Real Women Love it Too!

Earlier today Makal linked me to a great article, titled "Real Men Love the Fifth Element". Of course, I'm inclined to find that statement a bit exclusive, but feminist proclivities aside, I digress. Reading the rather long article, I agreed with every point the reviewer had. Read the article for yourself here, and see if there isn't a few things you'd like to add or see removed from his list.

As for me, well, there are a few things I would've liked to have seen listed, but I can forgive him for not doing so since at least one of them is distinctly "girly" and he was writing in regards to "real men". No pictures for my fave aspects, though, namely for the sake of time. :)

The Makeup Gadgets - How could you miss noticing these? As slick and futuristic as Korben's "four a day" cigarette dispenser, these ubiquitous little devices aren't very obvious. We see the Zorg secretary using something that looks like a small pencil sharpener to change her nail colour, and LeeLoo is handed something that looks like a plastic sleep mask-meets-viewfinder, which applies full eye makeup with the push of a button. If only it were that easy!

The Music - OMG the music! Fifth Element has one of the few score-style soundtracks (i.e. not a collaborative soundtrack from a variety of artists) that I can stand to listen to on a regular basis. Eric Serra, the composer, did an amazing job blending the ancient feel of the movie's opening and obvious religious undertones with the much more modern sci-fi setting, with a range of styles in between.

The Diva and her Dance - Most people who've seen this movie will remember the tall blue Diva Plavalaguna, if only because she looks freakin' weird. But there is so much more to her character! One reason I love her is her gaggle of androgynous assistants, decked out in a style I can only reference as "emo cyberpunk". I love her opera (well, the part of it that she gets to sing), and the splicing of her performance with LeeLoo kicking butt (no accounting for Mila's sad inability to realistically be in an "action" role). What I love most, though, is what many people don't know about: the back story to casting of the Diva. Makal and I first watched the actress's less-than-flattering behind the scenes interview on the special edition DVD that came out in more recent years. Just... watch the interview. You will never look at the Diva the same way again.

Another reason to love The Fifth Element--and a reason any real man can get behind!--is the RiffTrax commentary by Mike Nelson (yes, the same from MST3K). Now he doesn't have any "sidekicks" with him for this commentary, which really is a lot of the fun from MST3K and some of his other, more recent RiffTrax (Fifth Element was the second produced), but it is still a helluva lot of fun. Makal and I found so many of his comments to be spot on that we will often quote them when watching just the movie. :)

Oh, and one last very good reason to love this movie? The little vinyl number pictured right, a PVC cosplay costume by Artifice Clothing. Any movie that inspired women to dress not only in scarce clothing (if you can call it that...) but in PVC versions of said clothing? That, my friends, is a good movie. Make sure to view gallery (with different colour versions) for Artifice's LeeLoo Costume; is it too obvious to say that this is definitely a reason any "real" man (and many a woman) can get behind to love this film? ^_~