Rating: 
Summary: TO LIVE AND DIE IN FRANCE
Review: After CLEO FROM 5 TO 7, Criterion released a few weeks ago another movie of french director Agnès Varda : VAGABOND. The original title of the movie is SANS TOIT NI LOI which could have been translated WITHOUT ROOF NOR LAW. I don't know whether this last translation makes any sense in english but it sure does in french emphasizing the rebellious side of Sandrine Bonnaire's character.Still at the beginning of her career, Sandrine Bonnaire gives here a performance that deserves the utmost respect. Surrounded by semi professionals or amateurs, she brings Mona to life and death in a stellar performance. Of course, first you have to accept Agnès Varda's style, a mixture of (false) documentary and fiction. VAGABOND is the anti-romantic movie by essence. The glorious nature so often depicted by writers and the postcards sent by your lucky friends is replaced by an hostile environment made of mud or frozen water. Sandrine Bonnaire is not wandering through France for fun, she's not heading to the southern part of France in a symbolic search for hope. She just wants to be free and alone. She's the last rebel. No extra-features with this Criterion release except for english subtitles. Great sound and images which will plunge you deep into the sadness of a cold winter. A - no hope - DVD.
Rating:
Summary: TO LIVE AND DIE IN FRANCE
Review: After CLEO FROM 5 TO 7, Criterion released a few weeks ago another movie of french director Agnès Varda : VAGABOND. The original title of the movie is SANS TOIT NI LOI which could have been translated WITHOUT ROOF NOR LAW. I don't know whether this last translation makes any sense in english but it sure does in french emphasizing the rebellious side of Sandrine Bonnaire's character. Still at the beginning of her career, Sandrine Bonnaire gives here a performance that deserves the utmost respect. Surrounded by semi professionals or amateurs, she brings Mona to life and death in a stellar performance. Of course, first you have to accept Agnès Varda's style, a mixture of (false) documentary and fiction. VAGABOND is the anti-romantic movie by essence. The glorious nature so often depicted by writers and the postcards sent by your lucky friends is replaced by an hostile environment made of mud or frozen water. Sandrine Bonnaire is not wandering through France for fun, she's not heading to the southern part of France in a symbolic search for hope. She just wants to be free and alone. She's the last rebel. No extra-features with this Criterion release except for english subtitles. Great sound and images which will plunge you deep into the sadness of a cold winter. A - no hope - DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Heartbreaking and disturbing
Review: Agnes Varda's bleak documentary-like fable about a young woman who deliberately takes to the road leaves the viewer deeply unsettled and touched. Varda doesn't moralize or attempt to make interpretations: she just points the camera and lets the woman explain herself in her actions. The film's basic premise is plain: Who are we that we cannot even connect with each other except by chance? As revelatory as films get, and saddening, too.
Rating:
Summary: from the Mother of New Wave
Review: An impressive piece! This film was made by the woman who was one of the first pioneers in the 50s to invent the techniques now widely used in "New Wave", "Dogma 95" and "Cinema Verite".... With a deeply moving tale and powerful shots, this film makes the Blair Witch Project looks boring and uninnovative. The DVD transfer is at the best quality, and the package gives helpful and stimulating information to viewers who are unfamiliar with Varda's works.
Rating: 
Summary: Freedom is such a bore
Review: Being film buffs and creatures of curiosity, a friend and I decided to take a shot at Vagabond. Oh, how I wish for those two hours of my life back.
We tried. We tried so very hard to enjoy this film. After all, it was awarded Best Foreign Film by some California paper. One of our friends liked it. How could we possibly go wrong?
This movie annoyed me from the get-go. Mona was not a likable character. While I'm sure the director thought he was depicting a rebellious young girl's dream of freedom (and the "high price" she must pay for it), in actuality, he was just boring the hell out of the audience.
The scene transitions were terrible: narrative, fade to black, people speaking of Mona, fade to black, narrative... well, you get the idea.
The score was horribly inappropriate; in fact, my friend said it seemed like "something out of a Roger Corman movie." And what could possibly be worse than FRENCH REGGAE?!
I attempted to stop the movie just five minutes before it was over, but was asked to turn it back on, if for no other reason, then so we could see Mona die. THAT's how bad this film was.
