Paris-based company Indie Sales has acquired Teddy Lussi-Modeste’s topical third feature, “The Good Teacher,” co-written by “Happening” filmmaker Audrey Diwan.
François Civil, the French star of “The Three Musketeers” and “The Wolf’s Call,” stars as a young teacher wrongfully accused of sexual misconduct by a teenage girl from his class. As he faces mounting pressures from the girl’s older brother and her classmates, the situation spirals out of control: Allegations spread, the entire school is thrown into turmoil, and the teacher has to fight to clear his name.
“The Good Teacher” marks the second collaboration between Indie Sales and Lussi-Modeste following “The Price of Success” which screened at Toronto and San Sebastián New Directors’ competition. “The Price of Success was picked up by Netflix for a multi-territory deal including the US.
Indie Sales will be introducing “The Good Teacher” to buyers at the Cannes Film Market with an exclusive promo-reel.
François Civil, the French star of “The Three Musketeers” and “The Wolf’s Call,” stars as a young teacher wrongfully accused of sexual misconduct by a teenage girl from his class. As he faces mounting pressures from the girl’s older brother and her classmates, the situation spirals out of control: Allegations spread, the entire school is thrown into turmoil, and the teacher has to fight to clear his name.
“The Good Teacher” marks the second collaboration between Indie Sales and Lussi-Modeste following “The Price of Success” which screened at Toronto and San Sebastián New Directors’ competition. “The Price of Success was picked up by Netflix for a multi-territory deal including the US.
Indie Sales will be introducing “The Good Teacher” to buyers at the Cannes Film Market with an exclusive promo-reel.
- 5/9/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The second edition of the French Comedy Club unfolds at the Lumière Cinéma in Beverly Hills this weekend.
The event, which is open to cinema industry professionals and the public, aims to generate business and raise awareness about French comedy.
Olivier Albou and Laurence Schonberg at Paris-based sales and production company Other Angle Pictures have spearheaded the initiative, with the support of French export body Unifrance and artists residencies body Villa Albertine.
Over the past decade, their company has brought a raft of French comedies to the international market including Netflix hits Spoiled Brats and The Last Mercenary.
This year’s line-up includes the Other Angle title Sweet Little Things as well as Alibi.com 2, which is sold by Newen Connect, and How To Survive Without Mum and Stay With Us, which are both handled internationally by Studiocanal.
The showcase opens Saturday with Ludovic Bernard’s How To Survive Without Mum,...
The event, which is open to cinema industry professionals and the public, aims to generate business and raise awareness about French comedy.
Olivier Albou and Laurence Schonberg at Paris-based sales and production company Other Angle Pictures have spearheaded the initiative, with the support of French export body Unifrance and artists residencies body Villa Albertine.
Over the past decade, their company has brought a raft of French comedies to the international market including Netflix hits Spoiled Brats and The Last Mercenary.
This year’s line-up includes the Other Angle title Sweet Little Things as well as Alibi.com 2, which is sold by Newen Connect, and How To Survive Without Mum and Stay With Us, which are both handled internationally by Studiocanal.
The showcase opens Saturday with Ludovic Bernard’s How To Survive Without Mum,...
- 4/15/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
French schoolhouse-set comedy directed by Mélanie Auffret.
Other Angle has secured deals for French schoolhouse-set comedy Mélanie Auffret’s Sweet Little Things following its market premiere at the EFM.
The Paris and LA-based international sales and distribution company has sold the film – French title: Les Petites Victoires - to Twelve Oaks Pictures in Spain, Nos Lusomundo in Portugal, Pandora in Brazil, Vertigo in Benelux and Pathé in Switzerland.
The sales follow the crowd-pleasing film’s premiere at France’s comedy film fest the Festival l’Alpe d’Huez where it was awarded with the special jury prize and audience award.
Other Angle has secured deals for French schoolhouse-set comedy Mélanie Auffret’s Sweet Little Things following its market premiere at the EFM.
The Paris and LA-based international sales and distribution company has sold the film – French title: Les Petites Victoires - to Twelve Oaks Pictures in Spain, Nos Lusomundo in Portugal, Pandora in Brazil, Vertigo in Benelux and Pathé in Switzerland.
The sales follow the crowd-pleasing film’s premiere at France’s comedy film fest the Festival l’Alpe d’Huez where it was awarded with the special jury prize and audience award.
- 2/20/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Highest honors go to this stylish, cinematically refined adaptation of a George Simenon thriller. Michel Blanc becomes a person of interest for a murder investigation mainly because he’s disliked and anti-social; Sandrine Bonnaire is the neighbor that he peeps at nightly, to stir his secret passion. Director Patrice Leconte directs with almost perfect control, turning the show into an emotional workout.
Monsieur Hire
Blu-ray
Cohen Film Collection
1989 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 79 min. / Street Date October 25, 2022 / Available from / 29.95
Starring: Michel Blanc, Sandrine Bonnaire, Luc Thuillier, André Wilms, Eric Bérenger, Marielle Berthon, Philippe Dormoy, Marie Gaydu, Michel Morano, Nora Noël.
Cinematography: Denis Lenoir
Production Designer: Ivan Maussion
Costume designer: Elisabeth Tavernier
Film Editor: Joëlle Hache
Original Music: Michael Nyman
Scenario, adaptation and dialogue by Patrice Leconte, Patrick Dewolf from the book Les fiançailles de M. Hire by Georges Simenon
Produced by Philippe Carcassonne, René Cleitman
Directed by Patrice Leconte
We’re fond...
Monsieur Hire
Blu-ray
Cohen Film Collection
1989 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 79 min. / Street Date October 25, 2022 / Available from / 29.95
Starring: Michel Blanc, Sandrine Bonnaire, Luc Thuillier, André Wilms, Eric Bérenger, Marielle Berthon, Philippe Dormoy, Marie Gaydu, Michel Morano, Nora Noël.
Cinematography: Denis Lenoir
Production Designer: Ivan Maussion
Costume designer: Elisabeth Tavernier
Film Editor: Joëlle Hache
Original Music: Michael Nyman
Scenario, adaptation and dialogue by Patrice Leconte, Patrick Dewolf from the book Les fiançailles de M. Hire by Georges Simenon
Produced by Philippe Carcassonne, René Cleitman
Directed by Patrice Leconte
We’re fond...
- 1/28/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Paris-based sales company is hosting several market premieres at Rendez-Vous.
Paris-based sales company The Party has acquired Happy! (working title), Pascal Plisson’s upcoming documentary about children with disabilities who chase their dreams despite the obstacles they face.
Writer and filmmaker Plisson’s doc On The Way To School was a box office success in France with 1.4 million admissions and sold to 18 countries worldwide in addition to winning the best documentary award at the Cesars in 2014. He is also behind recent docs Grand Jour, released in 2015, and Gogo in 2019 about a 94 year-old woman attending school in Kenya.
With Happy!, Plisson...
Paris-based sales company The Party has acquired Happy! (working title), Pascal Plisson’s upcoming documentary about children with disabilities who chase their dreams despite the obstacles they face.
Writer and filmmaker Plisson’s doc On The Way To School was a box office success in France with 1.4 million admissions and sold to 18 countries worldwide in addition to winning the best documentary award at the Cesars in 2014. He is also behind recent docs Grand Jour, released in 2015, and Gogo in 2019 about a 94 year-old woman attending school in Kenya.
With Happy!, Plisson...
- 1/10/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Indie Sales unveils starry French line-up and boards ‘Green Tide’, ‘Take A Chance On Me’ (exclusive)
French sales company to showcase comedy and drama slate at Rendez-Vous.
Paris-based Indie Sales has boarded Jean-Pierre Améris’ Take A Chance On Me and Pierre Jolivet’s Green Tide, expanding the company’s star-powered French slate.
Indie Sales’ French language line-up also includes Noémie Lvovsky’s The Great Magic, Mathias Gokalp’s The Assembly Line, Emad Aleebrahim Dehkordi’s A Tale of Shemroon and Marc Fitoussi’s Two Tickets to Greece.
Take A Chance On Me stars popular French singer turned actress Louane Emera, whose credits include The Belier Family, who plays a young woman juggling between odd jobs to support her agoraphobic father.
