Model Shop

In a word, ugh. Don't waste your time with this film. It has a low-budget, indie feel to it, which could have been a big positive, but the acting is shockingly bad. Gary Lockwood is wooden and Alexandra Hay is awful, and on top of that, the script is sleepy and uninspired. The soundtrack and brief appearance from the band Spirit is as well. There is a moment at which Lockwood gets a draft notice that feels real and of interest, bringing back a difficult period in America, but it's quickly snuffed by the lethargy of Lockwood's attraction to a model (Anouk Aimée) who can be paid to pose for risqué photos. It's quite tedious to see Lockwood slowly tooling around in his convertible in scene after scene, though it is of some interest to see street scenes in 1960's Los Angeles, and that's the best thing the film has going for it. Otherwise, director Jacques Demy even finds a way to make scenes with two beautiful stars, Aimée and Lockwood, boring. Whew.

source: Model Shop

I'm currently looking around for a copy of this film after learning that Jay Ferguson's 60s rock band Spirit (who I've been a fan of since the late 60s and have some original vinyl of) contributed to the OST. I'm giving it 8/10 sight unseen based on the fact that Spirit wrote some music for it, though I understand that the French director screwed it up somewhat because of his lack of communication with the cast and crew. Well that's the French for you. Looking forward to seeing the film and making a further comment based on a viewing. Keep on rockin'.

The empty lives of a would-be architect and a bored French woman collide in Jacques Demy's American film. It's not dull, but it's not easy to sit through either. What the viewer is expected to get out of this is anyone's guess. Gary Lockwood carries the film as a kid about to be drafted and Anouk Aimee plays the French woman. They're fine but Aimee's command of the English language is pretty distracting. She's very distant and it's impossible to tell if that's the actress or the character she's playing. She is of course stunning (and never looked more like Sophia Loren). The film, set in Los Angeles, makes good use of the Sunset Strip. With the terrible Alexandra Hay as Lockwood's frustrated girlfriend and Severn Darden, who has one creepy line of dialog.

Just viewed the Model Shop, 1969 last night but not all of it because I suddenly switched it on TV, Ted Turner Classics on cable. I liked it a lot. I have not seen a lot of the other films Demy made, but I've seen the other new wave films made by other filmmakers. I really like that period of film-making. Luv it. Someone's comment said, he or she didn't the romance between Lockwood and Aimee, that it was chilled, but I liked it because of that. I liked it's slowness, the late sixties time, the long takes as Gary Lockwood drove his car around LA, the whole look. I lived in LA, not in early 70's but during the late 70's-94. I miss LA a lot. Sometimes I hated it living there for several reasons, but sometimes I really liked it. Seems like I grew up there in my adult life. I knew most all of those streets or was familiar with a lot of the the streets I saw in the film where the character Gary Lockwood drove around.

The time and the setting (late 60's LA) seem among the most authentic of any movie from that period, probably owing to the director who wasn't trying to exploit the culture like so many American directors of the time did. The film transcends nostalgia, and is very worth seeing for the style, authenticity, and music (provided by one of LA's greatest bands, Spirit). The main character played by Gary Lockwood (lots of TV credits over the years) is under great direction by Demy, who helps to make him into an American version of someone out of French New Wave. And into the wave comes Anouk Aimme, whom he meets in an LA "model shop", about as cool and detached a woman as ever graced the screen.

Two somewhat lost souls are studied in this ambling, low-key film, covering a 24-hour period. Lockwood plays a 26 year-old architect student who's left his job because things aren't happening quickly enough for him and he's disenchanted with the time it takes to really make a mark in the field. He lives with his actress girlfriend Hay who, while maybe not soaring to the top, is at least on a track to someplace, unlike him. With money scarce, his car is about to be repossessed unless he can cough up $100. Aimee plays a remote, austere French woman who catches his eye and who he practically stalks in order to meet. Their simultaneously simple, yet complex, existences collide briefly with each giving the other a portion of what's missing in his or her life. Lockwood (who's looking very fit and hunky here) tries to give his often-expository dialogue a realistic, unaffected touch, but often he's defeated by the contrivance and occasional pontificating nature of his lines. He's understated to the point of near disinterest at times. However, he's intriguing enough to hold attention most of the movie. Hay is clearly trying, but she just doesn't have the acting skill or ease of manner to put her character across without seeming forced and unnatural. Top-billed Aimee, who actually has a smallish role, is appropriately jaded and mysterious (and compelling looking), but is almost a little too vague to really grab hold of the viewer. This was director Demy's only Hollywood film and his lack of grasp with the language translates to his cast. It's clear that he didn't have the security with English in order to help his actors massage the dialogue and make it sound as comfortable and as dynamic as it needed to be. Too frequently, lines are delivered with the wrong words emphasized and this bleeds away some of the impact of them. The film does afford a priceless view of Los Angeles in the mid-60s and fans of vintage automobiles ought to have a field day ogling the many, many cars of the era that Lockwood drives alongside in his frequent sojourns on the road. Music in the film vacillates between songs by the group Spirit and classical selections, all of which, in a very odd decision, appear to come from the very same radio station in Lockwood's car!! Cultural touchstones such as rock music and underground/independent newspapers (as well as a seedy model-for-hire joint) provide some moments of interest amid the soul-searching and almost dreamlike meandering of Lockwood. This is definitely not a film for everyone, but for those inclined it's worth a look.

