"IP5: The Island of Pachyderms" is a highly unconventional road movie that gets it right in everything is set out to be: as the unusual
encounter of two criminal youngsters with a crazed/mystical runaway elderly, with both parts helping each other on their life quest, it manages
to be a funny, charming, thrilling and dramatic film about the peculiar and apparently random encounters of life where lost souls find one another
to fulfill a specific life purpose, whether big or small, and with that unexpected union they're no longer lost in life, love or whatever higher
purpose might be. Cinema du look representative Jean-Jacques Beineix ("Diva", "Betty Blue") makes one of his finest films but also the one where he was harshly criticised
the most back of its release. Totally unfair and undeserving.
It's so strange that for the few times I heard about the film and its apparent story it always struck me as something dark or violent, and
the main curiosity in seeing it was the chance of seeing the great Yves Montand on his final performance - of which French press at the time
"blamed it" on the director. It starts out in a very downer manner as we're introduced to the two criminals, Tony (Olivier Martinez), an obsessive
graffiti artist and his sidekick, the smart pre-teen Jockey (Sekkou Sall), who deals with an alcoholic father at home.
Between the dark and down
bits they face, comes to their lives a young nurse (Géraldine Pailhas), of whom Tony falls in love for the first time yet he keeps being rejected
with good reasons, called time and again as an "empty shell"; and the most bizarre encounter of all after robbing a car there's an old man in the
backseat, the helpful Leon (Montand) who's on a personal journey walking through the wilderness to find the island of the title. Something special
is waiting for him, he's sure, and after helping the younger duo in difficult situations, they follow the old man who might help them out with their
wishes: Tony wanting to find the nurse, love of his life; and the kid with seeing mountains and the snow, something he always dreamed.
The greatest appeal of "IP5" is in simply not falling for any kind of cliche or preditable route. The unexpected is most welcome, most
fascinating and most intriguing in everything Mr. Beineix carefully puts on the screen - the only small problem relates to leaving Gloria, the nurse, as
too much of a background character despite her importance in moving the man alive, but the film is about the trio journey and how they deal with one
another despite their different stages of life. One great example about how Beineix destroys what's expected is how the rival gang, who puts Tony in a
dangerous mission, never returns once they're presented. 99% of writers/directors would make them return when the journey and the problems were near
the end and you'd easily go thinking about how obvious it'd be.
If the majority of films from the cinema du look seem to evoke more style than a relevant substance, "IP5" proves that plenty of depth can
be found. It's one of those stories where audiences are challenged and intrigued about the unusual ways of life, the happy accidents that might not
be accidents of all, if there's such a thing as fate or destiny, and the forces of universe that set them in motion for better or worse. And we will
ever know if Leon/Montand was one of those crazies sent to earth to confuse poor mortals with his wisdom and actions, or if he was actually someone
spiritualized enough to be almost like a god who can cure and be near whenever you need it (the second meeting with him, when the youngsters are stealing
another car and the cops show up is hilarious). At its core, it reveals that despite what appearances and initial acts from a certain person are, no one
is so bad that they can't find a redemption, and no one's so good to be considered a saint. Ultimately, the human quest for something meaningful
in their lives, a sense of purpose or the thing that keep us going through the many strange roads of life until we get some enlightenement or succeed with a mission. Universal themes that
are relevant, treated with a sense of great realism and some mystic touch.
I absolutely loved everything about this film, can't wait to see it again in years to come. And the acting from everybody, the newcomers
and legendary Yves Montand, was simply spectacular. You're easily compelled by their characters, their nature, either helping or sabotaging one
another. It's a lot funnier that one would expect, but when it gets to its more serious themes and reflections of life, we find a
pulsating heart that has become rare to find in most films and works of art. 10/10.
