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Overall Rating
  Awesome: 28.16%
Worth A Look: 35.06%
Just Average: 22.41%
Pretty Crappy: 3.45%
Sucks: 10.92%
10 reviews, 114 user ratings
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Chocolat |
by Nuwanda
"C'est tres magnifique!!"

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Once upon an Academy Awards season, there was a film nominated for Best Picture that actually deserved it. It was funny, charming, emotional and enjoyable. But, most of all, 'Chocolat' brings home the bacon. It fulfills it's premise, and it's promise, and is simply enjoyable from start to finish.A crisp, biting, northern wind brings Vianne and her daughter Anouk to a small French village where 'tranquilité' is cherished above all things. Vianne's mission is simple; to travel from town to town healing people with time-honored chocolate recipes.
This one particular small town is not entirely welcoming, however. And it is this antagonistic feeling between Vianne, and the majority of the town (under the spell of the bitter mayor's influence), that drives the narrative.
Juliette Binoche's Academy nod is deserving, but not remarkably so. I feel it is an injustice that Lena Olin got ignored for her performance, as it is one of the most powerful supporting roles I have seen in a long time. The British gave her a nomination, but the Americans felt the need to shop elsewhere, I guess. To see Judi Dench receive another nomination for a relatively flat role makes me cringe. Ah, but we're not here to talk Academy talk entirely.
On the whole, however, the acting is great, including a believable Irish accent by the eclectic Johnny Depp.
The film uses the common conception that it is hard to be the different one in the crowd, but it's also worth the fight. It doesn't deliver this adage in the usual form, however, this film is full of original twists and turns that make is an extremely memorable and delicious treat.This is a film that makes promises and keeps them. How refreshing that was to see. It seems like there were too many pictures this year that were simply too ambitious and like a cheap politician, failed to deliver.
link directly to this review at https://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=4716&reviewer=116 originally posted: 02/26/01 18:32:19
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USA 19-Jan-2001 (PG-13)
UK N/A
Australia 14-Feb-2001 (M)
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