Paris-based Indie Sales has boarded Jean-Pierre Améris’ Take A Chance On Me and Pierre Jolivet’s Green Tide, expanding the company’s star-powered French slate.
Indie Sales’ French language line-up also includes Noémie Lvovsky’s The Great Magic, Mathias Gokalp’s The Assembly Line, Emad Aleebrahim Dehkordi’s A Tale of Shemroon and Marc Fitoussi’s Two Tickets to Greece.
Take A Chance On Me stars popular French singer turned actress Louane Emera, whose credits include The Belier Family, who plays a young woman juggling between odd jobs to support her agoraphobic father.
- 1/10/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: As international delegates touch down on the Croisette for what feels like the first “real” Cannes market since the pandemic struck, Olivier Albou is getting ready to hit the ground running. The veteran exec, who heads up sales and production house Other Angle with his wife Laurence Schonberg, has four new films on his slate this year that he’s offering up to international buyers.
The company will be showing footage for Mélanie Auffret’s Sweet Little Things (Les Petites Victoires), starring Julia Piaton and Michel Blanc, about a busy young teacher who’s faced with the challenge of a new student in her class – an explosive 60-year-old man who has finally decided to learn to read and write. Then there’s Jennifer Devoldère’s male midwife feature The Midwife (Sage Homme) starring Karin Viard and Melvin Boomer as well as Jonathan Barré’s Serial Driver (Bonne Conduit) starring...
The company will be showing footage for Mélanie Auffret’s Sweet Little Things (Les Petites Victoires), starring Julia Piaton and Michel Blanc, about a busy young teacher who’s faced with the challenge of a new student in her class – an explosive 60-year-old man who has finally decided to learn to read and write. Then there’s Jennifer Devoldère’s male midwife feature The Midwife (Sage Homme) starring Karin Viard and Melvin Boomer as well as Jonathan Barré’s Serial Driver (Bonne Conduit) starring...
- 5/17/2022
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
The Party Films Sales will screen exclusive images from Julien Guetta’s second feature film “Top Dogs” (“Les Cadors”) at Unifrance Rendez Vous in Paris.
“Top Dogs” is a comedy drama about two estranged brothers from Normandy. Antoine is happily married with two kids and a successful boat driver, whereas Christian is a globe-trotting hustler. When Antoine becomes involved in sleazy activities, Christian comes to his rescue. The film is headlined by Jean-Paul Rouve, the star of one of France’s biggest comedy franchises, “Les Tuches,” as well as Michel Blanc, another French comedy fixture (“Les bronzés”) and Grégoire Ludig (“Mandibules”).
“Top Dogs” marks the sophomore outing of Guetta whose feature debut “The Troubleshooter,” a comedy-adventure, garnered more than 145,000 admissions in France.
Currently in post-production, “Top Dogs” is produced by Maxime Delauney and Romain Rousseau at Nolita Cinéma, and Lionel Dutemple and Benjamin Morgaine at Princesse Beli. It was mainly shot in Cherbourg,...
“Top Dogs” is a comedy drama about two estranged brothers from Normandy. Antoine is happily married with two kids and a successful boat driver, whereas Christian is a globe-trotting hustler. When Antoine becomes involved in sleazy activities, Christian comes to his rescue. The film is headlined by Jean-Paul Rouve, the star of one of France’s biggest comedy franchises, “Les Tuches,” as well as Michel Blanc, another French comedy fixture (“Les bronzés”) and Grégoire Ludig (“Mandibules”).
“Top Dogs” marks the sophomore outing of Guetta whose feature debut “The Troubleshooter,” a comedy-adventure, garnered more than 145,000 admissions in France.
Currently in post-production, “Top Dogs” is produced by Maxime Delauney and Romain Rousseau at Nolita Cinéma, and Lionel Dutemple and Benjamin Morgaine at Princesse Beli. It was mainly shot in Cherbourg,...
- 1/13/2022
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
The Paris-based shingle Other Angle has closed a raft of sales on “A Good Doctor,” a French comedy that is having its market premiere on Thursday at the American Film Market.
Directed by Tristan Séguéla, “A Good Doctor” stars French actor Michel Blanc as Serge, a visiting doctor who is tired after 20 years of service and sends a food delivery guy (Hakim Jemili) to visit his patients for him on Christmas Eve. The film also stars Solene Rigot and Franck Gastambide.
Other Angle has sold the film to Germany (Square One), Italy (Medusa), Canada (Az films), Brazil (Pandora), Belgium (Vertigo) and Switzerland (Pathé). Apollo will release the film in France on Dec. 11.
The company’s Afm slate also include David Lanzmann’s thriller “Savage Days,” currently in production, as well as “Simone,” Olivier Dahan’s film starring Elsa Zylberstein as Simone Veil. The movie will be released in France in...
Directed by Tristan Séguéla, “A Good Doctor” stars French actor Michel Blanc as Serge, a visiting doctor who is tired after 20 years of service and sends a food delivery guy (Hakim Jemili) to visit his patients for him on Christmas Eve. The film also stars Solene Rigot and Franck Gastambide.
Other Angle has sold the film to Germany (Square One), Italy (Medusa), Canada (Az films), Brazil (Pandora), Belgium (Vertigo) and Switzerland (Pathé). Apollo will release the film in France on Dec. 11.
The company’s Afm slate also include David Lanzmann’s thriller “Savage Days,” currently in production, as well as “Simone,” Olivier Dahan’s film starring Elsa Zylberstein as Simone Veil. The movie will be released in France in...
- 11/7/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Other Angle has picked up international sales rights to “A Good Doctor” with Michel Blanc, “Just The Three of Us” with Catherine Frot, and “The Father Figure” in the run-up to the UniFrance’s Rendez-Vous in Paris.
Directed by Eric Besnard, “The Father Figure” is a supernatural comedy drama following a writer who mourns the death of his father and starts seeing him reappear; but he turns out to be the only one able to see him. The film stars François Berleand, Guillaume de Tonquedec and Josiane Balasko.
“Just the Three of Us,” which marks the feature debut of José Alcala, is a love-triangle comedy starring Daniel Auteuil and Catherine Frot. Auteuil stars a man on a mission to get his wife back after she leaves him for another man. Both “The Father Figure” and “Just The Three of Us” will be released by Apollo Films in France.
“A Good Doctor,...
Directed by Eric Besnard, “The Father Figure” is a supernatural comedy drama following a writer who mourns the death of his father and starts seeing him reappear; but he turns out to be the only one able to see him. The film stars François Berleand, Guillaume de Tonquedec and Josiane Balasko.
“Just the Three of Us,” which marks the feature debut of José Alcala, is a love-triangle comedy starring Daniel Auteuil and Catherine Frot. Auteuil stars a man on a mission to get his wife back after she leaves him for another man. Both “The Father Figure” and “Just The Three of Us” will be released by Apollo Films in France.
“A Good Doctor,...
- 1/17/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Initially a box office flop and critical failure, French auteur Julien Duvivier’s 1946 title Panique is now hailed as one of the great technician’s finest achievements. The film was digitally restored and re-released theatrically in the Us in early 2017, but initially premiered at the 1946 Venice Film Festival. In a career which spanned nearly fifty years as a director, from 1919 to 1967, the title is arguably the best-known work from his mid-period, if not his entire career (with Patrice Leconte famously remaking it in 1989 with Sandrine Bonnaire and Michel Blanc as Monsieur Hire).…...
- 1/8/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Charlotte Rampling (45 Years) will receive an Honorary Golden Bear at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival. The festival will also present a homage to the feted British actress’s career: movies will include The Damned, The Night Porter, The Verdict, Swimming Pool and Stardust Memories. Rampling presided over the festival’s jury in in 2006 and in 2015 she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for 45 Years, for which she was also Oscar-nominated. “I’m very happy that this year’s Homage is dedicated to the sublime actress Charlotte Rampling,” said Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick. “She is an icon of unconventional and exciting cinema.” The prolific Rampling, whose career spans six decades, has recently played in Red Sparrow, The Little Stranger and Michel Blanc’s Kiss & Tell. She will next be seen in Paul Verhoeven’s film Benedetta, scheduled for release in 2019.
