Steineded How sad is this?

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

MARIO GAUCI To cannibalize my own reference to it in the review I wrote for Mario Bava's DANGER: DIABOLIK (1968), this is "a homage to the European style of film-making circa 1970": while pretty interesting in itself (particularly its behind-the-scenes look at a lowbrow sci-fi picture), the film unwisely also tries to recapture the feel of an art-house flick by having its wannabe film-maker editor shoot an autobiographical film in cine-verite' style; however, this section is pretentious and fairly boring - as opposed to the charm and sheer nostalgia of the sci-fi/espionage ambiance! The film has two sequences lifted directly from DANGER: DIABOLIK: the shower scene and the one where the leading lady is covered in bank notes; however, there's another obvious link to that film in the presence of its star John Phillip Law! That said, the sci-fi heroine (called Dragonfly and played by the stunning Angela Lindvall) here actually recalls the Jane Fonda of BARBARELLA (1968)! It also boasts a number of larger-than-life characters (in fact, several established or up-and-coming stars of European cinema are featured) with a background of cinema, which at times is a bit much - as this threatens to turn the whole into a Felliniesque extravaganza! Still, it does have a major asset in Dean Tavoularis' stylish production design (particularly that for the invented sci-fi scenario).

writerasfilmcritic I found this movie interesting for its depiction of movie making techniques in the sixties. The Eclair cameras, the editing console, the splicer, the wooden tripods -- these are the things to which I paid attention. Elodie Bouchez is a serious young actress who is always nice to watch but in this movie her weepy, bitchy character wasn't very sympathetic. The editor's concern for film as art was, but his soft-spoken, passive personality became increasingly annoying. Is this the sort of guy the blue-eyed babe (ala Barbarella) would be interested in? It's hard to believe. Gerard Depardieu had a brief appearance as the "revolutionary director" who is thrown off the project by the exasperated producer. Probably the best scene in the movie, the way he punched through the door of the screening room and shouted, "Bullshit!" was it's funniest moment. I also liked the girl in the miniskirt climbing into the car on New Years Eve who wasn't wearing any panties. Too bad there weren't a few more scenes like that.

Dorian Tenore-Bartilucci (dtb) Paul Ballard (Jeremy Davies), a young film editor living in Paris in 1969, gets his big directorial break when DRAGONFLY, the sexy futuristic (it's set in 2001!) spy flick he's editing, loses not one but two directors. It should be noted that Paul's been filching black-and-white film from the DRAGONFLY production company to make his own rather self-indulgent cinema verite film at home. Once he's at the helm of the big-budget SF schlockfest, Paul has a hard time distinguishing between real life and reel life as he falls in love with the bewitching Valentine (Angela Lindvall), an activist-turned-actress making her film debut as "Agent Code Name: Dragonfly." Think of this comedy-drama as a sort of 8½ or DAY FOR NIGHT for the baby boomer generation. It's clear that writer/director Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola's son, big shock :-) has great affection for the art of filmmaking in general and for kooky, cheesy 1960s Eurocinema romps such as BARBARELLA and DANGER: DIABOLIK in particular (neat in-joke: the leading man of those films, John Philip Law, appears in CQ as Dragonfly's spymaster). The score by the appropriately-named Mellow captures the mod mood music of the era delightfully. At times Paul's self-absorption became as grating to me as it did to his long-suffering girlfriend Marlene (Elodie Bouchez), but the spoofery of filmmaking and the 1960s won me over. The excellent cast helps a lot, particularly Dean Stockwell's touching turn as Paul's father, the ever-smooth Billy Zane as Dragonfly's revolutionary adversary/lover "Mr. E," and the hilarious performances of Giancarlo Giannini as a Dino deLaurentiis/Carlo Ponti-esque producer and Jason Schwartzman as the wild 'n' crazy replacement director who gets replaced himself after he breaks his leg in a sports car accident. Don't blink or you'll miss Roman and Jason's Oscar-winning kin Sofia Coppola cameoing as Giannini's mistress. I was also utterly charmed by model Angela Lindvall in her movie debut (art imitating life -- ain't it grand? :-). It's great fun to watch Lindvall switch from throaty-voiced siren Dragonfly onscreen to sweet, endearing animal lover Valentine offscreen, plus she's got the most expressive eyebrows since Eunice Gayson in DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. (My hubby would like me to point out that Leonard Nimoy and The Rock are tops in Expressive Eyebrows, Male Division! :-) Do rent the DVD version of CQ so you can also watch the entire film-within-the-film DRAGONFLY, which is to the CQ DVD what MANT! is to the MATINEE laserdisc (is MANT! on the MATINEE DVD, too? If not, it oughta be!) -- with enjoyable commentary by Lindvall, yet!

TigerMann Watching the trailer for this movie, I couldn't help but feel excited.Look at all the swank 60's spy movie references!Well ... this wasn't the movie I'd hoped for. I believe that "CQ" is Roman Coppola's (son of famous Francis Ford Coppola) first feature-length movie. And I suppose that all first-time directors flail and hick-up in their first (hell, even second and third) films.But Coppola very blatantly tries to conceal all his director and writer disabilities by shrouding the film with 60's pop-culture trivia ... something that I'm sure his "hipster" handbook directed him to do.The premise involves an American attempting to edit a ridiculously avant-gard sci-fi/spy Modesty Blaise-esque movie in Paris ... while in his personal time he whines and moans about how he isn't adept enough to sustain a meaningful relationship ... all this through the eyes of a camera. And whilst he records his day-to-day life on film ... he neglects his stunning french girlfriend.So ... our young American in Paris ends up taking the reigns of the spy movie and plenty of hijinx ensue.It isn't hard to predict how the movie will end. And if you wait around long enough and can somehow see past Coppola's bloated, pretentious and pedestrian writing and direction ... then you'll have earned a shining ticket to complain about how great this movie COULD have been.And people wonder why nobody remembers (or wants to remember) this movie. Chalk it all up to the futile attempts of a son of a great director to become more than his father.Remember ... even old Francis Ford had to LEARN filmmaking. Anyone ever see "Dementia 13?" It wasn't a HORRIBLE movie ... but then again ... it wasn't "Apocalypse Now," either.Roman's sister, Sophia Coppola has done so interesting work. If anyone inherited Francis Ford's filmmaking genes ... my guess is that it's her. "The Virgin Suicides" is a really excellent movie. "Lost in Translation" wasn't bad either.So ... Roman ... keep on making those music videos. Your video for "The Strokes" was painfully dull ... but it was a little easier for me to switch channels.