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| Dante 0.1 [2008] | ![Dante 0.1 [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rA8IbIeLL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Marc Caro
Actors: Linh Dan Pham, Lambert Wilson, Dominique Pinon
Studio: Momentum Pictures Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £6.97
You Save: £6.02 (46%)
Buy New/Used from £4.20
Avg. Customer Rating:  (4 reviews)
Sales Rank: 13657
Format: Pal
Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Media: DVD
Running Time: 82 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5060116723069
ASIN: B001A47GES
Release Date: September 15, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 some nice visuals.... October 29, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Only slightly better than eden log. There are some nice visual effects to be seen here but that's all really. In fairness the director does add some information in the "making of" feature as he reveals the film leaves more questions than answers. So we have prisoners in space, experimentations, a mysterious stranger and plenty of metaphors about rebirth and creation. You can work the rest out yourself and whilst the film may look polished, it is generally a let down. Just don't expect many answers and a lot is left to your own interpretation which may not be a bad thing. This film didn't captivate me but having paid for it, i wanted to know how it ends.
Disappointing but still better than most recent sf films October 13, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was expecting big things of this. After the almost-brilliant Sunshine and the darkly impressive Renaissance, I thought proper sf was due a, erm, renaissance in European cinema. At the risk of sounding pretentious, I'm a big fan of 'intelligent', epic sci-fi (Bladerunner, Alien, Casshern, Dark City). So this, a sci-fi film by Marc Caro, artistic director behind the visual feast that was Delicatessen and the pure cinema of City of Lost Children, seemed worth getting excited about. It pains me to say, it left me cold. Allegories and symbolism aside, the plot and story are just too thin - even with a running time of under 80 minutes. The characters aren't 'mysterious', as some more charitable people might suggest, so much as lacking in substance and not given enough material to develop as the story (such as it is) unfolds. The mystery - the question of whether the central character is a saintly victim come to offer salvation to the inmates (and the sadistic jailors-cum-scientists) or simply a psychopath endowed with magical healing powers - becomes lost in a series in a brutal and bloody stabbings or watery vomit scenes.
To see Caro's enormous talent squandered like this is heart-breaking. The dark beauty of his cinematography - the unreal colours and sepia tones, the stark, forbidding landscapes and skylines of Earth, - they're what made Delicatessen and City of Lost Children so visually jaw-dropping. But use those techniques in a gloomy spaceship setting, as in Alien:Resurrection, and they become cliched and cartoonish.
None of which would make this a bad film, of course, if the story was strong enough to stand out, but that's not the case.
This film might appeal to sf/horror fans who like their screens awash with gore and viscera - there are scenes where the bodily fluids are practically spilling out of the frame. There are also a couple of unintentionally comic scenes where the camera is fixed on a frame attached to the actor and pointing at the central character's face as he stumbles around the corridors on the point of collapse; these reminded me of that amusing Radiohead video and, even more so, of the jarring moments towards the end of Danny Boyle's The Beach, where it goes all videogame-like and snaps you out of the story, utterly ruining the tension and the momentum of the film. A brave technique to employ, maybe, but here it looked cheap and wholly out of context.
For those who wanted the pure cinema of Caro's earlier works, or those who want a think-piece set in space, well, this ain't the film for you, I'm afraid.
On the plus side, sf fans, it's not another bloody Star Wars prequel and it probably wouldn't have even got funding in Hollywood, and for that I'll give it 3 stars instead of 2.
 STUNNING! October 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Dante 01 is an original and visually striking film. The story takes place on a claustrophobic and confined space station with an ominous overbearing atmosphere. In to this circle of hell enters a mysterious individual called 'Saint George'. Throughout the film the viewer never learns this characters true name and whose past is deliberately left vague. This is also the same for the other characters within the film whose pasts are deliberately left open to interpretation. This however dose not mean the characters lack substance, simply it is up to the viewer to decide who is the hero or the villain.
As the story unfolds the small community of criminals onboard Dante 01 starts to disintegrate as Saint George's strange abilities manifest and the nanotechnology experiments brought on board by a new doctor go awry. This leads to some jarring moments, which, rather than relying on blood and gore to create impact rely instead on the moody and claustrophobic atmosphere of Dante 01.
The story maybe simple yet it is beautifully told, visually stunning and packed with symbolism and metaphors. The main protagonist played by Lambert Wilson is powerful and understated with hardly a word said throughout the film. The camerawork is stunning, especially at the beginning where the camera writhes and wretches with Saint George as he acclimatises to his new environment. A technique that helps to add an extra layer of desperation to Saint George's situation.
Dante 01 is a powerful and understated film that may be an acquired taste. If you want a film that leaves you with more questions than answers then Dante 01 is perfect.
French salsa SF October 13, 2008
Mah..... A "cerebral" SF movie, in french, with some classic themes: prisoners in a stellar prison, Alien 3-like, "scientific" experiments "Umbrella-style", a "mystic" hero.
Not a "frenetic" film, made by starships and alien monsters, nor a cerebral "actual" SF in Philip K. Dick's style. Good scenes, good scenographies. Not else.
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