Rating:
Summary: Not for Canadians Living in California
Review: Canadiens will undoubtedly shy away from this great film by Agnes Varda. First, there are no beavers in the movie. Second, one must be able to read subtitles. Third, in this film, wine is preferred to beer, eh. Let's get it straight, Dudley Do Right! Varda's film is a study of people's perception of freedom. What seems like freedom to Mona (the title character) is nothing more than emptiness to others. They all wish for freedom, but realize that it isn't always what it's cracked up to be, that there must be compromises. Mona never compromises. She won't work because her boss and the routine will take her freedom away. She feels more comfortable in her ride's car, because, like her, it is mobile. To her, anything that limits her freedom in the slightest way is the enemy. Mona, then, symbolizes pure freedom. The film isn't about her, you jerk, but the nature of freedom and the way in which the others see freedom. If you weren't Canadien, you'd know that. But go ahead and strap on those snow shoes and make your way to the Van Nuys video store to rent "Strange Brew." Just make sure that your pet beaver doesn't dry out in that hot California sun.
Rating:
Summary: France in a muted light
Review: In Agnes Varda's "Vagabond", a young girl (Mona) drifts from place to place throughout the countryside and towns of France. She scratches out an existence mainly through the largesse of those she meets along the way. Unlike in the United States, where homeless people are assumed to be mental defects, the itinerants portrayed in this film (including the main character) seem to be making a very self-aware and philosophical choice to be vagrants. Mona seems to have dropped out of conventional society out of sheer self-indulgence and an aversion to work, rather than for any other reason. Along the way, characters alternatively envy her lifestyle, take pity on her or revile her completely. The story also threads characters in and out of the plot, and many seem peripherally related to each other. Throughout the film, some of these characters speak directly to the camera about their impressions of Mona. This technique seems vaguely contrived. But the gritty unwashed feel of the movie makes it a special experience. It lends a documentary feel to the film that draws the viewer in. The director avoids passing off any overt judgments about the main character and her lifestyle. Portrayals of purposeful vagrancy in Europe seem to be a rare phenomenon. The film's unique view of the underexposed underbelly of France makes it worthy enough to ingrain in your memory.
Rating:
Summary: France in a muted light
Review: In Agnes Varda's "Vagabond", a young girl (Mona) drifts from place to place throughout the countryside and towns of France. She scratches out an existence mainly through the largesse of those she meets along the way. Unlike in the United States, where homeless people are assumed to be mental defects, the itinerants portrayed in this film (including the main character) seem to be making a very self-aware and philosophical choice to be vagrants. Mona seems to have dropped out of conventional society out of sheer self-indulgence and an aversion to work, rather than for any other reason. Along the way, characters alternatively envy her lifestyle, take pity on her or revile her completely. The story also threads characters in and out of the plot, and many seem peripherally related to each other. Throughout the film, some of these characters speak directly to the camera about their impressions of Mona. This technique seems vaguely contrived. But the gritty unwashed feel of the movie makes it a special experience. It lends a documentary feel to the film that draws the viewer in. The director avoids passing off any overt judgments about the main character and her lifestyle. Portrayals of purposeful vagrancy in Europe seem to be a rare phenomenon. The film's unique view of the underexposed underbelly of France makes it worthy enough to ingrain in your memory.
Rating:
Summary: France in a muted light
Review: In Agnes Varda's "Vagabond", a young girl (Mona) drifts from place to place throughout the countryside and towns of France. She scratches out an existence mainly through the largesse of those she meets along the way. Unlike in the United States, where homeless people are assumed to be mental defects, the itinerants portrayed in this film (including the main character) seem to be making a very self-aware and philosophical choice to be vagrants. Mona seems to have dropped out of conventional society out of sheer self-indulgence and an aversion to work, rather than for any other reason. Along the way, characters alternatively envy her lifestyle, take pity on her or revile her completely. The story also threads characters in and out of the plot, and many seem peripherally related to each other. Throughout the film, some of these characters speak directly to the camera about their impressions of Mona. This technique seems vaguely contrived. But the gritty unwashed feel of the movie makes it a special experience. It lends a documentary feel to the film that draws the viewer in. The director avoids passing off any overt judgments about the main character and her lifestyle. Portrayals of purposeful vagrancy in Europe seem to be a rare phenomenon. The film's unique view of the underexposed underbelly of France makes it worthy enough to ingrain in your memory.
Rating:
Summary: Freedoms just another word for nothing left to loose
Review: Sandrine Bonnaire is flawless in her performance. This movie will haunt you whenever you have the urge to chuck it all and hit the road.
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