If you require realism and consistency, then The Fifth Element is not for you. If you can set those aside and bask in the glory of outrageous spectacle, then The Fifth Element is a masterpiece.
@@Henry_Red Unfortunately, not everyone shares that opinion. Just because I think those people are ignorant savages doesn't mean I get to discount their opinion.
@@axebeard6085 The fact they has an opinion doesn't make it a right-one tho ^_* And this movie IS a masterpiece.. and it's easy to prove: - It's almost a 27 years after this movie was done.. and it holds up, not only it's watchable, it's enjoyable. - Multiply by the fact that this is science fiction (usually this turns into zero, and multiplying by zero gives the corresponding result), and NOT a cringe-fest at it, and we can safely conclude that this result cannot be repeated. If only because for this you would have to be in 1997, and this train has already departed and flown away. For comparison - Do people often remember now about Lost In Space (1998)? It's a good movie for it's time, just not iconic, nor a masterpiece. (Nostalgia Critic gave out a whole tirade on this subject :P) Or (one of my favourites!) 1998's Sphere. @Diegesis - If you see this. Please give it a go.. It's a spooky-fest, with a good actors, Based on the book by Michael Crichton (Rare occasion where it's literally BY the book with almost no changes), down to the smallest detail (minus one suspenseful, inactive chapter, not a big loss tbh). This is a one-time movie, but this one time it works 400% No matter how much I love Sphere as a movie, it doesn't look as entertaining as "The 5'th Element" though ._. This film gives different results, it asks you to think. And thus it's kinda-forgotten. Another good indicator is that a masterpiece is a movie that Hollywood would like to ruin with a remake, BUT it will never do it, because even they understand that this is an automatic defeat, that the same breakthrough original achieved (through original ideas and non-Mediocre thinking) cannot be achieved with a remake.
I always wonder about Zorg's receptionist talking to an ancient evil entity. -"Zorg Industries, how can I help you?" -"Zooooorg" -"Oh, hello Mr Shadow. Let me put you on hold" 🎵The Girl From Ipanema (instrumental)🎵
tne song is called "the diva dance". it was designed to be sung by an alien, not for humans to sing. with that said, there is a handful of people who can come close. DIMASH, as a man drops the key by one half step, and kills it pretty closely.
It’s hard to imagine anyone upstaging Bruce Willis but Chris Tucker steals every scene he’s in. He seriously went all-in on becoming Ruby Rhod. Now that you’ve seen the movie; If you’re into costume parties and/or Halloween, I promise you’ll see someone dressed as Leeloo every year.
@@DominicTetrault-bv8yv what's great about this is that when she pointed it out - instantly becomes so obvious I've never noticed it before, with the exception of the divas' assistant.
One movie close to this one would be Luc Besson's "Valerian". They could even be set within the same universe. (fan theory) It's based on a French comic book series by Jean-Claude Mézières, the same artist who did the production design for The Fifth Element. Also, the Diva Dance was intentionally written 'alien', so to not being possibly sung by a natural human, yet there are now several live performances of it around.(also on CZcams.)
I wouldn't include Stargate in the list, but I do love all of the movies mentioned, including this one. Stallone Dredd with Rob Schneider is so fun... "Mister I am the law!"
@@pleutron I think Stargate has a lot in common with The Fifth Element. Ancient aliens, lost artefacts, advanced technology juxtaposed with archaeological sites and tomes and monoliths, a superbeing, alien worlds, language barrier, military and academics working together, great costume and set design, and a plot involving a bomb.
@@xensonar9652 I'd put Stargate last. It does have similar elements (lol) but it's not set in a distant future, and the comedy isn't goofy, it's more focused on how goofy Daniel Jackson is😂
You need to watch Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets cause the same guy Luc Besson wrote and directed The Fifth Element (1997) also wrote and directed Valerian (2017).
The song "the Diva Dance" is mostly computer generated. The composer said no human could duplicate it, however singer Dimash Kudaibergen came closest to at the Bastau...well worth listening to. It's AMAZINGLY BREATHTAKING.
31:24 In the first part of the song, Plava Laguna is singing "il dolce suono" from Donizetti's tragic opera Lucia di Lammermoor. The actress playing Plava Laguna is Maïwenn, a French actress and filmmaker. (She is also the ex-wife of the director Luc Besson. During the production of this film, Luc Besson started a relationship Mila Jovovich who plays Leeloo. Considering the stories I've heard about Maïwenn and Besson's relationship, I'm not sure if this was cheating or a mutually agreed upon arrangement.) The vocalist was Inva Mula who is credited in the film with her married name Inva Mula Çako (or Mula-Tchako. I've seen both spellings). I've heard that some of the notes were artificial. The IRL videos I've seen where others do this song make alterations to avoid those notes. You can find CZcams videos of different singers doing doing the Fifth Element version of the song. I think the best one is: czcams.com/video/kJl2uPNsJEk/video.html The scene was shot at the Royal Opera House in London. It is definitely on my bucket list of cinema filming locations to visit.
The composer of the opera said that he wanted to write something that would be physically impossible for a human to sing. There have been many renditions of this piece, but you'll notice they've all been arranged in such a way as to allow a human to get as close as possible.
the kiss scene i think is an acceptable scene. for 2 reasons: One - i think its meant to be like a sleeping beauty snow white situation . Second - the kiss was addressed in the scene and deemed unacceptable without consent and when he gets into his cab again moments he reflects upon it and knew it was a mistake.