The third International Film Festival and Awards Macao handed...
The third International Film Festival and Awards Macao handed...
- 12/17/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The New Adventures Of Aladdin opens on VOD Nationwide on Tuesday, May 16 on all major platforms including iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Microsoft, Vudu, Comcast, Charter, Cox, Verizon, Vimeo, and various other cable operators. The film will be released in both English-dubbed and French language versions (With English Subtitles).
On Christmas Eve, Sam and his best friend Khalid both dress up as Santa Claus to steal everything they can at their local department store. Quickly, Sam is stopped by a group of children asking for a story… the story of Aladdin. Or his own version of it. In Aladdin’s shoes, Sam embarks on a journey that will take him to the heart of the city of Baghdad, a place of infinite wonders.
Unfortunately, behind the picture-perfect setting, people are suffering from the tyranny of the terrible Vizir, known for his ferocity and questionable breath. Helped by his Genie, will the...
On Christmas Eve, Sam and his best friend Khalid both dress up as Santa Claus to steal everything they can at their local department store. Quickly, Sam is stopped by a group of children asking for a story… the story of Aladdin. Or his own version of it. In Aladdin’s shoes, Sam embarks on a journey that will take him to the heart of the city of Baghdad, a place of infinite wonders.
Unfortunately, behind the picture-perfect setting, people are suffering from the tyranny of the terrible Vizir, known for his ferocity and questionable breath. Helped by his Genie, will the...
- 5/10/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Michel Galabru (right) and Louis de Funès in 'Le gendarme et les gendarmettes.' 'La Cage aux Folles' actor Michel Galabru dead at 93 Michel Galabru, best known internationally for his role as a rabidly reactionary politician in the comedy hit La Cage aux Folles, died in his sleep today, Jan. 4, '16, in Paris. The Moroccan-born Galabru (Oct. 27, 1922, in Safi) was 93. Throughout his nearly seven-decade career, Galabru was seen in more than 200 films – or, in his own words, “182 days,” as he was frequently cast in minor roles that required only a couple of days of work. He also appeared on stage, training at the Comédie Française and studying under film and stage veteran Louis Jouvet (Bizarre Bizarre, Quai des Orfèvres), and was featured in more than 70 television productions. Michel Galabru movies Michel Galabru's film debut took place in Maurice de Canonge's La bataille du feu (“The Battle of Fire,...
- 1/5/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Exclusive: Other new titles on slate include Pattaya and Critics’ Week screener Learn by Heart.
Gaumont has launched sales on Pascal Chaumeil’s upcoming Odd Job (Un Petit Boulot), achieving a first early deal to Pathé Switzerland on the eve of the Cannes market.
The production unites Chaumeil with Romain Duris, co-star of his 2010 hit Heartbreaker, as a down-on-his-luck unemployed factory worker who takes on a job as a hitman.
The film is based on Iain Levison’s novel Since the Lay-Offs adapted to the big screen by actor Michel Blanc who also appears in the film.
Described as a black comedy, combining the absurdity of the Coen Brothers and the tenderness of Ken Loach’s social comedies, the film is currently shooting in Mallorca.
Other new titles include Franck Gastambide’s comedy Pattaya in which he stars alongside Malik Bentalhal as two friends who set off on a madcap trip to a notorious Thai beach resort...
Gaumont has launched sales on Pascal Chaumeil’s upcoming Odd Job (Un Petit Boulot), achieving a first early deal to Pathé Switzerland on the eve of the Cannes market.
The production unites Chaumeil with Romain Duris, co-star of his 2010 hit Heartbreaker, as a down-on-his-luck unemployed factory worker who takes on a job as a hitman.
The film is based on Iain Levison’s novel Since the Lay-Offs adapted to the big screen by actor Michel Blanc who also appears in the film.
Described as a black comedy, combining the absurdity of the Coen Brothers and the tenderness of Ken Loach’s social comedies, the film is currently shooting in Mallorca.
Other new titles include Franck Gastambide’s comedy Pattaya in which he stars alongside Malik Bentalhal as two friends who set off on a madcap trip to a notorious Thai beach resort...
- 5/13/2015
- ScreenDaily
Like Curry For Chocolat: Hallstrom Sticks to the Fruits of the Bestseller List
If you’re going to compare director Lasse Hallstrom’s latest film, The Hundred-Foot Journey to his extensive filmography over the past decade, then it stands out like a bright shiny penny. Another of Hallstrom’s adaptations of recently beloved bestselling novels, this tries to recreate the magical culinary delights that drove his 2000 hit Chocolat to such great heights. Here he has stapled another grand actress into the cast with Helen Mirren (moonlighting with her best French accent—the magical chocolate film had Juliette Binoche) and has producers like Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg behind it. It’s an entirely prim and proper endeavor and appears clearly calibrated for a particular audience that favors a certain conservative strain to storytelling, where life’s uglier conceits like carnal knowledge and racist tendencies of the pastoral French are...
If you’re going to compare director Lasse Hallstrom’s latest film, The Hundred-Foot Journey to his extensive filmography over the past decade, then it stands out like a bright shiny penny. Another of Hallstrom’s adaptations of recently beloved bestselling novels, this tries to recreate the magical culinary delights that drove his 2000 hit Chocolat to such great heights. Here he has stapled another grand actress into the cast with Helen Mirren (moonlighting with her best French accent—the magical chocolate film had Juliette Binoche) and has producers like Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg behind it. It’s an entirely prim and proper endeavor and appears clearly calibrated for a particular audience that favors a certain conservative strain to storytelling, where life’s uglier conceits like carnal knowledge and racist tendencies of the pastoral French are...
- 8/7/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the 1980s (with a particular focus on filmmakers from the New Wave), offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema. Monsieur Hire will screen as part of the festival at 12pm Saturday, June 21st at the St. Louis Art Museum.
In a provincial French apartment block, Monsieur Hire (Michel Blanc) endures a solitary life of dull work as a tailor and vitriolic scorn from his neighbors. Hire’s only solace is an occasional night out bowling and his voyeuristic admiration of a neighbor, the ravishing Alice (Sandrine Bonnaire of “Vagabond”), a beautiful, free-spirited woman conducting a heated love affair through un-drawn curtains across the way. But when police discover the nude body of another young woman in a nearby vacant lot, Hire becomes the prime suspect...
In a provincial French apartment block, Monsieur Hire (Michel Blanc) endures a solitary life of dull work as a tailor and vitriolic scorn from his neighbors. Hire’s only solace is an occasional night out bowling and his voyeuristic admiration of a neighbor, the ravishing Alice (Sandrine Bonnaire of “Vagabond”), a beautiful, free-spirited woman conducting a heated love affair through un-drawn curtains across the way. But when police discover the nude body of another young woman in a nearby vacant lot, Hire becomes the prime suspect...
- 6/18/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Bob Hoskins dead at 71: Hoskins’ best movies included ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit,’ ‘Mona Lisa’ (photo: Bob Hoskins in ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ with Jessica Rabbit, voiced by Kathleen Turner) Bob Hoskins, who died at age 71 in London yesterday, April 29, 2014, from pneumonia (initially reported as “complications of Parkinson’s disease”), was featured in nearly 70 movies over the course of his four-decade film career. Hoskins was never a major box office draw — "I don’t think I’m the sort of material movie stars are made of — I’m five-foot-six-inches and cubic. My own mum wouldn’t call me pretty." Yet, this performer with attributes similar to those of Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, and Lon Chaney had the lead in one of the biggest hits of the late ’80s. In 1988, Robert Zemeckis’ groundbreaking Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which seamlessly blended animated and live action footage, starred Hoskins as gumshoe Eddie Valiant,...
- 4/30/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Willem Dafoe and Gael Garcia Bernal also among those called up for jury service at the 67th Cannes Film Festival.
The Cannes Film Festival has named the jury for its 67th edition, comprising eight world cinema names from China, Korea, Denmark, Iran, the Us, France and Mexico.
Jane Campion, the New Zealand filmmaker who won the Palme d’or for The Piano, was previously announced as the president of the jury, which will include five women and four men.
