I couldn't even finish it, I was so bored. I really did not get this movie! I can sit in a café and stare at people if that's what I want. I won't watch a movie to see the same.

Last Year in Marienbad for people watchers if you will. Instead of dialogue and plot the order of the day is watching people live going through the mundane and everyday activities which become so fascinating for some to watch (you know who you are). It is a captivating film particularly due to the elegance with which it is put together with the way images and audio interact to capture something being whilst not as striking as the more otherworldly Marienbad still really quite wonderful.

"This sensualist delight is an immaculate expression of the thrill of the hunt and the cruel damage our hearts of glass incur from an unexpected loss or missed opportunity." - Ed Gonzalez

The voyeuristic pleasures eventually feel creepy, perhaps because of the creepy protagonist. Are we supposed to share his fascination with beautiful strangers, or be skeeved out by it? There's also a contrivedness to the film, with its oh-so-clever graffiti (are we expected to be intrigued by the shallow "mystery" of it?), oh-so-clever reflections, and oh-so-clever recurring extras. There is thoughtful material here and some lovely aesthetic qualities, but it just has an air of phoniness to it.

As a twenty-something Gen X slacker, I would often hang out at coffee houses--intermittently writing, reading or just watch others. Being a hetero male, females would attract my attention. If you can relate to this, then you'll be able to relate to this film. However, I'd describe this as a European, Gen X art film--that means a very minimal plot (one that doesn't become clear until half way in the film), but interesting images--and, oh, did the film has almost no dialogue. Good film.

Quietly intrusive, Guerin's film tracks a man on a quest to recapture a glimmer of something good from his past. Guerin mimics the intentness of the man's gaze with a similarly focused camera, offering still set-up shots that provide many opportunities to watch people walk up and down the street, ride the bus, or sit in a cafe. Guerin nicely blends the comic and the tragic with the pivotal encounter on the bus. In spite of its strong formal qualities, the main character remains oddly distant.

An expert art film examining the thinness of the line between detachment and connection, passion and obsession that's also quite observant of the little aesthetic details more mainstream films rush by.

It could easily be called boring, pointless or pretentious. But there was something mesmerising about the film's slowness and sense of curiosity bordering on a purpose as it follows the characters around Strasbourg's streets interminably. It doesn't deliver the kind of emotional engagement or reward viewers might expect or crave, nevertheless I would call it a uniquely human film. It captures a floaty, detached feeling which I've never found in another film. Memorable.

A film that wants to be so much, when all we're really given is a guy creeping after girls for 80 minutes. Distracting use of extras add to the overall amateurish feel of the film.

Unique!

Through the film's form and soundscape, Guerin leads viewers to believe that in In the City of Sylvia, his camera and boom mic merely observe daily life. However if one probes further, it becomes evident that the film wears many layers of intricate construction, from the meticulous sound design to the world class cinematography, this film reveals itself to be masterfully layered. The film also succeeds in its dreamlike narrative thread, which relates to longing and voyeurism, and perhaps cinema.

Te transmite totalmente la atmósfera en donde se desenvuelve el film.

Elliptical and strange. Also strangely vibrant and full of life.