When the female vocalist looked at the written notes (for the first time) for the 'Diva Dance,' she reportedly smiled and stated that the human vocal apparatus wasn't designed to sing a string of such different notes THAT rapidly. In the final cut of the film, they ended up by having one or more people sing each note of the rapid sequence individually, then used a computer to digitally combine them. In the years since the film has come out, a number of elite singers have looked to the 'Diva Dance' note progression as a kind of "impossible challenge" that they've taken their shot at. The person that you played back, in the later section of your video, did a pretty darn good job! •••• There's a moment when the Diva escalates from an extreme low tone to an extreme high tone, in the same breath without pausing. I've always assumed that this was an audio effect, and also to clearly emphasize that the Diva was an alien - as no human would be able to do that. •••• When Ruby Rhod screams his string of high-pitched yells from under the pool table, I've always wondered whether that's actually Chris Tucker's voice doing the screaming. (I've assumed that it isn't, but I've never been able to learn whether it was really dubbed.) •••• You get bonus points for being one of the very few younger ones who are wise enough to judge the "Shouldn't have kissed her" moment in context of the time. Most Millennials and Gen-Z viewers are repulsed by that moment, but that's not what the film intends. Korben Dallas is VERY uncertain and hesitant, in the moments leading up to his kissing the unconscious Leeloo. The creators were counting on the film's audience to give that moment THIS context: A) Dallas is looking for the PERFECT woman. B) Leeloo crashes through the sky into his cab, in a billion-to-one shot (that somehow feels pre-destined or engineered); C) Cornelius, an authority figure, declares her to be 'perfect' and to be 'mankind's most precious possession.' D) She's unconscious, and there's no concrete reason why she is so. Given these bizarre circumstances, it was reasonable for Korben to wonder at that point: 'Did the universe or G-d position me for this moment in some Divine Plan, where I am to provide the Magic Kiss to awaken Sleeping Beauty?' Yes, he was mistaken, and it leads to a "cute-awkward" moment, but he can be forgiven for coming up with the Sleeping Beauty frame. Above all, we know it wasn't a "pervert-taking-advantage-of-an-unconscious-woman' frame. If it had been, Korben would have been shown "in lust" before the kiss (the way the General was when he said, "I'd ...like to take a few pictures, for the archives." And furthermore, Korben also would have been established before this as an unsympathetic whack-job, rather than the brave, disciplined male hero of the film.
"Most Millennials and Gen-Z viewers are repulsed by that moment" - This is one of the few things I actually despise about these generations. A bunch of these moral corrections desperately needed to be made. And it's a relief to see things that some of us opposed back then, finally being addressed and corrected. But the over-corrections are ridiculous. The inevitable hysteria over every offense in old movies is ludicrous. Ref: young reactors and "Blazing Saddles". The outrage is nothing but performative. It is empty virtue signaling, telling each other, "See? I _get_ it! I'm good, right?" Twitter/X is overrun by this garbage. These people are _no_ _different_ than the Christian moralizers. Listen to the hearings on the "Evils of Rock'n'Roll" from the mid-80's. This nonsense produced all those ludicrous Parental Advisory stickers that we all either ignore, or see as a prerequisite for listening, viewing, or playing. Those idiots were so proud of themselves for being the moral conscience of the nation, protecting our youth from the filth of the entertainment industry, so outraged at the sɇcks and drʉggz (violence? not so much). Now what are we policing? Words. Seriously. Words. Say a word? OUTRAGED! CANCEL IMMEDIATELY. Young "ⱳøkɇ" moralizers sound _exactly_ like old Christian moralizers. _Because_ _they_ _are_ _the_ _same_ _caliber_ _of_ _people_ . Self-righteous thugs. People who need inferior losers to look down upon and abuse, and social reinforcement for their presumed moral superiority. Bullies. The problem? Western society has _severe_ problems that must be addressed. _SURVIVAL_ _LEVEL_ problems. All the energy spent policing words and participating in cancel ørgiɇs is energy _NOT_ spent fixing real, _critical_ issues. Think our societies are not in crisis? Look at the last 1 1/2 weeks. The embarrassment of the US presidential "debate". The UK, now. France, right now. Drive for two minutes and count the desperate homeless you see, then check what Elon, Bezos, the Walmart kids, and Bill Gates are worth. _THAT_ justifies outrage. Not a "sleeping beauty" smooch in a super-green SciFi movie.
Also, Korben is then shown to regret that moment of stupidity directly after. A real creep wouldn’t have any self-reflection about it, so we know he is truly a good guy
Note: Comment deleted agreeing with the original commenter, and pointing out that fake, performative outrage by self-righteous moralizers, at situations like Korben's Sleeping Beauty moment, is despicable.
5:20 It may have been they cast extras who looked like models. And I wouldn't be surprised if the costume designer (Jean Paul Gaultier) brought along some of his favorite models.
I love your appreciation for the practical effects in this film. I graduated from art school right before this came out. I was studying special makeup effects and model making. Around that time, CG was becoming more and more popular. People told us. "you might as well give up because practical effects are going to be obsolete." I wish I would have stuck with it.
This is one of my personal all time favorite movies. It’s weird and not for everyone, but that’s what I like about it. The production design is some of the best ever. It’s the best onscreen representation of the art styles of French comic artists Moebius and Mezieres.
This movie is pure 90's goodness. It's so over the top and that makes it so great. I feel that if this movie was much more serious/darker then it simply wouldn't be nearly as good of a movie. It would probably be successful, but the style of this movie has made it iconic.
when leloo and the priest show up at the apt to get the tickets..the priest calls him Mr Willis...Bruce corrects him to Dallas but they just keep going
Re: the kiss Yes it’s creepy, but it’s also a reference to fairy tale. “the white knight” and the “damsel in distrss”. He isn’t a “White” knight, and while she was in distress and needed saving, she isn’t a Damsel. See also: Waking the Princess with a kiss.
25:31 "Multipass." I don't know what it is, but I love the line delivery here. Maybe it's her complete, matter-of-fact self-assurance, yet coupled with something unnatural...?
The Bruce Willis kiss seemed to me to be a nod towards the Disney adaptation of Sleeping Beauty (who was cursed to fall into a never-ending sleep which could only be cured by true love's kiss). Better that we don't perpetuate that these days, but it was something that many people back then grew up with.
Amazing right. Commissioner Gordan; Sirius Black; Dracula; Doctor Smith; Zorg; Lord Shen; and even the dreadlock wearing Pimp in True Romance. ALL portrayed by Gary Oldman. A true Master of the acting craft. Instead of taking a role and warping it to suit HIS OWN personality like TOO many new actors do today Gary Oldman transforms HIMSELF into the role required. That's why and how he can be unrecognizable at times. One of the greatest in my opinion.
Back then it was audio engineered but in the passing decades the increase in talent has closed the gap of what was originally considered impossible, I highly recommend searching because there's one in particular that I consider the best rendition of this song, and she sang it from the comfort of her chair
Trippy, I literally just watched this w/ the fam so they could see it for their first time about a week ago. We're catching up on all the classic 90s films that are important to being a human being who is relevant to the Zeitgeist. Kids these days only know of transient stuff that will be forgotten next year so it's important that they know about *everything*.