Cannes 2014: films
Those selected include Nicolas Winding Refn, the Danish director, screenwriter and producer who won Best Direction at Cannes in 2011 with Drive. His most recent film, Only God Forgives, played in Competition at Cannes last year.
Also chosen is Sofia Coppola, the Us director and screenwriter whose debut The Virgin Suicides was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 1999. Coppola, who won a screenwriting Oscar for Lost in Translation, made it into...
The Cannes Film Festival has named the jury for its 67th edition, comprising eight world cinema names from China, Korea, Denmark, Iran, the Us, France and Mexico.
Jane Campion, the New Zealand filmmaker who won the Palme d’or for The Piano, was previously announced as the president of the jury, which will include five women and four men.
Cannes 2014: films
Those selected include Nicolas Winding Refn, the Danish director, screenwriter and producer who won Best Direction at Cannes in 2011 with Drive. His most recent film, Only God Forgives, played in Competition at Cannes last year.
Also chosen is Sofia Coppola, the Us director and screenwriter whose debut The Virgin Suicides was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 1999. Coppola, who won a screenwriting Oscar for Lost in Translation, made it into...
- 4/28/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
A misbegotten dramedy about the hijinks of the mentally handicapped, Demi-sœur charts the adventures of developmentally disabled senior citizen Nénette (Josiane Balasko, who also directs) after the death of her mother compels her to track down her father — a search that instead leads to a reunion with heretofore unknown pharmacist brother Paul (Michel Blanc).
Nénette chats incessantly with her pet tortoise and befriends a heavy metal singer who gives her a bag of ecstasy he calls "sweeteners," which Nénette then puts in uptight Paul's coffee, turning him into a drugged-out loon who, the film posits in an especially sour joke, is now on her intellectual and emotional plane.
Out of his mind, Paul bonds with Nénette (by setti...
Nénette chats incessantly with her pet tortoise and befriends a heavy metal singer who gives her a bag of ecstasy he calls "sweeteners," which Nénette then puts in uptight Paul's coffee, turning him into a drugged-out loon who, the film posits in an especially sour joke, is now on her intellectual and emotional plane.
Out of his mind, Paul bonds with Nénette (by setti...
- 2/5/2014
- Village Voice
The Day I Saw Your Heart
Written and directed by Jennifer Devoldère
France, 2011
In Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, Julie Delpy prophetically describes what it means to be French. Delpy’s Celine, while philosophizing with Ethan Hawke’s Jesse, says,
“Each time I wear black, or like, lose my temper, or say anything about anything, you know, they always go, “Oh it’s so French. It’s so cute”. Ugh! I hate that!”
The conceit of her outrage is that no matter what they do, or how they do it, French people have always been able to keep calm and carry on by virtue of being French. This axiom is vividly legitimized in Jennifer Devoldère’s dramatic comedy, The Day I Saw Your Heart, which, although wildly imperfect, magically conciliates its flaws with French charm.
The story follows the 27-year old eccentric, Justine (Mélanie Laurent), and her dysfunctional family, whose...
Written and directed by Jennifer Devoldère
France, 2011
In Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, Julie Delpy prophetically describes what it means to be French. Delpy’s Celine, while philosophizing with Ethan Hawke’s Jesse, says,
“Each time I wear black, or like, lose my temper, or say anything about anything, you know, they always go, “Oh it’s so French. It’s so cute”. Ugh! I hate that!”
The conceit of her outrage is that no matter what they do, or how they do it, French people have always been able to keep calm and carry on by virtue of being French. This axiom is vividly legitimized in Jennifer Devoldère’s dramatic comedy, The Day I Saw Your Heart, which, although wildly imperfect, magically conciliates its flaws with French charm.
The story follows the 27-year old eccentric, Justine (Mélanie Laurent), and her dysfunctional family, whose...
- 5/7/2012
- by Justin Li
- SoundOnSight
Omar Sy, François Cluzet, The Intouchables Among the three dozen or so films screening at the City of Lights / City of Angels (Colcoa) French film festival currently being held in Los Angeles, you'll find a couple of restored classics, several César nominees, and one of the biggest box-office hits in French history. Georges Méliès' 1902 short Le voyage dans la lune / A Trip to the Moon, inspired by Jules Verne's novel, is one of the restored classics to be screened at Colcoa. Méliès' short will be accompanied by Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange's Le Voyage extraordinaire / The Extraordinary Voyage, about the making and the restoration of A Trip to the Moon. The festival's other classic presentation is Marcel Carné's 1938 drama Hôtel du Nord, with Arletty, Louis Jouvet, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Tyrone Power's future wife Annabella, the recently deceased Paulette Dubost, and Bernard Blier. Those ignorant about the...
- 4/17/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Rounding up a bit of what the critics have been saying about the work screening at the New Directions/New Films festival tomorrow, we begin with Adam Leon's Gimme the Loot, winner of the Grand Jury's award for Best Narrative Feature at SXSW just a last week. In his latest entry at Artinfo, J Hoberman, who was on that jury, calls it "a funny, smart-mouthed, high-energy comedy about Bronx graffiti writers that's less a remake of the 80s indie hit Wild Style than a movie in the doomed caper tradition of Big Deal on Madonna Street. Not without some dubious stereotypes, the movie transcends them thanks to Leon's adroit direction and infectious self-enjoyment of its ensemble cast."
At GreenCine Daily, Steve Dollar agrees that it "has the run-and-gun mobility and funky vibe of a 1980s downtown comedy, evoking in various ways a kinship with the likes of Susan Seidelman,...
At GreenCine Daily, Steve Dollar agrees that it "has the run-and-gun mobility and funky vibe of a 1980s downtown comedy, evoking in various ways a kinship with the likes of Susan Seidelman,...
- 3/22/2012
- MUBI
Fans of Mélanie Laurent can count on the Film Movement folks to import one of her French title items a little bit past the midday point this year (third quarter), as the mini label picked up The Day I Saw Your Heart - a Jennifer Devoldère signed dramedy featuring Laurent, Michel Blanc and Florence Loiret Caille. Gist: Aka Et Soudain Tout le Monde me Manque (which translates to And Suddenly I Miss Everyone) Families are complicated… Especially when Eli, the father, who’s about to be 60, is expecting a baby with his new wife. Upon hearing this news, his two grown daughters, Dom, who is trying to adopt, and Justine, who flits from one boyfriend to the next, are shocked... Worth Noting: This is collaboration number two between the helmer and the actress: Mélanie Laurent previously toplined Devoldère's feature debut, Shoe at Your Foot (2009). Do We Care?: Despite whimsical...
- 2/28/2012
- IONCINEMA.com
The Artist began what is sure to be an amazing weekend for the silent black and white movie by picking up six trophies at the Cesar Awards in France on Friday.
The Oscar favourite claimed the Best French Film of the Year, while moviemaker Michel Hazanavicius was honoured with the night's Best Director prize.
His wife Berenice Bejo was named Best Actress for her role as Peppy Miller in the film, but co-star Jean Dujardin lost the Best Actor honour to Untouchable's Omar Sy.
Going into Sunday's Oscars, The Artist has picked up more than 70 accolades around the world to become the most awarded French film in history, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Composer Ludovic Bource was also honoured at the Cesars for his The Artist score and the film's cinematographer Guillame Schiffman was also a winner.
Others taking home trophies on Friday included Nadira Ayadi and Clotilde Hesme, who shared the prize for Most Promising Actress, Gregory Gadebois, who was named Most Promising Actor and Michel Blanc (Best Supporting Actor).
Tous au Larzac took home the night's Best Documentary prize, while Asghar Farhadi’s Iranian film A Separation was named Best Foreign Film.
British actress Kate Winslet also came away a big winner after she was presented with an Honorary Cesar for her body of work by filmmaker Michel Gondry, who stepped in for her absent Carnage director Roman Polanski.
Winslet addressed the crowd in French, gushing, "You could have given it (award) to somebody else but you gave it to me, so thank you."
Winslet returned to the stage a little later to accept Polanski's Best Adapted Screenplay award for Carnage.
The 37th annual ceremony was held at the Chatelet Theater in Paris.
