I, César

I, César is a cute little movie, sort of an Amelie for the tween set. Jules Sitruk stars as the titular César, a precocious 10-year-old with an overactive imagination and the vocabulary of a sailor (though the majority of his off-color remarks are limited to his thoughts, heard via voice-over narration). The film follows César as he attempts to navigate the treacherous terrain of life as a pre-teen, which leads him on a variety of mini-adventures (including his efforts to woo the prettiest girl in class and a trip to England to locate the birth father of a friend). Director Richard Berry infuses the film with an impressive amount of style, and clearly counts Pulp Fiction as a big influences (aside from a daydream inspired by the Quentin Tarantino classic, Maria de Medeiros plays César’s mother!) The movie generally manages to straddle the fine line between drama and comedy, though there are a few supposedly humorous bits that fall flat (particularly one sequence that finds César and co. talking to a potential birth father, when the entire thing could’ve been avoided if they’d only asked him the name of the woman he slept with). Still, I, César possesses enough widespread appeal to work as a break-out hit in English speaking countries, though the film clearly isn’t meant for kids (César’s penchant for R-rated curse words is enough to strike fear into the hearts of most parents).

**1/2 out of ****