Inva Mula was the actual singer some of the notes are actually to high, fast, and low for humans to hit but she sang the majority of it. Jihye Kim got the closest to the original without help from a sampler.
i really loved your dive into the after movie reaction, especially the practical effects vs cgi and your interest in the singing; your personal and professional experience and clear interest these topics made it a compelling watch !
I have three things to say; one the fact that you picked out how many times the number 5 was brought up, 2 the fact that you realized how amazing that the opera singer was (which was done with very minimal mixing, that is her real voice!), and 3 recognizing the difference between CGI and just old school world building! He not only created a world, but he made up an entire language for this movie! I am so glad you liked it, it is hard not to. I would also like to mention that my beautiful girlfriend was Korben last year, and I was Ruby Rod. This movie, for me, is in the top 5(th)😊 Just so you know, Luc Besson didn't stop there....I would highly suggest the movie The Lockout, with Maggie Grace and Guy Pierce
As a kid, this was one of my favorite movies! Still enjoy watching it as an adult, just a little funnier to me now. Fun personal fact, my two Great Danes are named Leeloo and Korben Dallas. Leeloo even has a neon orange collar :P I always get stoked when people know the movie reference when they hear about or meet the dogs!
Jean Paul Gaultier designed the aliens and I believe Lilu's look. The director ripped off a cartoon named "The Mighty Orbots." In the cartoon the enemy was "Shadow" It was a huge planet of evil and spoke in the very same voice this planet does.
The rapid vocal change in the Diva dance scene is engineered. I've heard the original, and while it's very impressive, some of the vocal range there is just impossible. Also, it's really weird how the protagonist and the antagonist neither meet, nor even know about the other's existence throughout this movie.
47:25 I think what you are trying to put your finger on is the dissonance between the different types of SciFi. Here's a little history: The Golden Age of Science Fiction in the 1940's and 1950's gave us films like Forbidden Planet. Early Star Trek is DEFINITELY Golden Age SciFi. The Golden Age focused on "Science is good and will solve all of mankind's problems". Although Star Wars is now "Mary Sue Fantasy with a smidge of SciFi", the first film (A New Hope) is almost entirely "Space Opera". Dune is probably the most well known example of what I would call "proto-New Wave" literature. It combined the "Space Opera" seen in Golden Age SciFi with elements of what would become New Wave. It is more pessimistic, and mostly abandons the physical sciences for psychology, sociology, religion, etc. Today, I think most people are more aware of what grew from New Wave SciFi: 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Akira, Alien, Altered Carbon, Barbarella, Blade Runner, Demolition Man, Dredd, Mad Max, The Matrix, Planet of the Apes, Snowpiercer, and Tron. The Fifth Element is heavily inspired by the New Wave SciFi in French comics like like Métal hurlant and Pilote. Ridley Scott, Luc Besson, and Denis Villeneuve were definitely inspired by these French comics. Scott tried to get Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (who used the pseudonym "Mœbius") to work on Blade Runner after he saw "The Long Tomorrow". He did get Dan O'Bannon though. ("The Long Tomorrow" was written by Dan O'Bannon, and illustrated by Mœbius). (If you're into Japanese animation, Hayao Miyazaki and Mœbius were inspiring each other.) In The Fifth Element, many of the elements of Korbin Dallas, as well as Dallas' first interactions with Leeloo are inspired by "The Long Tomorrow." If you've seen the 1981 film Heavy Metal, the "Harry Canyon" segment is also inspired by "The Long Tomorrow". (Métal hurlant was published in the US by National Lampoon under the title "Heavy Metal". The magazine led to the 1981 film.) Here's a portion of an article from Dazed Digital that includes an interview Jean-Pierrie Dionnet: [It was so influential, in fact, that co-founder Jean-Pierrie Dionnet said he realised it was an artistic movement on par with surrealism. “I learned it when Alain Resnais was my first subscriber, Chris Marker was the second one, Fellini the fifth,” he said in a 2013 interview. “I learned it when I would ask George Lucas for a foreword, and he would send me it the next week.”] Anyways... A lot of fiction we know today came from or was inspired by "pulp magazines". Conan, Tarzan and John Carter were characters from pulps. The film The Maltese Falcon was based on a novel that was first printed in pulp magazines. The films Pulp Fiction and Raiders of the Lost Ark were inspired by pulps. If 50 Shades of Grey had been published in the 1940's, it would have been in a pulp magazine. A common feature of pulps was that the stories were quickly written and unsophisticated. The New Wave of SciFi was a rejection of this. New Wave focused on greater sophistication and complexity. Most of the Golden Age writers were just happy to get a paycheck. The New Age writers wanted SciFi to be treated with the same respect as the "more respectable" literature. They wanted to be accepted in the ranks of writers like Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Unfortunately, the modern demand for more content is leading to more "pulpy" style SciFi. The text, stories, concepts, and practical sets all simpler. There is too much reliance cgi, which is usually cheaper than practical effects). This SciFi is churned out like sardines in a canning factory. I think modern audiences are getting sick of today's Neo-B Movies (high budget, low quality commercial films). They are finding the extravagant gems like The Fifth Element and asking "why can't I have more of this?"
The Fifth Element is actually Luc Besson's dry run at Valerian. It's based on a Fan-Fic comic of Valerian he wrote when he was 12-ish (I think, it's been a while since I read that bit).
I'm so happy you enjoyed this one! It can be really hit or miss for a lot of people and it always hurts my heart to see people shit on it. It's a silly, but visually brilliant and deeply memorable movie. Also, parts of the Diva's performance were engineered. They wanted it to sound alien and impossible for a human to perform.
Ruby Rhod is legitimately one of my favorite characters in cinema. He's so much fun. It says so much about him that he always puts the pleasure of the women he's with first. He's not traditionally masculine and he's understandably scared in situations that would be scary, but he's still there to perform, help and he communicates pretty well at all times and he's generally very intelligent and quick on the uptake. And he absolutely rocks the dresses.
The writer/director wanted to create a song that was impossible for a human to actually reproduce. It served as a challenge to the operatic community, one they worked very hard to rise to. Not sure if anyone actually managed to get a perfect reproduction but there were singers that came pretty damned close.
