"My Dinner with André" (1981) by Louis Malle

Deceptively simple, yet breathtakingly masterful "My Dinner with André" tumbles the whole conception of the "movie as entertainment" on its head and boldly presents film as a thought-provoking medium. Far from being a dry technical experiment, it actually glues a viewer to the screen, not because its delicate camera work or some visual flourish but because of what it was said, how it was said and what kind of unspoken communication goes on around the table. There is a pure, serious magic going on here and its experience quite unlike any other movie I had ever seen.

Since we are all brainwashed that movies have to "have a story" the whole idea that we can watch two hours dinner conversation sound somewhat absurd - not only it works, but it leaves one head buzzing for days, if not for weeks. In a nutshell - two friends who have been close but drifted apart trough the years, meet for a dinner and talk. Not your usual superficial chit chat, but real, intelligent conversation between two grown up persons about meaning of life, search of one's purpose, the difference between dreams and reality, choices in life and such. That one is a sensitive dreamer and another firmly locked into material world just makes the conversation flow more fascinating. To my own surprise I found myself completely drawn, almost hypnotized into this and feeling that I actually understand both of them. Perhaps it is too early to say and I might need to see it several more times before I finally made my mind about this, but maybe - just maybe - we could keep our own gentle, dreaming André inside and live outside lives as Wally and his simple joys, electric blanket and all.

I am perfectly aware this is not a movie for everyone, for the simple reason that lots of people don't have any point of reference to all of this - surprisingly big number of them don't even know what is a conversation like this. That there were individuals like André Gregory, Wallace Shawn and Louis Malle leaves a huge, deep impression on me. Honestly, the next movie I see will just appear superficial. We are now used to nonchalantly watch crime as entertainment and it makes me sick already, I mean how many killings, rapes and throat cuting scenes can one watch in life?  "My Dinner with André" was a real eye-opener. Loved every second of it.