The Hedgehog

Great film
bluntreview (dot) com says: France is usually the place to find small amazing films. This is no exception. The Hedgehog tiptoes through a few lives. The lens and players quietly sharing moments that ultimately ad up to a film that leaves you feeling...literally feeling. And these days saying a film raised an emotion (other than excitement due to an energetic edit or hyper sound system) says a lot.

Story goes...Little Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) is facing another birthday. She will be twelve. She has decided not to be twelve. She is planning to kill herself as she feels death is nothing. Paloma is a deeply introverted brooding - but charming - child.

She is also a rich child in a rich home. Her family is busy with their own dramas (imagined and real). They know Paloma is there, but not who she is.

With her father's old video camera Paloma begins to document what she has determined will be her last 165 days. A child of Nietzsche-esque tendencies...

LIFE-AFFIRMING
This very French, life-affirming film about the unlikely friendship between a precocious 11 year old determined to end her life on her 12th birthday and the gruff super or concierge of the Parisian building in which her family lives caught me by surprise. Based on Muriel Barbery's "The Elegance of the Hedgehog," this film gets everything just about right as the young girl discovers that life itself holds secrets if one risks connecting with another. Even if that person has a harsh, gruff exterior. This terrifically entertaining movie plays with darkness, light and grace.

Excellent movie!
I read the book and today I watch the movie. Both are excellent, something rarely seen. It's a story about waking up to life, sprinkled with colorful and deep reflections. Highly recommend.

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