So the Diva was portrayed by actress: Maiwenn Le Besco, but the opera vocals were done by Opera Singer Inva Mula. The general consensus is that the opera vocals are only about 80% real because "she hits notes that human beings simply cannot do." But I don't think whoever wrote that had ever heard Mariah Carey sing. Because ion the song "Emotions" she hits notes that are even higher pitched than Plavalaguna. so personally I believe that the reason the give is inaccurate. because Humans CAN hit those notes. I think it's more a question of the rapid transition back and forth from low to high and back again. But even then Inva Mula is an Opera Singer. She's trained her voice to ba able to do JUST THAT. Not to mention Chester Bennington was very adept and rapid switching from raspy screeching to more traditional open diaphragm vocals with ease. Maple, I've even linked a copy of Mariah Carey's music video "Emotions" and one other video, just so you can see how good she really is. There are many singers and performers in the industry; but Mariah is universally considered a TRUE vocalist. czcams.com/video/NrJEFrth27Q/video.html czcams.com/video/Hyk9wPaC69w/video.html
My two favourite things about this movie is that the writer / director and Milla Jovovich created the divine language between them, and the protagonist and antagonist never actually meet. There's a third; Chris Tucker totally steals the Gender-bending hell outta the entire show :-) kerk
No need for deep analysis on this one. This is just pure fun. 😁 And yes, many of the women in the background were models. It just adds to the stylish look of the costumes and sets.
the song was audio engineered, they used a mix of I believe 2 human voices and a synthesizer - it was actually written to unsingable ...... so oh course several people have tried to sing it and a couple have managed pretty good. If you search youtube for diva dance song cover you'll find some but I'd suggest this one czcams.com/video/o5zMupUOgQo/video.htmlsi=2xVGO-tVeVZiu4WZ
Very true, they are very small apartments. However it is cost effective and capable of housing a great deal more than typical Western designed/constructed housing. Not really sure how a shower above a fridge works practically but yeah, these would be thought of as low income housing for general population. There are I think Hotels in Japan that have these kinds of "tiny" minimalist set up. I feel like they may have them in other Asian Cities as well; but I want to say the style is of Japanese design. But I am not 100% certain on that.
Gary Oldman's maniacal giggle that transforms into "They're not here" is one of my favorite moments in all of cinema.
His Bugs Bunny teeth in that scene is pretty funny.
followed by Lelu's laugh!
Gary Oldman was so delightfully unhinged in this one! Always loved this movie, it's insane how well the effects still hold.
He's also pretty unhinged in Leon: The Professional
At least he keeps his accent the same in this one. He normally can't do American without slipping constantly.
If you require realism and consistency, then The Fifth Element is not for you. If you can set those aside and bask in the glory of outrageous spectacle, then The Fifth Element is a masterpiece.
Let me fix your comment. "The Fifth Element is a masterpiece."
@@Henry_Red Unfortunately, not everyone shares that opinion. Just because I think those people are ignorant savages doesn't mean I get to discount their opinion.
@@axebeard6085 The fact they has an opinion doesn't make it a right-one tho ^_*
And this movie IS a masterpiece.. and it's easy to prove:
- It's almost a 27 years after this movie was done.. and it holds up, not only it's watchable, it's enjoyable.
- Multiply by the fact that this is science fiction (usually this turns into zero, and multiplying by zero gives the corresponding result), and NOT a cringe-fest at it, and we can safely conclude that this result cannot be repeated.
If only because for this you would have to be in 1997, and this train has already departed and flown away.
For comparison - Do people often remember now about Lost In Space (1998)? It's a good movie for it's time, just not iconic, nor a masterpiece. (Nostalgia Critic gave out a whole tirade on this subject :P)
Or (one of my favourites!) 1998's Sphere. @Diegesis - If you see this. Please give it a go..
It's a spooky-fest, with a good actors, Based on the book by Michael Crichton (Rare occasion where it's literally BY the book with almost no changes), down to the smallest detail (minus one suspenseful, inactive chapter, not a big loss tbh). This is a one-time movie, but this one time it works 400%
No matter how much I love Sphere as a movie, it doesn't look as entertaining as "The 5'th Element" though ._. This film gives different results, it asks you to think.
And thus it's kinda-forgotten.
Another good indicator is that a masterpiece is a movie that Hollywood would like to ruin with a remake, BUT it will never do it, because even they understand that this is an automatic defeat, that the same breakthrough original achieved (through original ideas and non-Mediocre thinking) cannot be achieved with a remake.
@@axebeard6085ehh yeah it does. I discredit those opinions all the time lolz
I actually think it understands human nature a lot better than a lot of Anglo-american sci-fi.
"I literally could never, that's not enough real estate" LOL
Some of us disagree
Bruce Willis at the end of this was basically sci-fi Die Hard.
I always wonder about Zorg's receptionist talking to an ancient evil entity.
-"Zorg Industries, how can I help you?"
-"Zooooorg"
-"Oh, hello Mr Shadow. Let me put you on hold"
🎵The Girl From Ipanema (instrumental)🎵
i just thought about the exact same thing
"The Girl From Ipanema" muzak always makes me think of The Blues Brothers in the elevator towards the end. 😎
tne song is called "the diva dance". it was designed to be sung by an alien, not for humans to sing.
with that said, there is a handful of people who can come close. DIMASH, as a man drops the key by one half step, and kills it pretty closely.
To this date no one could sing this peace. It was deliberately designed in this manner, for no human to be able to sing it.
@@ionsmasker8397 that is what i said. if you understand plain english .
Classically trained opera singer nailing it (Imo better than *anyone* ever has) here czcams.com/video/bgo0CDL6bd0/video.html
@@richmckinney7231 I'm not arguing with you, I'm just simply stating.
It’s hard to imagine anyone upstaging Bruce Willis but Chris Tucker steals every scene he’s in.
He seriously went all-in on becoming Ruby Rhod.
Now that you’ve seen the movie; If you’re into costume parties and/or Halloween, I promise you’ll see someone dressed as Leeloo every year.
Aw man this would’ve been so fun as a dual reaction
Also made me crack up every time Maple asked a question that could be answered with “…french”
Yess you’re so right I was thinking the same thing
"I AM SO STRESSED"
Hasn't Arianna already seen The 5th Element? I think she mentioned it to Maple.
