplete. The story begins with THE MAN ON THE TRAIN, Milan (played by Johnny Halladay) arriving in a small French town dressed in a black motorcycle jacket and carrying a case that includes three handguns among his possessions. His character projects a sense of foreboding, and we soon learn that he and some associates are planning to rob a local bank. Meanwhile, he has engaged in a chance encounter with Manesquier (Jean Rochefort), a retired schoolteacher. Milan essentially invites himself to stay at Manequier's estate when he discovers that the local hotel is closed. They are opposites in every way, Milan is gruff and his presence augurs a sense of danger and potential misfortune; Manesquier is genteel, a retired schoolteacher and gentleman of such ordinary habits that he has eaten lunch in the same local restaurant every day for thirty years. Somehow, a poignant friendship develops as they each see in the other the road not taken in their lives. Yet, they and the moviegoers realize that it is probably too late to change the inevitabilty of the events already set in motion. The charm of the film is its leisurely pace and the attention to detail. We are constantly treated to small surprises and unexpected twists that allow for wonderful character development. Once such example is when Milan tutors a student who appears in Manesquier's absence in the study of Balzac. The performances are captivating, and since I was unfamiliar with either of the leads they totally assumed the roles in which they had been cast. Once I had adjusted to the slow pace of the story and the director's style, I was completely capitivated. The film is approximately an hour and a half in length, enough time to get to know the characters and for the story to build to it's conclusion with increasing tension and suspense during the final phases but tightly enough edited not to become bogged down in details. The only drawback was that I thought that I was prepared for almost any possible conclusion but am not at all sure how to interpret the ending to this film . I can come up with several possible imterpretations, but can't discuss them without revealing too much of the plot. Maybe it would be clear to me if I saw the film again, but despite remembering it quite vividly and clearly and going over it repeatedly in my mind I am not sure what conclusion to draw. I notice that several other reviewers had the same reaction, so felt that it was appropriate to emphasize this aspect of the film in my review but strongly recommend it with this caveat. This is a film for moviegoers who like interesting stories and characters rather than intense action. It examines in the context of an interesting story the questions that inevitably arise in each of our lives about the road not taken and the role of fate.
Rating:
Summary: was so emotional, i cried at the and...
Review: this is the first time i watched a french movie... i loved it. the conversations between the two character was so lovely, sometimes funny. i liked the music too. Movie lovers must see this, it was more delightfull to see such a film than the typical american action movies
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