The icon in the "SHOP" window should be activated by now, since Sundazed has finally released Spirit's wonderful, long-lost soundtrack music...really the only reason "Model Shop" is remembered at all. In fairness, Demy's film does provide many tasty images of late-'60s L.A., with nice views from Sunset Plaza -- but, as groovy '60s L.A. movies go, Demy is no John Boorman and "Model Shop" is not exactly "Point Blank." The zonkoid lead performances of Anouk Aimee and Gary Lockwood don't do much to pique one's interest either. But hey, so little footage (if any) of the original Spirit lineup exists that their brief scene alone makes watching worthwhile. So pick up the CD and long live Randy California!

This is a bad film, French New Wave or not. While I don't love this type of movie, even as an example of the genre, it's bad. French Writer/Director Jacques Demy (who I have loved in several of his other films) makes a mostly aimless film about a guy who has the personality of a paper towel...and it's all set in America. The guy is Gary Lockwood and I felt a bit sorry for him in the movie as he really had very little to do except exist as well as do things that rarely made sense. Emoting in any way certainly was NOT in the cards for this guy! The film begins with Lockwood in bed with his girlfriend (who, coincidentally, has almost no personality either). There's a knock at the door as finance company guys are about to repossess his car. He gets them to agree to wait until the end of the day and Lockwood spends much of the beginning of the film visiting various acquaintances trying to bum money from them. Finally, he finds a soft touch and gets the $100 he needs, but ends up spending it on a woman he just saw as he was driving down the street (Anouk Aimée) who poses for perverts who pay her to strip. And, as a result, he can't pay for the car. I assume this is supposed to be romantic, but the guy just comes off as a leeching idiot. Plus, when he announces that he loves her even though he doesn't even know her, he seems like a real creeper! The film bears some similarities to the famous "Breathless" ("À bout de soufflé"), though unlike Jean-Paul Belmondo (who also plays a low-life), Lockwood's character has no personality and is very, very stiff (in a bad way). At least with Belmondo, he had style and a certain rogue-ish charm. But watching a similar style film with none of the positive qualities of the Godard/Truffaut film, it's a real chore to endure. And, with a plot that seems a bit recycled, the New Wave novelty can't even be respected. A dull and unconvincing film, it didn't even benefit from being bad. If it been terrible and not dull, this would have been an improvement--at least with terrible you can watch it for a laugh!

I note the many laudatory reviews here and the general tone of those on amazon is similar. I'm sorry, but don't make me laugh! This is a stinker from the word go, that is unless you want to overlook the two most basic elements of film story-telling, to wit: (1) a coherent and preferably imaginatively dialogued script and (2) competent acting. As a follow-up to the brilliant "Lola" and the virtually undisputed masterpiece "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" -- in the sense that all three films have characters in common -- this is shocking. I think perhaps it will suffice to say that Jacques Demy (who is not only director but co-writer) was not quite comfortable with the English language at the time he made this, his only American film. The same can obviously said of Anouk Aimee, giving a perfectly ludicrous performance (the "model shop" scene, especially, where she gets into supposedly alluring poses for her client's camera must be seen to be believed). Alexandra Hay, however, has no such excuse. She is simply dreadful. As George Cukor unflinchingly said of co-star Aimee, "The lady simply can't act." But I have given this film two stars, and there are two reasons. One: co-star Gary Lockwood (really the top star, though second billed; there is not a frame of the film in which he does not appear), though not a very skilled actor, tries his best, and watching his stuff flop around in his tight jeans (no underwear, as is made clear when he puts his pants on in the first scene) is at least something to concentrate on. He also has a very, very cute butt and looks damn good with his shirt off as well (two scenes). If that is enough for you, then you may enjoy this film. The other reason is that an excellent late 60's rock band, Spirit, not only wrote the soundtrack (supplemented by a number of Classical selections), but appear in the film in one brief scene. They can't act, either, but it's a nice documentary moment, catching them just as they were making their mark. It's rather endearing. My final complaint: Sony's insulting packaging -- super ugly, too.