The Oscar favourite claimed the Best French Film of the Year, while moviemaker Michel Hazanavicius was honoured with the night's Best Director prize.
His wife Berenice Bejo was named Best Actress for her role as Peppy Miller in the film, but co-star Jean Dujardin lost the Best Actor honour to Untouchable's Omar Sy.
Going into Sunday's Oscars, The Artist has picked up more than 70 accolades around the world to become the most awarded French film in history, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Composer Ludovic Bource was also honoured at the Cesars for his The Artist score and the film's cinematographer Guillame Schiffman was also a winner.
Others taking home trophies on Friday included Nadira Ayadi and Clotilde Hesme, who shared the prize for Most Promising Actress, Gregory Gadebois, who was named Most Promising Actor and Michel Blanc (Best Supporting Actor).
Tous au Larzac took home the night's Best Documentary prize, while Asghar Farhadi’s Iranian film A Separation was named Best Foreign Film.
British actress Kate Winslet also came away a big winner after she was presented with an Honorary Cesar for her body of work by filmmaker Michel Gondry, who stepped in for her absent Carnage director Roman Polanski.
Winslet addressed the crowd in French, gushing, "You could have given it (award) to somebody else but you gave it to me, so thank you."
Winslet returned to the stage a little later to accept Polanski's Best Adapted Screenplay award for Carnage.
The 37th annual ceremony was held at the Chatelet Theater in Paris.
- 2/25/2012
- WENN
Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, The Artist Jean Dujardin can't win 'em all. For his (in my humble opinion brilliant) performance as a fading silent-film star in Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist, he was voted Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, the British Academy Awards, the SAG Awards, the Golden Globes, and the Australian Film Institute Awards (as Best International Actor). He was also chosen as the Best Actor of 2011 by both the London Film Critics Circle and the Academy of French Film Journalists. [List of César winners.] Earlier this evening, however, Dujardin lost the Best Actor César du Cinéma. The 2012 French equivalent of the Oscars went instead to comedian Omar Sy, who co-stars with François Cluzet in the feel-good box-office blockbuster Intouchables / Untouchable. Perhaps enough members of the French Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Crafts were envious of Dujardin's international success and/or felt he had already won too many awards. Or...
- 2/25/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Bérénice Bejo as Peppy Miller in Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius, A Separation: César Winners Pt.1 Best Actor Sami Bouajila, Omar m'a tuer / Omar Killed Me François Cluzet, Intouchables / Untouchable Jean Dujardin, The Artist Olivier Gourmet, L'exercice de l'État / The Minister Denis Podalydes, La conquête / The Conquest * Omar Sy, Intouchables / Untouchable Philippe Torreton, Présumé coupable / Guilty Best Actress Ariane Asquaride, Les neiges du Kilimanjaro / The Snows of Kilimanjaro * Bérénice Bejo, The Artist Leila Bekhti, La Source des femmes / The Source Valérie Donzelli, La guerre est déclarée / Declaration of War Marina Foïs, Polisse Marie Gilain, Toutes nos envies / All Our Desires Karin Viard, Polisse Best Supporting Actor * Michel Blanc, L'exercice de l'État / The Minister Nicolas Duvauchelle, Polisse Joey Starr, Polisse Bernard Lecoq, La conquête / The Conquest Frédéric Pierrot, Polisse Best Supporting Actress Zabou Breitman, L'exercice de l'État / The Minister Anne Le Ny, Intouchables / Untouchable Noémie Lvovsky, L'Apollonide,...
- 2/25/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Artist began what is sure to be an amazing weekend for the silent black and white movie by picking up six trophies at the Cesar Awards in France on Friday.
The Oscar favourite claimed the Best French Film of the Year, while moviemaker Michel Hazanavicius was honoured with the night's Best Director prize.
His wife Berenice Bejo was named Best Actress for her role as Peppy Miller in the film, but co-star Jean Dujardin lost the Best Actor honour to Untouchable's Omar Sy.
Going into Sunday's Oscars, The Artist has picked up more than 70 accolades around the world to become the most awarded French film in history, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Composer Ludovic Bource was also honoured at the Cesars for his The Artist score and the film's cinematographer Guillame Schiffman was also a winner.
Others taking home trophies on Friday included Nadira Ayadi and Clotilde Hesme, who shared the prize for Most Promising Actress, Gregory Gadebois, who was named Most Promising Actor and Michel Blanc (Best Supporting Actor).
Tous au Larzac took home the night's Best Documentary prize, while Asghar Farhadi’s Iranian film A Separation was named Best Foreign Film.
British actress Kate Winslet also came away a big winner after she was presented with an Honorary Cesar for her body of work by filmmaker Michel Gondry, who stepped in for her absent Carnage director Roman Polanski.
Winslet addressed the crowd in French, gushing, "You could have given it (award) to somebody else but you gave it to me, so thank you."
Winslet returned to the stage a little later to accept Polanski's Best Adapted Screenplay award for Carnage.
The 37th annual ceremony was held at the Chatelet Theater in Paris.
The Oscar favourite claimed the Best French Film of the Year, while moviemaker Michel Hazanavicius was honoured with the night's Best Director prize.
His wife Berenice Bejo was named Best Actress for her role as Peppy Miller in the film, but co-star Jean Dujardin lost the Best Actor honour to Untouchable's Omar Sy.
Going into Sunday's Oscars, The Artist has picked up more than 70 accolades around the world to become the most awarded French film in history, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Composer Ludovic Bource was also honoured at the Cesars for his The Artist score and the film's cinematographer Guillame Schiffman was also a winner.
Others taking home trophies on Friday included Nadira Ayadi and Clotilde Hesme, who shared the prize for Most Promising Actress, Gregory Gadebois, who was named Most Promising Actor and Michel Blanc (Best Supporting Actor).
Tous au Larzac took home the night's Best Documentary prize, while Asghar Farhadi’s Iranian film A Separation was named Best Foreign Film.
British actress Kate Winslet also came away a big winner after she was presented with an Honorary Cesar for her body of work by filmmaker Michel Gondry, who stepped in for her absent Carnage director Roman Polanski.
Winslet addressed the crowd in French, gushing, "You could have given it (award) to somebody else but you gave it to me, so thank you."
Winslet returned to the stage a little later to accept Polanski's Best Adapted Screenplay award for Carnage.
The 37th annual ceremony was held at the Chatelet Theater in Paris.
- 2/25/2012
- WENN
Bérénice Bejo, Malcolm McDowell, The Artist The Artist, Polisse, Intouchables: César Nominations Pt.1 Best Actor Sami Bouajila, Omar m'a tuer / Omar Killed Me François Cluzet, Intouchables / Untouchable Jean Dujardin, The Artist Olivier Gourmet, L'exercice de l'État / The Minister Denis Podalydes, La conquête / The Conquest Omar Sy, Intouchables / Untouchable Philippe Torreton, Présumé coupable / Guilty Best Actress Ariane Asquaride, Les neiges du Kilimanjaro / The Snows of Kilimanjaro Bérénice Bejo, The Artist Leila Bekhti, La Source des femmes / The Source Valérie Donzelli, La guerre est déclarée / Declaration of War Marina Foïs, Polisse Marie Gilain, Toutes nos envies / All Our Desires Karin Viard, Polisse Best Supporting Actor Michel Blanc, L'exercice de l'État / The Minister Nicolas Duvauchelle, Polisse Joey Starr, Polisse Bernard Lecoq, La conquête / The Conquest Frédéric Pierrot, Polisse Best Supporting Actress Zabou Breitman, L'exercice de l'État / The Minister Anne Le Ny, Intouchables / Untouchable Noémie Lvovsky, L'Apollonide, souvenirs de la maison close / House of Tolerance Carmen Maura,...
- 2/21/2012
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Red faces on the jury … Derek Malcolm explains why the jury got it all wrong in the piece originally published on 26 May 1994
The 47th Cannes Film Festival is likely to be remembered not for its films, though there were some genuinely good ones around in every section, nor for its bevy of attendant Hollywood superstars, including Mel Gibson, Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis and, of course, jury president Clint Eastwood, but for a series of decisions by its international jury that seemed to defy logical analysis. This was a pity, since Eastwood, the jury's president and Catherine Deneuve, its vice-president, made a glamorous couple, feted everywhere and adored by the crowds. Nobody could say that they lacked intelligence. Unfortunately, they seemed to carry the rest of the jury - an undistinguished lot in film terms - towards some very odd conclusions indeed.
