This past weekend was just chock full of magical, whimsical women breaking studious, guarded men out of their cocoons. No, not Sex Tape -- I have no idea about how that plot plays out and, besides, that's not genre. But otherwise, for all their divergent approaches to the material, both I Origins and Mood Indigo incorporate the same base theme. After that, of course, anything goes: I Origins continues director Mike Cahill's ongoing exploration of humanity's interconnectedness through the tale of a dedicated, eye-obsessed scientist (Mike Cahill) having his adherence to objective reasoning challenged by the mystical outlook of an exotic model (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey) with equally exotic eyeballs; while Mood Indigo lets director Michel Gondry explore the artificiality of certain, idealized brands of French romance through the story of how the wacky life of an eccentric inventor (Romain Duris) is overthrown when the health of his wife (Audrey Tatou) is threatened.Another way to distinguish these films: They aren't equally successful in their goals. To find out how they fare, click on the player to hear my review for Jim Freund's Hour of the Wolf, or right-click the title to download.
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