Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageNovo (2002)
Director: Jean-Pierre Limousin
Movie review
From Time Out London
You know you’re in for a rough ride as soon as the awkward, ‘quirky’ jump-cuts kick in at the start of this risible, self-conscious French ‘meditation’ on love and memory. All fears are confirmed in the next breath when the film’s focus, Graham (Eduardo Noriega), a taciturn Spanish photocopier operator, is seduced in front of security cameras (Ooh! Surveillance! Scary!) by his boss in a stark Parisian office born of no other reality than that created by filmmakers looking to depict ‘alienating’ modern business environments. It gets worse… We soon realise that poor Graham is a few sausages short of a barbecue: he has amnesia and relies on a notepad (and sometimes marker-pen scribbles on women’s chests) to remember exactly who he is. Somehow this mental deficiency allows Graham a wild sex life: the pretty office temp, Irene (Anna Mouglalis) strikes up a relationship with this good-looking human goldfish that involves lots of sex, travelling on trains and shaving each other’s butts.Graham is a feeble concoction: a clichéd idiot savant who, despite not being able to remember his own shoe size, is a whizz at both mental arithmetic and going down. When the sex dried up halfway through the film – giving in to sub-‘Memento’ revelations of who the hell Graham is and why he can’t remember anything (questions that are not sufficiently answered) – so did my patience. Never before have I been left so bereft at the sudden withdrawal of cunnilingus-by-proxy.Author: DC
Time Out London Issue 1820: July 6-13 2005
Cast & crew
Director: Jean-Pierre Limousin
Cast: Eduardo Noriega, Anna Mouglalis, Nathalie Richard, Eric Caravaca full cast
Duration: 98 mins
UK Release: Jul 8 2005
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now