Adventures of Félix (2001)

I wonder why many people like this movie so much. Why was it interesting? I have no idea. I think I have a problem with French made movies; perhaps because of how they are directed, but I think it's just the screen writing. They always fail to develop any interest for me. I've only tried 2 or 3 mainstream films, and now only two gay-themed films, and it was with great surprise that I truly enjoyed "Just a Question of Love." On several technical levels, "Felix" was quite good; I gave it a "2" because as I sat there watching, I kept asking myself, "Why am I wasting me time doing this?" In the end, all that really matters is whether I enjoy watching the movie. And in this case, I didn't.It's not that I go mainly for all-action, adventure flicks --- it's exactly the opposite: I rarely watch them. I get the point of the film, but it was not -- for me, at least -- presented in a way that I found the slightest bit entertaining. In fact, the story itself seemed hardly worth telling. I fast-forwarded through most of the movie after the "My Brother" sequence, stopping for a glance now and then. Nothing. Maybe I missed the good stuff.

This is a film that I liked because it reminded me of my own hitch-hiking road trips as a young gay man in Australia and New Zealand. Felix is a very likable character and I enjoyed going along on his trip with him!!!I also found it interesting to get a glimpse of life in France from the perspective of a gay man who has some North African blood in him. I liked the way the film focused on his relationships with the people he met along the way, all of his encounters were heart warming and humorous. I especially liked the way he related with the elderly woman who invited him back home to her place.

Offbeat but thoroughly digestible film that counters my usual take on French cinema as being dolorous and tedious. To be sure, such happiness is found in some rather amoral settings and activities; but close examination controverts even the most uptight opinions found among these reviews.It is indeed a "road" movie -- one of the best I have seen in terms of either its execution or its premises. Every common version of the genre is confounded, however, by unexpected surprises along the way. You cannot stop watching until the end. That is the mark of excellence in my book. Imagine -- just imagine -- how great it would be to reach the point at which Hollywood could conjure this kind of universal "family" film. Nah. It will never happen.

Have you ever gone to a movie with no expectations at all and come out over-enthusiastically? Well this is the kind of film that will make you leave the theater thinking 'Why am I complaining about stupid details, I just need to enjoy every moment I live ?'.Sami Boujila is superb as a gay, North African, unemployed guy who just lost his mother and has AIDS. Any normal person would just kill himself out of misery. But Felix won't. He decides to look up his father he never knew in Marseille and crosses the country meeting a lot of interesting people. The film deals with racism, indifference and homophobia, but is so fun too watch. If Felix was a Disney character, everybody would just want to buy a Felix-doll to look at when feeling a bit down.