It was not just that they gave the...
The 47th Cannes Film Festival is likely to be remembered not for its films, though there were some genuinely good ones around in every section, nor for its bevy of attendant Hollywood superstars, including Mel Gibson, Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis and, of course, jury president Clint Eastwood, but for a series of decisions by its international jury that seemed to defy logical analysis. This was a pity, since Eastwood, the jury's president and Catherine Deneuve, its vice-president, made a glamorous couple, feted everywhere and adored by the crowds. Nobody could say that they lacked intelligence. Unfortunately, they seemed to carry the rest of the jury - an undistinguished lot in film terms - towards some very odd conclusions indeed.
It was not just that they gave the...
- 11/9/2011
- by Derek Malcolm
- The Guardian - Film News
With his sophomore feature, which Cineuropa reports has began lensing up until the first week of January, Pierre Schoeller is moving from a portrait of extreme poverty in his directing debut to extreme callousness in what appears to be current day politico France. L’Exercice de l’Etat will see veteran actors Olivier Gourmet and Michel Blanc will topline the pic while actors Zabou Breitman and Laurent Stocker are the supporting players. Gist: Scripted by Schoeller, the film centres on Transport Minister Bertrand Saint-Jean (Gourmet) and his private secretary (Blanc). It opens with the latter waking the former in the middle of the night to tell him that a coach has left the road in an accident. "How many fatalities? Any children? Let’s go. We have no choice." Thus begins the odyssey of a statesman in an increasingly complex and hostile world. Fast pace, power struggles, chaos, economic crisis…...
- 11/11/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Award-wining French film director best known for Tous les Matins du Monde
It is fair to say that the majority of audiences who saw the film Tous les Matins du Monde (All the Mornings of the World, 1991) – directed by Alain Corneau, who has died of lung cancer aged 67 – had previously never heard of (or heard) the music of the baroque composer and viola da gamba virtuoso Marin Marais. However, the lacuna was soon filled after this sensitive, painterly and vivid recreation of 17th-century French musical life had won seven Césars (France's Oscars), become an international success and resulted in a bestselling CD of the soundtrack by Le Concert des Nations ensemble.
Starring Gérard Depardieu as the older Marais, looking back on his reckless younger self (played by Depardieu's son, Guillaume), it remains Corneau's biggest success outside France. In fact, Tous les Matins du Monde, one of the few films...
It is fair to say that the majority of audiences who saw the film Tous les Matins du Monde (All the Mornings of the World, 1991) – directed by Alain Corneau, who has died of lung cancer aged 67 – had previously never heard of (or heard) the music of the baroque composer and viola da gamba virtuoso Marin Marais. However, the lacuna was soon filled after this sensitive, painterly and vivid recreation of 17th-century French musical life had won seven Césars (France's Oscars), become an international success and resulted in a bestselling CD of the soundtrack by Le Concert des Nations ensemble.
Starring Gérard Depardieu as the older Marais, looking back on his reckless younger self (played by Depardieu's son, Guillaume), it remains Corneau's biggest success outside France. In fact, Tous les Matins du Monde, one of the few films...
- 9/2/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
The Killer Inside Me (18)
(Michael Winterbottom, 2010, Us/UK) Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Ned Beatty. 109 mins
After Bad Lieutenant, meet Worse Lieutenant. Whereas Nic Cage's corrupt cop was operatically depraved, Affleck's 1950s Texan lawman hides his psychosis beneath a veneer of southern gentility, which is much creepier. He takes out his anger on various women in a few horribly violent scenes that have raised accusations of misogyny (blame Jim Thompson's source material), but the real challenge is whether Affleck and the stylish visuals are enough to hold the attention between these moments.
4.3.2.1 (15)
(Noel Clarke, 2010, UK) Tamsin Egerton, Emma Roberts, Ophelia Lovibond. 117 mins
With its zippy, attention-deficit plotting, quartet of men's-mag-friendly female leads, and servings of sex and violence, Clarke's frothy transatlantic heist movie aims for the unthinking end of the "male interest" market – what a waste.
Brothers Bloom (12A)
(Rian Johnson, 2008, Us) Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo.
(Michael Winterbottom, 2010, Us/UK) Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Ned Beatty. 109 mins
After Bad Lieutenant, meet Worse Lieutenant. Whereas Nic Cage's corrupt cop was operatically depraved, Affleck's 1950s Texan lawman hides his psychosis beneath a veneer of southern gentility, which is much creepier. He takes out his anger on various women in a few horribly violent scenes that have raised accusations of misogyny (blame Jim Thompson's source material), but the real challenge is whether Affleck and the stylish visuals are enough to hold the attention between these moments.
4.3.2.1 (15)
(Noel Clarke, 2010, UK) Tamsin Egerton, Emma Roberts, Ophelia Lovibond. 117 mins
With its zippy, attention-deficit plotting, quartet of men's-mag-friendly female leads, and servings of sex and violence, Clarke's frothy transatlantic heist movie aims for the unthinking end of the "male interest" market – what a waste.
Brothers Bloom (12A)
(Rian Johnson, 2008, Us) Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo.
- 6/4/2010
- by The guide
- The Guardian - Film News
The disturbing real-life case of a French woman who claimed she had been attacked by neo-Nazis makes for a sombre, powerful drama, writes Peter Bradshaw
This oblique and complex film by André Téchiné is a fiction based on the true-life case of a young woman who claimed to have been attacked on a train by neo-Nazi antisemites – and then confessed she had made the whole thing up, a cry for help, born of loneliness and misery. The real case caused outcry at the time, the media displaying a volatile fascination with the far right and the underworld criminal classes. Téchiné is evidently not too interested in the "media studies" angle, instead creating a complicated, low-key dual narrative of character and family history. Emilie Dequenne (who played the trailer-park heroine in the Dardenne brothers' Palme d'Or-winning drama Rosetta in 1999) is Jeanne, who has formed a faintly unsuitable attachment to a truculent young guy,...
This oblique and complex film by André Téchiné is a fiction based on the true-life case of a young woman who claimed to have been attacked on a train by neo-Nazi antisemites – and then confessed she had made the whole thing up, a cry for help, born of loneliness and misery. The real case caused outcry at the time, the media displaying a volatile fascination with the far right and the underworld criminal classes. Téchiné is evidently not too interested in the "media studies" angle, instead creating a complicated, low-key dual narrative of character and family history. Emilie Dequenne (who played the trailer-park heroine in the Dardenne brothers' Palme d'Or-winning drama Rosetta in 1999) is Jeanne, who has formed a faintly unsuitable attachment to a truculent young guy,...
- 6/3/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Chicago – Here’s a film that pulls off the tricky feat of moving quickly while taking its time. Like its rollerblading protagonist, “The Girl on the Train” is constantly on the move, hurtling headfirst into a series of interlocking relationships. Yet the director, André Téchiné, is less interested in his story’s destination than he is with the journey his characters take, and the various circumstances that lead them to make life-altering, often inexplicable choices.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
With a career spanning over thirty years, Téchiné has truly emerged as one of France’s most gifted filmmakers. His storytelling approach has always been more poetic than plot-driven, and his latest work is no exception. Any moviegoer expecting “Girl on the Train” to be a penetrating examination of the real-life incident at its core will be disappointed. The film is an adaptation of Jean-Marie Besset’s play, which was inspired by a 2004 media...
Rating: 3.5/5.0
With a career spanning over thirty years, Téchiné has truly emerged as one of France’s most gifted filmmakers. His storytelling approach has always been more poetic than plot-driven, and his latest work is no exception. Any moviegoer expecting “Girl on the Train” to be a penetrating examination of the real-life incident at its core will be disappointed. The film is an adaptation of Jean-Marie Besset’s play, which was inspired by a 2004 media...
