Boba_Fett1138 This is a quite fascinating French movie, that I wouldn't call great but is a throughout good watch nevertheless.Thing that really uplifts this movie is its directing. It makes this a great and beautiful looking one. It has a great directing style, that provides the movie with a great overall atmosphere. The movie at times picks a surreal approach and the story is being told and developed slowly.And while the movie is intriguing to watch throughout, I still wished it had a somewhat better story to work with, or that it got told just a little bit better all. Because the movie picks a more stylish approach, this really starts to go at the expense of the story. Not everything gets developed properly and some things just don't get resolved at all. In the end this is a movie that will leave you with more questions than answers. This doesn't really ruin the movie or anything and it's still a good and intriguing watch but I feel that with some more story and some better development this could had been a so much better and more memorable, unique little film. To me, the movie now is just too empty, to leave a big impression, let alone a very lasting one.It's also quite hard to say what audience this movie is really for. It's one that tells the story from the perspective of a young boy but I really wouldn't call this a children's movie. It's also not really a coming of age flick and its more being a drama-thriller, told from the mind and viewpoint of a child, which still leaves the question to what audience this movie is aimed to. A simple answer would just be movie-lovers, fore this is also really a movie that isn't just for everybody's taste. Some people might find the lack of pace and occurrences too much of a miss, while others will surely be able to appreciate the style and approach this movie is taking. The movie doesn't feature the best acting I have ever seen in a French movie and I actually thought at first that this was one of those movies that used non-professional actors, to make the movie and story work out more as a realistic one. But as it turns out all of the persons involved are actually actors, with more working experience in the business. A bit disappointing but those who don't speak or understand the language will hardly have any problems with it.Nevertheless I still really foremost liked this movie, due to its fine directing approach, which kept this movie a good and intriguing watch throughout.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Rodrigo Amaro Our subconscious world's still a scientific mystery and sometimes we think we have some answers to our dreams, and our nightmares but we don't. Psychiatrists and psychoanalysts may give some unsatisfactory answers to what we dream in our sleep but that's not enough. We really want to know why strange and bizarre thoughts appears out of the blue. Many claim that the real life problems is solved better (or not) in our dreams, or even say that our lives frustrations appears frequently in our dreams and with that you might get some answer to solve or battle against yourself dealing or not dealing with the problem. And then we have the nightmares, something that leave you with fear, sometimes real fear, sometimes is just silly things created in our brain. But there are nightmares that disturbs at the point that we don't even want to sleep again fearing that something bad is gonna happen. "La Classe DE Neige" (or "Class Trip") is all about dreams, nightmares, dreams capes and dangerous thoughts that may become reality.Nicolas (Clément van den Bergh) is a 12 year-old and extremely shy boy that is sent to a Class Trip in the France country side. His father (François Roy) doesn't allow him to go to the trip in the same bus where the other boys go fearing an accident because something similar happened a few days earlier. Nicolas is almost silent, and the other kids don't tend to like him very much (you might remember of Louis Malle's "Au Revoir Mon infants") because it's his first time in that camp and he's not too much sociable. To make things worst he forgot to take his suitcase with his clothes and his pajamas out of the car's trunk. He desperately need his pajamas because he wets his bed during the sleep. But a good soul borrows a pajama to him, a boy named Hodkann (Lokman Nalcakan) and they become friends. Now we get to the serious part of this drama with horror undertones. Nicolas have several nightmares and not only sleeping, sometimes he has some flashes of terrible happenings just looking to some person or watching the news on TV. His nightmares are very awkward, almost all of them related to his father, whether him suffering an car accident or Nicholas being keep apart from his dad while playing at the park. To help him during these hard times Nicolas got the support of the teachers (played by Yves Verhoeven and Emmanuelle Bercot) and Hodkann, who seems interested in all the things that happen with Nicolas. One day after locked himself out of the camp house (he lied to his teachers saying that he's sleep-walker) Nicolas tells Hodkann what's happening saying that his father is a detective investigating the kidnap of children that has their organs removed. After the disappearance of a kid of the area things starting to look different for the two friends and nothing is what it appears to be. Writer and Director Claude Miller made a great film here but something could be more developed, more mystery could be added and the ending doesn't explain the nightmares, and not even if some of the Nicolas thoughts were real or not. For instance, when the teacher is making a relaxing exercise Nicolas is the only tense kid in the room. He's thinking that his father are throwing him in a pool over and over again. That scene is never explained if he's cruel father did that to him or if it's just another dream. Another thing that bothered me was the flashback during a moment with Nicolas, his brother and his father in a park. First, we see the moment and then cut to Nicolas in the camp. Then that scene backs again but it moves forward. Totally unnecessary, the flashback is no needed and that scene could be showed in just one single take. And we have the strange dreams that Nicolas have while awake. This was very good, it give suspense and weirdness to the movie but their appearances doesn't explain a single thing and leaves the audience with questions that might sound useless to the story. Why he kissed the female teacher in that way after knowing that his father died in the dream? Is Nicolas a gay boy? (there's a few undertones here: in his dreams Hodkann appears behind him in the roller-coaster, smiling while