A film about the human spirit that I actually love

I do get bored with films where one person goes through immense suffering, only to succeed/find their purpose at the end. After a while they all just start sounding all too familiar. So I was a bit skeptical when I first sat down to see this, but I must say, it's an incredible film. My usual gripes with feel-good films are that they can be overly sentimental while being forcefully depressing at the same time. Also they have a habit of painting the main person in as bright a light as possible. But I utterly loved the direction in this: Showing us Jean-Do's perspective gives us insight into how he felt, and when he catches a reflection of himself, he looks away, unwilling to accept his new condition. But once he decides to become more selfless, we get to see him outside of the first-person perspective. And the scene where the Diving Bell is lying on the floor, out of water, symbolising his imminent death, brilliant. The acting is terrific from everyone, it was nice to see Max Von Sydow stealing both scenes he was in (He deserves an honorary Oscar). I'd also like to point out the "400 Blows" reference as being genius as well: The musical cue is when Antoine Doinel is caught between childhood and manhood, at a time when he is truly free, and Jean-Do is free at this moment, but it's soon to be taken away from him

Overall, it's my favourite film from 2007, my #5 for the decade, and should be a little higher up in the IMDB Top 250, it's one recent film that actually deserves a place on it.

J Dilla Changed My Life. Rest In Beats.