- 4/23/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
This week brings an interesting clash between wide and limited releases. For example, Paul Bettany stars in both a studio and an independent release. And the former involves a religious figure, the archangel Michael, and the Biblical Apocalypse, while the latter involves a scientist whose work has long been in conflict with religious teachings. Surely the two films would make for a great double feature.
Or, maybe you'd like to pair up another one of this week's wide releases with another one of its limited releases. A studio film starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser attempting to save kids' lives through medicine with a low-budget film about saving kids' lives through friendship. A lowbrow studio film starring Dwayne Johnson as an imaginary creature with a highbrow foreign film about an imagined crime?
If only these three films were opening everywhere this weekend so everyone could enjoy such wacky match-ups.
"Creation...
Or, maybe you'd like to pair up another one of this week's wide releases with another one of its limited releases. A studio film starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser attempting to save kids' lives through medicine with a low-budget film about saving kids' lives through friendship. A lowbrow studio film starring Dwayne Johnson as an imaginary creature with a highbrow foreign film about an imagined crime?
If only these three films were opening everywhere this weekend so everyone could enjoy such wacky match-ups.
"Creation...
- 1/19/2010
- by Christopher Campbell
- MTV Movies Blog
The notorious film director on cheating death, the awfulness of restaurants – and how he can't stand boring people
It is with a mixture of fear and exhilaration that I approach Michael Winner's large house – he likes to describe it as a mansion – in London's fashionable Holland Park. God knows how much it's worth – £25m maybe. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin lives next door, in an even bigger house. An attractive, slightly forbidding young woman answers the door – I later discover she is a resting actress called Ruby – and she shows me into Winner's private cinema, filled with memorabilia from half a lifetime of movie-making and an entire lifetime of trouble-making.
There are seats for 30 people, a bar, a director's chair with Winner's name on it, the Winner puppet from Spitting Image, a signed photograph of Marilyn Monroe, pictures of some scantily clad starlets, and hundreds of photographs of stars...
It is with a mixture of fear and exhilaration that I approach Michael Winner's large house – he likes to describe it as a mansion – in London's fashionable Holland Park. God knows how much it's worth – £25m maybe. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin lives next door, in an even bigger house. An attractive, slightly forbidding young woman answers the door – I later discover she is a resting actress called Ruby – and she shows me into Winner's private cinema, filled with memorabilia from half a lifetime of movie-making and an entire lifetime of trouble-making.
There are seats for 30 people, a bar, a director's chair with Winner's name on it, the Winner puppet from Spitting Image, a signed photograph of Marilyn Monroe, pictures of some scantily clad starlets, and hundreds of photographs of stars...
- 11/16/2009
- by Stephen Moss
- The Guardian - Film News
Tina Mabry's "Mississippi Damned," an independent American production, won the Gold Hugo as the best film in the 2009 Chicago International Film Festival, and added Gold Plaques for best supporting actress (Jossie Thacker) and best screenplay (Mabry). It tells the harrowing story of three black children growing up in rural Mississippi in circumstances of violence and addiction. The film's trailer and an interview with Mabry are linked at the bottom.
Kylee Russell in "Mississippi Damned"
The win came over a crowed field of competitors from all over the world, many of them with much larger budgets. The other big winner at the Pump Room of the Ambassador East awards ceremony Saturday evening was by veteran master Marco Bellocchio of Italy, who won the Silver Hugo as best director for "Vincere," the story of Mussolini's younger brother. Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Filippo Timi won Silver Hugos as best actress and actor,...
Kylee Russell in "Mississippi Damned"
The win came over a crowed field of competitors from all over the world, many of them with much larger budgets. The other big winner at the Pump Room of the Ambassador East awards ceremony Saturday evening was by veteran master Marco Bellocchio of Italy, who won the Silver Hugo as best director for "Vincere," the story of Mussolini's younger brother. Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Filippo Timi won Silver Hugos as best actress and actor,...
- 10/23/2009
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
- You have to respect a smallish distributor who builds long-term relationships with filmmakers from world cinema scene. Strand Releasing have got their ticket punched once again for a Andre Techine film - this time, 2009's The Girl on the Train. Strand released Techine's Wild Reeds and The Witnesses. Look for a 2010 release for the drama that features a fairly solid cast. This is based on a true story of a mythomaniac young woman (Émilie Dequenne) who told the French media in 2004 that she had been the victim of an anti-semitic attack on one of the Paris-area urban trains. Deneuve will play Alice's overbearing mother Louise, Michel Blanc, will play Samuel Blumenstein, a successful lawyer who used to know Louise and who is currently looking for someone to help him out at work. Louise becomes obsessed with the idea that Alice should have that position, which leads to an awkward
- 9/9/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
Stand Releasing will distribute 'The Girl on the Train,' Andre Techine's French-language film which is based on Jean-Marie Besset's play "Rer." The film stars Emilie Dequenne ("Rosetta") as a woman who claims to have suffered an anti-Semitic attack. Starring as her mother is Carherine Deneuve and Michel Blanc has the role of her attorney. Said Ben produces. Strand also distributed two other Techine films - "The Witnesses" and "Wild Reeds." Strand's current slate of films: "The Headless Woman" "A Woman in Berlin"...
- 9/8/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
I can't say I've ever been a huge fan of French comedy, and I also can't really recall the last time I saw a truly raucous, balls-out French comedy, and especially not one as blackly comic and dirty as Menage. Or at least, the first half of it.
The film starts off rather promisingly, as a bitter homeless couple, consisting of Antoine and Monique (Michel Blanc and Miou-Miou, respectively), fighting over how much they hate each other, encounter a mysterious, tough drifter named Bob, played by Gerard Depardieu. Bob makes his living by robbing rich people's houses in the most laid-back, hassle-free way you've ever seen. He basically just strolls in, makes himself at home and takes his sweet time enjoying the luxuries of other people's riches. Antoine and Monique quickly adapt to Bob's lifestyle -- especially the latter. The three become increasingly audacious and promiscuous, while simultaneously getting further...
The film starts off rather promisingly, as a bitter homeless couple, consisting of Antoine and Monique (Michel Blanc and Miou-Miou, respectively), fighting over how much they hate each other, encounter a mysterious, tough drifter named Bob, played by Gerard Depardieu. Bob makes his living by robbing rich people's houses in the most laid-back, hassle-free way you've ever seen. He basically just strolls in, makes himself at home and takes his sweet time enjoying the luxuries of other people's riches. Antoine and Monique quickly adapt to Bob's lifestyle -- especially the latter. The three become increasingly audacious and promiscuous, while simultaneously getting further...
- 7/22/2009
- by Inna Mkrtycheva
- JustPressPlay.net
DVD Playhouse—July 2009
By
Allen Gardner
Do The Right Thing: 20th Anniversary Edition (Universal) Spike Lee’s groundbreaking fable about race relations in an ethnically mixed Brooklyn neighborhood during a sweltering New York summer remains as potent, timely and prescient as it was in 1989. Lee is among the cast, which also includes John Turturro, Danny Aiello, Samuel L. Jackson, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Rosie Perez (to name a few), that provide the tableaux-like framework for this stunning work. Criminally ignored by Oscar (it wasn't even nominated for Best Picture, but did garner nods for Supporting Actor Danny Aiello and Lee’s screenplay), it endures as a timeless classic. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by Lee, Ernest Dickerson, Wynn Thomas, Joie Lee; Documentary; Deleted and extended scenes; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.
Coraline (Universal) A young girl moves into an old Victorian house with her parents...
By
Allen Gardner
Do The Right Thing: 20th Anniversary Edition (Universal) Spike Lee’s groundbreaking fable about race relations in an ethnically mixed Brooklyn neighborhood during a sweltering New York summer remains as potent, timely and prescient as it was in 1989. Lee is among the cast, which also includes John Turturro, Danny Aiello, Samuel L. Jackson, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Rosie Perez (to name a few), that provide the tableaux-like framework for this stunning work. Criminally ignored by Oscar (it wasn't even nominated for Best Picture, but did garner nods for Supporting Actor Danny Aiello and Lee’s screenplay), it endures as a timeless classic. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by Lee, Ernest Dickerson, Wynn Thomas, Joie Lee; Documentary; Deleted and extended scenes; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.