What a delightful reaction to this movie. So many folks overthink it and ruin it with “why”. You just smiled and enjoyed the colorful ride. Very nice
It was Jean Paul Gaultier that designed the costumes.
@@DominicTetrault-bv8yv what's great about this is that when she pointed it out - instantly becomes so obvious
I've never noticed it before, with the exception of the divas' assistant.
"The side characters all look like models" - must be a French movie then, perhaps with Jean-Paul Gaulthier as costume designer?
The side character were literal supermodels.
@@Ugnutz Most of them, yeah.
😁👍
Multipass!
Big bada boom!
It was so cool to see Ian Holm aka "Bilbo Baggins" playing the priest.
lol I nvr noticed
he has been so much more than bilbo, why reduce him to that?
He will always be Ash, first.
One interesting detail about this movie people always bring up: the main protagonist (Korben Dallas) and the main antagonist (Zorg) never meet.
This is probably my favorite movie fun fact. Also, the movie is my top3.
You might like Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, a very under rated sci fi comedy movie.
One movie close to this one would be Luc Besson's "Valerian". They could even be set within the same universe. (fan theory)
It's based on a French comic book series by Jean-Claude Mézières, the same artist who did the production design for The Fifth Element.
Also, the Diva Dance was intentionally written 'alien', so to not being possibly sung by a natural human, yet there are now several live performances of it around.(also on CZcams.)
Came here to recommend Valerian. People talk down on it but I liked it. Visually stunning even if a little weak story-wise.
Maple-pass
MULTIMAPLE
Map-Leeloo
"Negative. I am a meat popsicle." The perfect random reply to a question.
Demolition Man, Total Recall, Stargate and Judge Dredd (Stallone version) have a similar vibe.
I wouldn't include Stargate in the list, but I do love all of the movies mentioned, including this one. Stallone Dredd with Rob Schneider is so fun... "Mister I am the law!"
@@pleutron I think Stargate has a lot in common with The Fifth Element. Ancient aliens, lost artefacts, advanced technology juxtaposed with archaeological sites and tomes and monoliths, a superbeing, alien worlds, language barrier, military and academics working together, great costume and set design, and a plot involving a bomb.
@@xensonar9652 As fiction as it is, Stargate is a more serious tone than the others on your list.
@@xensonar9652
I'd put Stargate last. It does have similar elements (lol) but it's not set in a distant future, and the comedy isn't goofy, it's more focused on how goofy Daniel Jackson is😂
@@beetlebob4675 Well, either way, I think Maple would like it, given what she said she was looking for.
Interesting you said a lot of the characters looked like models because they were, a lot of them, the entire wardrobe was Jean Paul Gaultier too.
You need to watch Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets cause the same guy Luc Besson wrote and directed The Fifth Element (1997) also wrote and directed Valerian (2017).
Valarian was fun
@@pleutron Valarian (2017) is fun, the problem is most people don’t understand the story that’s it got bad reviews.
Great reaction Maple. You clearly loved it, and that was fun to watch.
But a shout out, to your editor. Nearly perfect, YT cut!
awww thanks mate :)
Always makes me laugh seeing Lee Evans in this and Something about Mary (and a few others). One of the best stand-up comedians ever.
The song "the Diva Dance" is mostly computer generated. The composer said no human could duplicate it, however singer Dimash Kudaibergen came closest to at the Bastau...well worth listening to. It's AMAZINGLY BREATHTAKING.
I got stoned for this.
Smoking as I type 😊
31:24 In the first part of the song, Plava Laguna is singing "il dolce suono" from Donizetti's tragic opera Lucia di Lammermoor.
The actress playing Plava Laguna is Maïwenn, a French actress and filmmaker. (She is also the ex-wife of the director Luc Besson. During the production of this film, Luc Besson started a relationship Mila Jovovich who plays Leeloo. Considering the stories I've heard about Maïwenn and Besson's relationship, I'm not sure if this was cheating or a mutually agreed upon arrangement.)
The vocalist was Inva Mula who is credited in the film with her married name Inva Mula Çako (or Mula-Tchako. I've seen both spellings).
I've heard that some of the notes were artificial. The IRL videos I've seen where others do this song make alterations to avoid those notes.
You can find CZcams videos of different singers doing doing the Fifth Element version of the song. I think the best one is: czcams.com/video/kJl2uPNsJEk/video.html
The scene was shot at the Royal Opera House in London. It is definitely on my bucket list of cinema filming locations to visit.
From what I understand, they had her record each note in that run individually, then strung them together into an impossibly fast sequence.
The composer of the opera said that he wanted to write something that would be physically impossible for a human to sing. There have been many renditions of this piece, but you'll notice they've all been arranged in such a way as to allow a human to get as close as possible.
the kiss scene i think is an acceptable scene. for 2 reasons: One - i think its meant to be like a sleeping beauty snow white situation . Second - the kiss was addressed in the scene and deemed unacceptable without consent and when he gets into his cab again moments he reflects upon it and knew it was a mistake.
Too many people get caught up in calling it out and miss the fact that the movie itself admits it was a bad idea.
The Mask of Zorro, if either of the girls haven’t seen it, is a modern classic.
When the female vocalist looked at the written notes (for the first time) for the 'Diva Dance,' she reportedly smiled and stated that the human vocal apparatus wasn't designed to sing a string of such different notes THAT rapidly. In the final cut of the film, they ended up by having one or more people sing each note of the rapid sequence individually, then used a computer to digitally combine them. In the years since the film has come out, a number of elite singers have looked to the 'Diva Dance' note progression as a kind of "impossible challenge" that they've taken their shot at. The person that you played back, in the later section of your video, did a pretty darn good job!
••••
There's a moment when the Diva escalates from an extreme low tone to an extreme high tone, in the same breath without pausing. I've always assumed that this was an audio effect, and also to clearly emphasize that the Diva was an alien - as no human would be able to do that.
••••
When Ruby Rhod screams his string of high-pitched yells from under the pool table, I've always wondered whether that's actually Chris Tucker's voice doing the screaming. (I've assumed that it isn't, but I've never been able to learn whether it was really dubbed.)
