"Entirely created in a studio, and set in a world plunged into endless twilight-cum-night, the film posits a kind of neo-Victorian, industrial society where David Lynch would feel at home. Though “Delicatessen” was seemingly set in the wrong part of town in the early ’50s, “City” is more like a Looney Tunes fantasy sprung from the head of Jules Verne. Setting is a multilevel smokestack port littered with industrial detritus, rusty tankers and the biggest collection of weirdos and humans since Tod Browning’s “Freaks.” Local heavies are the Cyclops, a Nietzschean sect of one-eyed fanatics who abduct young kids for crazed inventor Krank (Daniel Emilfork), an aging wizen who lives on a castle-like oil rig beyond a giant minefield."

"Ticky Holgado ~ ex acrobat"

"But with each frame filled to bursting point with visual detail and multiplaned design, plus razor-sharp cutting that often eliminates transitions, it’s not a movie you can afford to take your eyes off for a second. In addition, the major set-pieces are so breathtaking that it’s sometimes hard to remember afterwards where the characters were last positioned in the plot. Effects work, all done in France, is seamless, to the extent that some (such as the clones, all played by Pinon) effectively lose the awesomeness of being an effect. On a purely emotional level, it’s notable that the film’s most engaging moments are those when the filmers turned off the computers and simply came up with entrancing ideas."

"Jean-Claude Dreyfus ~ Marcello"

"Mireille Mosse ~ Martha"

"Dominique Pinon ~ Clones/Diver"

"Ron Perlman ~ One"

"Daniel Emilfork ~ Krank"

"Judith Vittet ~ Miette"

"Geneviève Brunet ~ the Octopus"

"Jean-Louis Trirtignant ~ Uncle Irvin"

"Can we find, in "The City of Lost Children," a parable on the desperation of modern man, who is progressively losing the ability to dream?"

"Why was there so much secrecy during filming?"

"A guy with a tattoo of a minefield on his head"

"A bunch of clones that suffer from narcolepsy"

"Borg/Hellraiser-type looking people"

"Luc Besson's "The Professional" shows the love of a brute (Jean Reno) and an adolescent (Natalie Portman). Here, could one say as well that there is a love story between One and Miette, especially as evoked in the dialogue?"

"Dreams in a jar"

"Evil Siamese twins"

"A band of child thieves"

"A brain in a jar"

"Odile Mallet ~ the Octopus"

"Indie Wire: I was thinking about “Delcatessen” and “The City of Lost Children.” While they are dark, they also have happy endings for the characters who deserve them. So, in that sense, maybe you’ve been sentimental and optimistic all along?"

"A couple dozen Santa Clauses"

"Circus midgets"

"City of the Lost Children is just unbelievably bizarre when you watch it. The plot is a pretty simplistic good vs. evil ploy, but the city is the real star of the show. While it's funky urban-decay architecture and opaque green water is fascinating enough as it is, even more so are the inhabitants of the city. Here's a quick little list of what you'll see in this movie:"

"Circus strongman"

"Assassin fleas and their accordion-grinder master"

"Michael Mendl - the Barkeeper"

"Rebecca Street - Lockhart's Mother"

"Bert Tischendorf - Lockhart's Father"

"There's something in the water. There's something in the fucking water!"

"There is a cure."

"All of us are human. None of us are immune."

"Johannes Krisch - Caretaker"

"Jason Isaacs - Dr. Heinreich Volmer/Baron von Reichmerl"

"Dane DeHaan - Lockhart"

"Mia Goth - Hannah von Reichmerl"

"That's resurrected, we need to clean up the Reynolds account in case those fucks at AML decide to do their job."

"Carl Lumbly - Wilson"

"Lisa Banes - Hollis"

"Jason Babinsky - Carl"

"Godehard Giese - Prim Technician"

"David Bishins - Hank Green"

"Tomas Norström - Frank Hill"

"Magnus Krepper - Pieter The Vet"

"Celia Imrie - Victoria Watkins"

"Adrian Schiller - Deputy Director"

"[repeated line] I'm not a patient!"

"Harry Groener - Roland Pembroke"