Coraline (Universal) A young girl moves into an old Victorian house with her parents...
- 7/14/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
- Champs-Élysées, Place de la Concorde, Montmartre, Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower are all narratively rich symbolic lieus of postcard Paris - but the one place where everyday life thrives, where lives intersect are in the underground portions of Paris. Just as iconic as the museums and famed streets is Paris' extensive subway system. Acclaimed French filmmaker André Téchiné once again takes a seat behind the camera for his 22nd production, tentatively titled La fille du Rer (The Girl on the Train). Based on a true story, the film recounts a 2004 incident in which a troubled young woman falsely claimed to have been the victim of an anti-semitic attack on an urban Parisian train (or Rer).Playing the role of the young woman (named Alice for the film) is the lovely Émilie Dequenne (Une Femme de Ménage). French siren Catherine Deneuve will play the role of Alice's overbearing mother,
- 4/22/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- Old school filmmaker André Téchiné (Wild Reeds) will have another one of his films released in the U.S. reports THR. Les Témoins will be released by Strand Releasing. Starring Emmanuelle Béart and Michel Blanc, the film is set in Paris in 1984, revolves around a group of friends and lovers who confront the first outbreak of the AIDS epidemic. Téchiné has a reputation of being a ladies man - the filmmaker casted Béart before in the "getaway" film Strayed (Les Égarés) and has worked with the likes of the Deneuves and Binoches of French cinema. The Witnesses was first shown at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival....
- 4/16/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
LONDON -- French director Patrice Leconte said Wednesday that he is eyeing his first English-language project, a remake of his 1989 hit Monsieur Hire. "I am expecting an English-language draft of the script from a British writer next week," Leconte said in an interview. "But it will depend on the draft and whether it works in English." Leconte, who was in London for Unifrance's French Film Tour, declined to name the screenwriter. He said he expects the new script to differ significantly from the original while maintaining the thriller's core themes. Monsieur Hire, which starred Michel Blanc and Sandrine Bonnaire, tells the story of a reclusive man suspected of murder who obsessively watches a young woman in her apartment.
This French sex comedy from actor-turned-director Michel Blanc (Grosse Fatigue) had audiences in francophone Montreal chuckling from start to finish.
Jettisoning plot in favor of exploring a network of differing relationships, Blanc uses crisp dialogue to pilot a lighthearted trawl through the infidelities of the French middle class. As dramatic as it humorous, this film certainly should hit with sophisticated audiences who've been around long enough to laugh at life's myriad imperfections, inconsistencies and contradictions. See How They Run (Embrassez qui vous voudrez) received its world premiere out of competition here in Montreal.
The slimline story revolves around a group of competitive pals taking a well-needed summer vacation. The slightly snobby Elisabeth (Charlotte Rampling) takes off for the beach, leaving her caring but philandering husband Bertrand (Jacques Dutronc) behind. At the hotel with man-hungry friend Julie, Elisabeth runs into her downwardly mobile neighbors Vero and Jerome, who are so broke they're holidaying in a trailer park. The women are soon joined by the glamorous Lulu (Carole Bouquet), who's having trouble with her violently possessive lover, played by Blanc. The resulting entanglements gradually intermingle to illustrate the proverbial tangled web of life.
This film's verbal humor is a cracking barrage of parry and thrust. The girl talk is especially feisty, with Lulu and Elisabeth wondering what it's like to "come all over the place and orgasm like a man" and Vero adding that she'd settle for knowing what it's like to orgasm as a woman. But there's far more going on here than just comedy. The jokes are Blanc's way of bringing out the drama.
See How They Run is a compassionate film that likes its characters in spite of their many peccadilloes. It's not easy to be happy, asserts director Blanc, and there's nothing wrong with telling a big white lie if it helps everyone get through the day. Husband Bertrand is a master of all this domestic duplicity, having an affair with both his wife's friend Julie and his shy transsexual housekeeper. Bertrand's advice that life is hard and you just have to "ziz-zag your way through it" is at the core of the film.
Rampling's performance is multidimensional -- at once haughty and vulnerable. As Elisabeth, she conceals her anguish at Bertrand's detached attitude toward their marriage and decides that it isn't necessarily a rejection of her. Dutronc plays it with mild amusement -- a man so comfortable with his secretive way of life that he feels no guilt about it. Blanc the actor adds some physical humor, continually searching for wife Lulu's suspected lover and always punishing the wrong man.
Blanc finds the hidden undercurrents in these relationships and pushes them up to the surface. It's testament to his skill as a comic and dramatist that he can use humor to bring to light such deep and human duplicities without ever appearing crude or crass.
SEE HOW THEY RUN
UGC Presents
Credits:
Director-writer: Michel Blanc
Based on the novel "Summer Things" by: Joseph Connolly
Producer: Yves Marmion
Co-producers: Julie Baines, Franco Vincenzo Porcelli
Director of photography: Sean Bobbit
Production designer: Benoit Barouh
Costume designer: Oliver Beriot
Editor: Marilyn Monthieux
Music: Mark Russell
Cast:
Elisabeth: Charlotte Rampling
Bertrand: Jacques Dutronc
Lulu: Carole Bouquet
Jean-Pierre: Michel Blanc
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Jettisoning plot in favor of exploring a network of differing relationships, Blanc uses crisp dialogue to pilot a lighthearted trawl through the infidelities of the French middle class. As dramatic as it humorous, this film certainly should hit with sophisticated audiences who've been around long enough to laugh at life's myriad imperfections, inconsistencies and contradictions. See How They Run (Embrassez qui vous voudrez) received its world premiere out of competition here in Montreal.
The slimline story revolves around a group of competitive pals taking a well-needed summer vacation. The slightly snobby Elisabeth (Charlotte Rampling) takes off for the beach, leaving her caring but philandering husband Bertrand (Jacques Dutronc) behind. At the hotel with man-hungry friend Julie, Elisabeth runs into her downwardly mobile neighbors Vero and Jerome, who are so broke they're holidaying in a trailer park. The women are soon joined by the glamorous Lulu (Carole Bouquet), who's having trouble with her violently possessive lover, played by Blanc. The resulting entanglements gradually intermingle to illustrate the proverbial tangled web of life.
This film's verbal humor is a cracking barrage of parry and thrust. The girl talk is especially feisty, with Lulu and Elisabeth wondering what it's like to "come all over the place and orgasm like a man" and Vero adding that she'd settle for knowing what it's like to orgasm as a woman. But there's far more going on here than just comedy. The jokes are Blanc's way of bringing out the drama.
See How They Run is a compassionate film that likes its characters in spite of their many peccadilloes. It's not easy to be happy, asserts director Blanc, and there's nothing wrong with telling a big white lie if it helps everyone get through the day. Husband Bertrand is a master of all this domestic duplicity, having an affair with both his wife's friend Julie and his shy transsexual housekeeper. Bertrand's advice that life is hard and you just have to "ziz-zag your way through it" is at the core of the film.
Rampling's performance is multidimensional -- at once haughty and vulnerable. As Elisabeth, she conceals her anguish at Bertrand's detached attitude toward their marriage and decides that it isn't necessarily a rejection of her. Dutronc plays it with mild amusement -- a man so comfortable with his secretive way of life that he feels no guilt about it. Blanc the actor adds some physical humor, continually searching for wife Lulu's suspected lover and always punishing the wrong man.
Blanc finds the hidden undercurrents in these relationships and pushes them up to the surface. It's testament to his skill as a comic and dramatist that he can use humor to bring to light such deep and human duplicities without ever appearing crude or crass.
SEE HOW THEY RUN
UGC Presents
Credits:
Director-writer: Michel Blanc
Based on the novel "Summer Things" by: Joseph Connolly
Producer: Yves Marmion
Co-producers: Julie Baines, Franco Vincenzo Porcelli
Director of photography: Sean Bobbit
Production designer: Benoit Barouh
Costume designer: Oliver Beriot
Editor: Marilyn Monthieux
Music: Mark Russell
Cast:
Elisabeth: Charlotte Rampling
Bertrand: Jacques Dutronc
Lulu: Carole Bouquet
Jean-Pierre: Michel Blanc
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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