What's that strange smell?...oh wait its that quiet killer guy

PERFUME: STORY OF A MURDERER (2006)

Gather Round Kiddies, turn off that knobby noise box thang, its time for you to view... tha review...

Okay, I do try to bring you some of the "off the beaten path" type entertainment shizzie that you, the throngs (I love that word, dangerously close to 'thongs', and that, is alright with Boonsweet), demand aside form the everyday, available in 80 copy three shelf filling blockbusters, at your local video rental provider. Today I give you a rather strange little big film.

So "Perfume" first got my attention through six degrees of Tom Tykwer, the director. And the six degrees meaning I like this guy, so what he makes might warrant my attention. Now I have only seen two of his other works the break neck paced "Run, Lola, Run" and the complicated little love story "The princess and the Warrior". I really liked both films, and they were quite different pieces of screen fill, so I saw this, with quite the eye catching cover I might add, his name on it, decided sure.

This is a weird movie. Original, violent, disgusting, beautiful, poetic... list goes on, I mean there is just so much shit thrown in, Boonsweet could've used a time out on the play rug to recoup.

Your plot is this - set a long time ago,  a child is born to a whore mother (who gives birth to him in a pile of fish heads, by herself, and cutting him free, leaves him to die in a scene that will severely mess up Boonsweet's ability to reproduce), finds himself in an orphanage, where he becomes aware of a gift... A super Human sense of smell. Growing up poor, unloved, etc., he falls into this world of smells. For the record there are no scenes with our hero, Jean-Baptiste, saving someone from death with his super power, no smelling the gun power in the keg under the governors chair... quite the opposite actually. He grows up from a strange boy, to a strange man. Eventually getting work as an assistant perfumer, and up the rungs, well a few rungs anyway. And finds interesting ways to get his smells.

Wait, what do you mean I can just grab a bottle of CKone?

The entire story is narrated by a voice with similarities to something you might hear in a Tim Burton flick, and this helps to create a real atmosphere to the film, not to mention help explain, when your head is starting to hurt. As our nose of power moves on, he discovers this one woman who has a smell unlike any he's ever smelt before... cue ominous tone, so he decides to find a way to preserve her smell... through death... Dun Dun DUNNNNN!

Well, it is 'the story of a murderer' now... so from there, the story moves rather quickly, with Jean-Baptiste on his quest for ultimate smells, killing, scent saving... and such.

I do not know fully, how I feel about this films ending, it is without a doubt one of the strangest I have seen, and the damned voice over only makes it more weird... but the more I think about it the more I think I might like it... might take another viewing for sure, but the ending does not, in this case, damage the rest of the film. It is beautiful to look at, I am sure the budget for this film was not great, but they stretch every penny, the directing is smooth, and never feels choppy, just follows behind the scene almost... Something Tommy has been perfecting for a bit. The music is what you would expect from a period piece, and the lead actor "Ben Whishaw", who i must confess i was not familiar with, was great, expect big things from Benny here. Though he might do with a change from his long resume of art house pics.

Overall, just one of the most original, spell binding films I have seen in  a while. It is worth a watch if for nothing more than watching someone react to the fish market birth ... ha... 

Movie Scale 3.5 out of 5 stars

Weird/Drama 3.5 out of 5 stars

ONE LINE REVIEW - This movie smells awesome, because it is awesome. 

-Chuck B. Boonsweet