Film Review – A Magnificent Life

Sylvain Chomet is best known as the writer and director of the French animated film, “The Triplets of Belleville,” which managed to charm art house audiences in 2003. He’s returned on occasion, with 2010’s “The Illusionist” and he tried live-action moviemaking on for size in 2013’s “Attila Marcel,” but Chomet falls back into animation with “A Magnificent Life.” And it’s a personal story as well, using colorful artistry to bring the life and times of French playwright, novelist, and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol to the screen. It’s an usual choice for a bio-pic viewing experience, but Chomet has his passion for the subject, endeavoring to push past reputation and work to better understand the man’s drive to create and endure adversity. “A Magnificent Life” is a gorgeously crafted effort, but it’s extremely specific in its fandom, with Chomet charting the growth of creative expression and emotional challenges, but he struggles to get his arms around the “true story,” offering a picture that’s always appreciable but only periodically illuminating. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com