Tati's Last Wish: "May Every 20-Something See 'L'Illusionniste' and Get Laid"

My dearest Sporkettes (Sporkinis? Sporkers? Spatulas?),

In light of my last post endorsing two rather naughty Oscar contenders, I've decided to give my seal of approval to another Oscar-nominated foreign film that is family friendly. And I don't mean "family friendly" in the way that "Dogtooth" or "The Dreamers" meant it. In fact, it has earned my just-now created elusive prize for "Most Date-Worthy Date Movie." Read: There are no awkward love scenes, no one's head gets blown off, and it doesn't star a Jennifer, Ashton, Gerard or Jamie. Read further: It will probably provoke thoughtful discussion, earn you/your date hyper-cool, artsy-fartsy points, offend few sensibilities, and (most importantly) make sure you both get laid go home happy.

"The Illusionist," Sylvain Chomet's second feature (following 2003's "The Triplets of Belleville"), is a breathtakingly-animated love letter not to France, but to the rugged beauty of Edinburgh. Though based on a previously unproduced script by Jacques Tati and featuring a protagonist that draws heavily on Tati's famed Monsieur Hulot, Chomet's film has a poignancy and sweetness unmatched by his Film God of a predecessor. To clear things up: yes, I saw it on a date. And yes, my date earned triple-digit cool points for not automatically assuming that I'm the type of girl who likes really disgustingly deranged foreign films. He'll figure this out later.


READ ON to discover to awesomely awesome...and awesomely bad....date movies.