Nicolas father is kidnapped; and in his first nightmare, look the way the hands touches when Nicolas saves Hodkann from the terrorists). Anyway, I got the feeling that this movie pointed in so many directions and in the end the mystery was not much interesting, doesn't have a big plot twist. But it's a great movie. The boy that plays Nicolas has a incredible performance. He made of Nicolas a unique character, very original not only in its terrifying nightmares but in the quiet moments too (his conversation with the teacher about the Little Mermaid is one the best scenes of the movie). It's an very original work, I was surprised at some moments thinking that it would be another movie similar to "La Spinaza del Diablo" but it was very different, a little inferior to Del Toro's work. It wasn't focused in the relationship between all the kids and/or they being cruel to Nicolas because he's a little different of the other kids, something that doesn't happen in Americans film. It didn't need to show cruel acts towards a kid, it followed in other way, showing that friendship is possible between different people and different behavior.Enjoy the mystery, the story and the great credit opening that resembles "Frantic" directed by Roman Polanski. 9/10

jotix100 A possessive father objects to having his son Nicolas traveling on the chartered bus that will take his class to the mountains for skiing lessons. The class will continue with the school work, while the children take their first lessons in the snow. The father decides he will drive Nicolas because no one will assure him he will be safe otherwise. Later, we see Nicolas, his parents and younger brother watching a newscast in which a horrible accident has killed young school children because of a driver that fell asleep at the wheel.As they arrive in the chalet where all Nicolas' classmates are being housed, the father leaves with his son's bag in the trunk of his car, leaving the boy to depend on the kindness of his friends to lend him pajamas to spend the night. Nicolas only concern is that he might urinate during the night leaving him ashamed and embarrassed in front of the other kids. Nicolas has a vivid imagination. He suffers from nightmares that keep him awake during the night. Nicolas also suffers deeply because of his strange relationship with his father. In the dorm, he becomes friendly with an unruly kid, Hodkann, who is the one that lends him his extra pajama.In flashbacks we see Nicolas with his father and younger brother at an amusement park. Nicolas wants to go on a ride which requires to be accompanied by an adult because of his age. A strange man offers to stay with the other boy so that Nicolas and the father take the ride, but the father refuses. He explains how some evil persons lurk in public places to steal children, as was the case with a small child that was recently found after his disappearance, but without a kidney.Things around the chalet suddenly become menacing when the police comes to inquire about the disappearance of a boy, Rene, who might have encountered foul play. Nicolas, who has suffered one of his worst nightmares and locked himself out of the dorm by taking refuge in Patrick's car, develops a fever. When he sees the police arrive at the school his fears suddenly make him realize who might have something to do with Rene's fate.Claude Miller the director of this film is a man that is attracted to themes that involve children in perilous situations. Mr. Miller's career shows his sensitive approach toward troubled youths. Emmanuel Carrere, wrote and adapted, with Mr. Miller, his original novel, which unfortunately, we didn't read. The film seems to dwell on the mind of Nicolas. He knows more than what he can express. This is a boy that has been traumatized by his monster father in this psychological drama. There are things that are merely hinted at, such as the incestuous relationship between father and son.In Nicolas mind some of the horror he experiences take a sexual nature, like in the night when instead of urination, the boy experiences his first orgasm, which totally confuses him. We realize early on how Nicolas has been damaged by his monster father. When he comes in contact at a restaurant with a mother that is changing her infant in a nursery, Nicolas becomes fascinated with the situation in which tenderness is given to the small baby, something that he probably have never felt from either one of his parents.Clement Van Den Bergh makes an intense case for Nicolas. The boy is photographed in close ups most of the time. His face registers a lot of what is going on in his mind. Francois Roy is seen as the possessive father, but he only shows in the first part of the film. Lokman Nalcakan plays Nicolas' friend.

raymond-15 There are both problem children and problem parents. In this TV movie Nicolas has an over-protective father who will not allow his son to ride on the school bus on their holiday excursion to the mountains. He explains that there are criminals around who kidnap children from side-walks, playgrounds etc. Nicolas being a sensitive child elaborates on his father's fears and has regular bouts of day-dreaming as well as horrific nightmares. This makes interesting entertainment. I like the intercutting of dreams and reality. The horror mounts from scene to scene in a confusing mixture. Nicolas confides to his friend Hodkann that organised criminals pounce on children and cut out their kidneys and livers in mobile hospitals. Sad-faced Nicolas is convincing as the imaginative child. He tells Hodkann that he is an informer and that he helps his father in seeking out these traffickers in human organs. Nicolas also reads horror stories at bed-time. "The Monkey's Paw" scene is a brilliant piece of technical manipulation. Nicolas asks his tutor if it is possible to make things happen just by thinking hard enough about them. This theme is pursued in many scenes where Nicolas manipulates scenes on the television screen e.g. he imagines his father in an automobile accident. I have the feeling that Nicolas is a really mixed up kid and his psychological problems result in worrying bed-wettings. This is alluded to constantly. Clement van der Bergh with his sad and unsmiling face is admirable as young Nicolas, and in contrast we have his happy-go-lucky friend Hodkann in constant awe of Nicolas's imaginative stories. The film centres about their friendship and their adventures. Their warm relationship is convincing. An early scene (actually a nightmare) shows an assassination of virtually everyone by terrorists who attack the mountain lodge. Yes, it's an exciting film that keeps you awake to the end.