••••
You get bonus points for being one of the very few younger ones who are wise enough to judge the "Shouldn't have kissed her" moment in context of the time. Most Millennials and Gen-Z viewers are repulsed by that moment, but that's not what the film intends. Korben Dallas is VERY uncertain and hesitant, in the moments leading up to his kissing the unconscious Leeloo.
The creators were counting on the film's audience to give that moment THIS context: A) Dallas is looking for the PERFECT woman. B) Leeloo crashes through the sky into his cab, in a billion-to-one shot (that somehow feels pre-destined or engineered); C) Cornelius, an authority figure, declares her to be 'perfect' and to be 'mankind's most precious possession.' D) She's unconscious, and there's no concrete reason why she is so.
Given these bizarre circumstances, it was reasonable for Korben to wonder at that point: 'Did the universe or G-d position me for this moment in some Divine Plan, where I am to provide the Magic Kiss to awaken Sleeping Beauty?' Yes, he was mistaken, and it leads to a "cute-awkward" moment, but he can be forgiven for coming up with the Sleeping Beauty frame. Above all, we know it wasn't a "pervert-taking-advantage-of-an-unconscious-woman' frame. If it had been, Korben would have been shown "in lust" before the kiss (the way the General was when he said, "I'd ...like to take a few pictures, for the archives." And furthermore, Korben also would have been established before this as an unsympathetic whack-job, rather than the brave, disciplined male hero of the film.
"Most Millennials and Gen-Z viewers are repulsed by that moment" - This is one of the few things I actually despise about these generations. A bunch of these moral corrections desperately needed to be made. And it's a relief to see things that some of us opposed back then, finally being addressed and corrected.
But the over-corrections are ridiculous. The inevitable hysteria over every offense in old movies is ludicrous. Ref: young reactors and "Blazing Saddles".
The outrage is nothing but performative. It is empty virtue signaling, telling each other, "See? I _get_ it! I'm good, right?"
Twitter/X is overrun by this garbage.
These people are _no_ _different_ than the Christian moralizers. Listen to the hearings on the "Evils of Rock'n'Roll" from the mid-80's. This nonsense produced all those ludicrous Parental Advisory stickers that we all either ignore, or see as a prerequisite for listening, viewing, or playing. Those idiots were so proud of themselves for being the moral conscience of the nation, protecting our youth from the filth of the entertainment industry, so outraged at the sɇcks and drʉggz (violence? not so much).
Now what are we policing? Words. Seriously. Words. Say a word? OUTRAGED! CANCEL IMMEDIATELY.
Young "ⱳøkɇ" moralizers sound _exactly_ like old Christian moralizers. _Because_ _they_ _are_ _the_ _same_ _caliber_ _of_ _people_ .
Self-righteous thugs.
People who need inferior losers to look down upon and abuse, and social reinforcement for their presumed moral superiority. Bullies.
The problem? Western society has _severe_ problems that must be addressed. _SURVIVAL_ _LEVEL_ problems.
All the energy spent policing words and participating in cancel ørgiɇs is energy _NOT_ spent fixing real, _critical_ issues.
Think our societies are not in crisis? Look at the last 1 1/2 weeks. The embarrassment of the US presidential "debate". The UK, now. France, right now. Drive for two minutes and count the desperate homeless you see, then check what Elon, Bezos, the Walmart kids, and Bill Gates are worth.
_THAT_ justifies outrage. Not a "sleeping beauty" smooch in a super-green SciFi movie.
Also, Korben is then shown to regret that moment of stupidity directly after. A real creep wouldn’t have any self-reflection about it, so we know he is truly a good guy
Note: Comment deleted agreeing with the original commenter, and pointing out that fake, performative outrage by self-righteous moralizers, at situations like Korben's Sleeping Beauty moment, is despicable.
@@user-uu9vh4zg5v Drunk?
5:20 It may have been they cast extras who looked like models. And I wouldn't be surprised if the costume designer (Jean Paul Gaultier) brought along some of his favorite models.
I love your appreciation for the practical effects in this film. I graduated from art school right before this came out. I was studying special makeup effects and model making. Around that time, CG was becoming more and more popular. People told us. "you might as well give up because practical effects are going to be obsolete." I wish I would have stuck with it.
Awesome flick for Maple's reaction.
I remember when my friend's parents got this from Blockbuster on VHS and pizza. THAT was an awesome Friday night for 12 year old me.
Prince was originally offered the Ruby Rod role!
I am SO GLAD Chris Tucker got it because he's perfect. Prince couldn't get as weird.
This is one of my personal all time favorite movies. It’s weird and not for everyone, but that’s what I like about it. The production design is some of the best ever. It’s the best onscreen representation of the art styles of French comic artists Moebius and Mezieres.
SO many young adults missed the "bugged" listening device reference -- a roach with a mechanical antenna doing on the desk?
This movie is pure 90's goodness. It's so over the top and that makes it so great. I feel that if this movie was much more serious/darker then it simply wouldn't be nearly as good of a movie. It would probably be successful, but the style of this movie has made it iconic.
Youre experiencing one of the greatest movies that has ever been made
when leloo and the priest show up at the apt to get the tickets..the priest calls him Mr Willis...Bruce corrects him to Dallas but they just keep going
loved the reaction at the end to a real performance of diva dance 😂😂😂😂 i saw this film as a child and that opera totally changed me fo reals...
Re: the kiss
Yes it’s creepy, but it’s also a reference to fairy tale. “the white knight” and the “damsel in distrss”. He isn’t a “White” knight, and while she was in distress and needed saving, she isn’t a Damsel.
See also: Waking the Princess with a kiss.
25:31 "Multipass." I don't know what it is, but I love the line delivery here. Maybe it's her complete, matter-of-fact self-assurance, yet coupled with something unnatural...?
"Grab your fire extinguisher . . .
And quench your hot-ass breath!"
Thank you, Maple.
Thank you.
The Bruce Willis kiss seemed to me to be a nod towards the Disney adaptation of Sleeping Beauty (who was cursed to fall into a never-ending sleep which could only be cured by true love's kiss). Better that we don't perpetuate that these days, but it was something that many people back then grew up with.
yes, better for her to be eternally asleep and keep your woke rules intact. oh brother
Amazing right. Commissioner Gordan; Sirius Black; Dracula; Doctor Smith; Zorg; Lord Shen; and even the dreadlock wearing Pimp in True Romance. ALL portrayed by Gary Oldman. A true Master of the acting craft. Instead of taking a role and warping it to suit HIS OWN personality like TOO many new actors do today Gary Oldman transforms HIMSELF into the role required. That's why and how he can be unrecognizable at times. One of the greatest in my opinion.
