Moscow, Belgium.

"Charming comedies about unlikely romances ship out of Hollywood like genetically modified soybeans, so it seems a little unnecessary to import them here, as well," writes Leo Goldsmith at indieWIRE. "Moscow, Belgium, a fleet-footed May-December comedy that won hearts at Cannes Critics' Week and the European Film Awards, may seem unnecessary (but then again, Belgium has defied the odds before - this is the country that gave us Jean-Claude Van Damme when we least needed another hero). The film has no name-stars (Barbara Sarafian's only big credit is Peter Greenaway's 8½ Women), a no name-director (most of director Christophe Van Rompaey's prior credits are in Belgian TV), and a decidedly un-picturesque setting in the titular working-class Ghent neighborhood. But, damn it, the film is charming - and most likely this is due to its very lack of these and other qualities most commonly associated with Hollywood's iterations of the genre."

"The clichés are firmly in place, no question," concedes Nicolas Rapold in the Voice, but "Moscow, Belgium leaves you feeling less offended and dirty-feeling than the evidence suggests."

"The movie's steady attention to detail lends it a texture rarely found in films about domestic life," writes Stephen Holden in the New York Times. "Its eye and ear for the particular and for what is left unsaid in tense conversation is unerring.... Here and there, especially in a recurrent post office motif, Moscow, Belgium is too tidy. But even then it is psychologically accurate."

"[T]he copious flaws smack of pure Hollywood drivel," finds Joseph Jon Lanthier in Slant. "Of course, independent near-masterpieces have been forged with even less attractive raw material, but the triteness of Moscow, Belgium seeps through from macro to micro, leaving no detail untouched."

Posted by dwhudson at December 19, 2008 8:50 AM