The main difference that sets the Cannes Film Festival apart from other fests is the anticipation: you want to see the films debuting in the competition, especially if they are directed by the likes of the Coen brothers, Alexander Payne, Roman Polanski, and Asghar Farhadi, to name four. Few shots in the dark here. There […]
Written & Directed by Alice Winocour Produced by Isabelle Madelaine, Emilie Tisné, Michèle & Laurent Pétin Released by Music Box Films France. 102 min. Not Rated French with English subtitles With Vincent Lindon, Soko, Chiara Mastroianni, Olivier Rabourdin, & Roxane Duran Augustine is the third film in as many years about real 19th/early 20th century […]
Directed by Jean François Laguionie Produced by Eric Jacquot Written by Anik Le Ray Released Gkids France. 76 min. Not rated The Painting begins with the image of an empty picture frame that expands to fill the screen. It’s a succinct statement of the film to follow, which has all the charm and depth of […]
Written & Directed by François Ozon, adapted from the play, The Boy in the Last Row, by Juan Mayorga Produced by Eric & Nicolas Altmayer Released by Cohen Media Group French with English subtitles. France. 105 min. Rated R With Fabrice Luchini, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner, Denis Ménochet, Ernst Umhauer & Bastien Ughetto Following […]
Directed by Gilles Bourdos Produced by Olivier Delbosc & Marc Missonnier Written by Jérôme Tonnerre & Bourdos, with the contribution of Michel Spinosa, based on the book Le Tableau Amoureux by Jacques Renoir Released by Samuel Goldwyn Films France. 111 min. Rated R French with English subtitles With Michel Bouquet, Vincent Rottiers, Christa Théret, Thomas […]
Directed by Michel Gondry Produced by Gondry, Julie Fong, Raffi Adlan & Georges Bermann Written by Gondry, Jeffrey Grimshaw & Paul Proch Released by Paladin/108 Media UK/USA/France. 103 min. Not rated With Michael Brodie, Teresa Lynn, Laidychen Carrasco, Raymond Delgado, Jonathan Ortiz, Jonathan Worrell, Alex Barrios, Meghan “Niomi” Murphy, Raymond Rios, Brandon Diaz, Manuel Rivera, […]
As usual, the mid-winter Film Society of Lincoln Center mini-fest is strong in variety—an animated film here, a biopic there, some audience pleasing and others inscrutable—but it doesn’t necessarily represent the best of what France has to offer. Conspicuously missing in the lineup are the latest from star sourpuss Jean-Pierre Bacri in the droll rom-com […]
Directed & Written by Gaël Morel Produced by Paulo Branco Released by Breaking Glass Pictures French with English subtitles France. 97 min. Not rated With Stéphane Rideau, Dimitri Durdaine & Béatrice Dalle Blond and doe-eyed, Angelo (Dimitri Durdaine) is a teen prostitute whom other prostitutes pay to see naked. But being a pretty sex worker […]
Written & Directed by Abbas Kiarostami Produced by Marin Karmitz & Kenzo Horikoshi Released by Sundance Selects Japanese with English subtitles France/Japan. 109 min. Not rated With Rin Takanashi, Tadashi Okuno & Ryo Kase Abbas Kiarostami’s follow up to his tremendous Certified Copy could be considered its companion piece. Again, he’s working outside of his […]