I love your concern for the space cruise ship industry after this catastrophic Titanic-like event 🙏😂
Back then it was audio engineered but in the passing decades the increase in talent has closed the gap of what was originally considered impossible, I highly recommend searching because there's one in particular that I consider the best rendition of this song, and she sang it from the comfort of her chair
Every time I see that bleeding scene, I can't not think of it just being chocolate syrup lol
Yes look up dimash Diva dance, there are a couple others who have tried to sing it but I think his is best.
Trippy, I literally just watched this w/ the fam so they could see it for their first time about a week ago. We're catching up on all the classic 90s films that are important to being a human being who is relevant to the Zeitgeist. Kids these days only know of transient stuff that will be forgotten next year so it's important that they know about *everything*.
Before this movie, The Diva was married to the director. After the movie, it was Leeloo who was married to the director.
I’m pretty sure that Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod is a core memory from my childhood
Inva Mula was the actual singer some of the notes are actually to high, fast, and low for humans to hit but she sang the majority of it. Jihye Kim got the closest to the original without help from a sampler.
I almost get nostalgic when I see the soda plastic straws from McD.. Remember drinking your soda without the straw getting soggy after 5 minutes 😪
i really loved your dive into the after movie reaction, especially the practical effects vs cgi and your interest in the singing; your personal and professional experience and clear interest these topics made it a
compelling watch !
I had no idea anyone could do that fifth element song in real life till now😂😂
I have three things to say; one the fact that you picked out how many times the number 5 was brought up, 2 the fact that you realized how amazing that the opera singer was (which was done with very minimal mixing, that is her real voice!), and 3 recognizing the difference between CGI and just old school world building! He not only created a world, but he made up an entire language for this movie! I am so glad you liked it, it is hard not to. I would also like to mention that my beautiful girlfriend was Korben last year, and I was Ruby Rod. This movie, for me, is in the top 5(th)😊
Just so you know, Luc Besson didn't stop there....I would highly suggest the movie The Lockout, with Maggie Grace and Guy Pierce
When is Bruce Willis not a good ole time?
Heck, when is Diegesis not a good ole time? This'll be fun with Maple.
As a kid, this was one of my favorite movies! Still enjoy watching it as an adult, just a little funnier to me now.
Fun personal fact, my two Great Danes are named Leeloo and Korben Dallas. Leeloo even has a neon orange collar :P I always get stoked when people know the movie reference when they hear about or meet the dogs!
The vibe of this movie is _w E i R d and w E i R d E r._
Jean Paul Gaultier designed the aliens and I believe Lilu's look. The director ripped off a cartoon named "The Mighty Orbots." In the cartoon the enemy was "Shadow" It was a huge planet of evil and spoke in the very same voice this planet does.
Gary Oldman kills it in this as Zorg 😂
Another movie with a personality combo like this would be The Nice Guys. Not as extreme of course, but there's a similar vibe.
The rapid vocal change in the Diva dance scene is engineered. I've heard the original, and while it's very impressive, some of the vocal range there is just impossible.
Also, it's really weird how the protagonist and the antagonist neither meet, nor even know about the other's existence throughout this movie.
Alice, Debo, Smokey, John McLain, Sirius Black and Bilbo Baggins all together in one movie... yes please.
Best idea in my life was to go to Salem for Halloween dressed like Leeloo, everyone loved it !
47:25 I think what you are trying to put your finger on is the dissonance between the different types of SciFi.
Here's a little history:
The Golden Age of Science Fiction in the 1940's and 1950's gave us films like Forbidden Planet. Early Star Trek is DEFINITELY Golden Age SciFi. The Golden Age focused on "Science is good and will solve all of mankind's problems". Although Star Wars is now "Mary Sue Fantasy with a smidge of SciFi", the first film (A New Hope) is almost entirely "Space Opera".
Dune is probably the most well known example of what I would call "proto-New Wave" literature. It combined the "Space Opera" seen in Golden Age SciFi with elements of what would become New Wave. It is more pessimistic, and mostly abandons the physical sciences for psychology, sociology, religion, etc.
Today, I think most people are more aware of what grew from New Wave SciFi:
2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Akira, Alien, Altered Carbon, Barbarella, Blade Runner, Demolition Man, Dredd, Mad Max, The Matrix, Planet of the Apes, Snowpiercer, and Tron.
The Fifth Element is heavily inspired by the New Wave SciFi in French comics like like Métal hurlant and Pilote.
Ridley Scott, Luc Besson, and Denis Villeneuve were definitely inspired by these French comics.
Scott tried to get Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (who used the pseudonym "Mœbius") to work on Blade Runner after he saw "The Long Tomorrow". He did get Dan O'Bannon though. ("The Long Tomorrow" was written by Dan O'Bannon, and illustrated by Mœbius).
(If you're into Japanese animation, Hayao Miyazaki and Mœbius were inspiring each other.)
In The Fifth Element, many of the elements of Korbin Dallas, as well as Dallas' first interactions with Leeloo are inspired by "The Long Tomorrow." If you've seen the 1981 film Heavy Metal, the "Harry Canyon" segment is also inspired by "The Long Tomorrow".
(Métal hurlant was published in the US by National Lampoon under the title "Heavy Metal". The magazine led to the 1981 film.)
Here's a portion of an article from Dazed Digital that includes an interview Jean-Pierrie Dionnet:
[It was so influential, in fact, that co-founder Jean-Pierrie Dionnet said he realised it was an artistic movement on par with surrealism. “I learned it when Alain Resnais was my first subscriber, Chris Marker was the second one, Fellini the fifth,” he said in a 2013 interview. “I learned it when I would ask George Lucas for a foreword, and he would send me it the next week.”]
Anyways...
A lot of fiction we know today came from or was inspired by "pulp magazines".
Conan, Tarzan and John Carter were characters from pulps. The film The Maltese Falcon was based on a novel that was first printed in pulp magazines. The films Pulp Fiction and Raiders of the Lost Ark were inspired by pulps. If 50 Shades of Grey had been published in the 1940's, it would have been in a pulp magazine.
