Je t'aime John Wayne (2000)

Looking very much like a monochrome homage to the likes of Jacques Tati, this short feature follows the antics of “Belmondo” (Kris Marshall) who lives the life of a dapper and debonair young Parisian in the spirit of his more acclaimed namesake. Perfectly attired, elegantly puffing on his cigarette and speaking elementary French, he takes his young sister and her friend to the cinema. The film is in French, just about everyone is bored witless by it and as he leaves the cinema he becomes involved in a fracas that sees him meet “Zazie” (Camilla Rutherford) whom he feels sure is destined to be his soulmate and muse. Or, well maybe he’s just a delusional Brit called “Trevor”? Marshall fits the bill perfectly here and for a time it’s quite an enjoyable parody of things French and pretentious, but despite it being only ten minutes long there is too much padding to sustain the theme and I thought it needed a tighter edit to keep it better focussed. It’s got quite a jaunty score to help it along and it’s charming photographic quirkiness makes it worth a watch.