A common feature of pulps was that the stories were quickly written and unsophisticated. The New Wave of SciFi was a rejection of this. New Wave focused on greater sophistication and complexity. Most of the Golden Age writers were just happy to get a paycheck. The New Age writers wanted SciFi to be treated with the same respect as the "more respectable" literature. They wanted to be accepted in the ranks of writers like Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Unfortunately, the modern demand for more content is leading to more "pulpy" style SciFi. The text, stories, concepts, and practical sets all simpler. There is too much reliance cgi, which is usually cheaper than practical effects). This SciFi is churned out like sardines in a canning factory.
I think modern audiences are getting sick of today's Neo-B Movies (high budget, low quality commercial films). They are finding the extravagant gems like The Fifth Element and asking "why can't I have more of this?"
no one tell this woman about "sleeping beauty"!! theres some real boundary crossing there!
34:50 They don't mention it, but I'm fairly certain those stones were put inside of Plava Laguna in a way that did not involve surgery...
In a precisely and symmetrically divided way, there's even more perfection in this review than the actual movie. And I really like the movie.
There’s no sequel but if you want to see something similar try Valerian and the City of 1000 Planets. Same director, similar aesthetic.
The Fifth Element is actually Luc Besson's dry run at Valerian. It's based on a Fan-Fic comic of Valerian he wrote when he was 12-ish (I think, it's been a while since I read that bit).
I'm so happy you enjoyed this one! It can be really hit or miss for a lot of people and it always hurts my heart to see people shit on it. It's a silly, but visually brilliant and deeply memorable movie.
Also, parts of the Diva's performance were engineered. They wanted it to sound alien and impossible for a human to perform.
Ruby Rhod is legitimately one of my favorite characters in cinema. He's so much fun. It says so much about him that he always puts the pleasure of the women he's with first. He's not traditionally masculine and he's understandably scared in situations that would be scary, but he's still there to perform, help and he communicates pretty well at all times and he's generally very intelligent and quick on the uptake.
And he absolutely rocks the dresses.
36:47 And THAT is the biggest explosion on a movie set ever. (at least at the time).
Good paying attention.-Ernie Moore Jr.
The writer/director wanted to create a song that was impossible for a human to actually reproduce. It served as a challenge to the operatic community, one they worked very hard to rise to. Not sure if anyone actually managed to get a perfect reproduction but there were singers that came pretty damned close.
That "cute little gun" is the base for Han Solo's blaster in Star Wars. It is a Mauser C96.
Plava Laguna was played by an opera singer, who actually sang the song.
This film is so much fun, glad Maple had something to distract her from all the heavy series theyve been watching lately
For anyone interested , TheCharismaticVoice has this video
"The Fifth Element "Diva Dance" - Opera Voice Coach REACTS and COMPARES performances"
The Star Trek movies from 2009 are great if you want some FUN Sci-Fi
Those were horrendous choices for Star Trek, and that's coming from a Trekkie.
@@FosterTravis1071 No way, those movies are great. Only reason why I got into the show in the first place.
@@chuckiff monster...
So the Diva was portrayed by actress: Maiwenn Le Besco, but the opera vocals were done by Opera Singer Inva Mula. The general consensus is that the opera vocals are only about 80% real because "she hits notes that human beings simply cannot do." But I don't think whoever wrote that had ever heard Mariah Carey sing. Because ion the song "Emotions" she hits notes that are even higher pitched than Plavalaguna. so personally I believe that the reason the give is inaccurate. because Humans CAN hit those notes. I think it's more a question of the rapid transition back and forth from low to high and back again. But even then Inva Mula is an Opera Singer. She's trained her voice to ba able to do JUST THAT. Not to mention Chester Bennington was very adept and rapid switching from raspy screeching to more traditional open diaphragm vocals with ease.
Maple, I've even linked a copy of Mariah Carey's music video "Emotions" and one other video, just so you can see how good she really is. There are many singers and performers in the industry; but Mariah is universally considered a TRUE vocalist.
czcams.com/video/NrJEFrth27Q/video.html
czcams.com/video/Hyk9wPaC69w/video.html
"Broo Swillis with hair!"
this has always been one of my favorite movies, and there are a few people that can actually perform that gangster opera piece ❤
My two favourite things about this movie is that the writer / director and Milla Jovovich created the divine language between them, and the protagonist and antagonist never actually meet. There's a third; Chris Tucker totally steals the Gender-bending hell outta the entire show :-) kerk
No need for deep analysis on this one. This is just pure fun. 😁 And yes, many of the women in the background were models. It just adds to the stylish look of the costumes and sets.
40:27 one problem I have is that she lost faith in humanity after learning about “War”, but she was fine with “Atomic Bomb” or “Holocaust”.
Ruby Rod and Corben Dallas are the best opposites action duo in movie history.
Saw this in the theater as a kid, classic.
the song was audio engineered, they used a mix of I believe 2 human voices and a synthesizer - it was actually written to unsingable ...... so oh course several people have tried to sing it and a couple have managed pretty good. If you search youtube for diva dance song cover you'll find some but I'd suggest this one
czcams.com/video/o5zMupUOgQo/video.htmlsi=2xVGO-tVeVZiu4WZ
So glad you enjoyed it! Saw this in the theaters when I was 17. 😀
Very true, they are very small apartments. However it is cost effective and capable of housing a great deal more than typical Western designed/constructed housing. Not really sure how a shower above a fridge works practically but yeah, these would be thought of as low income housing for general population. There are I think Hotels in Japan that have these kinds of "tiny" minimalist set up. I feel like they may have them in other Asian Cities as well; but I want to say the style is of Japanese design. But I am not 100% certain on that.
21:41 - Maple is in this movie.. "Buns".
This was supposed to be part 1, Luc Besson had written 2 scripts gutted he never got the chance to finish the story
I am so glad you never see Corbin's mother, she would be nightmare fuel.
Bro my dad makes me watch this movie every year
I went home and made my family watch it again before bed 😭 they were like “but you just watched it???”
But is this a bad thing?
“Makes” impossible
Your dad's a man of culture
Cherish that man!
Since you’re watching it, the priests trainee is in peaky blinders
I just looked it up. Billy Kimber? Really?
0:53 Every Planeteer knows the Fifth Element is Heart…
43:34 see told ya…