French filmmaker Leos Carax discussed the sacred nature of the image and the challenge of retaining its power on the big screen in the digital age in an on-stage conversation at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event on Monday.
The filmmaker said he had transitioned to shooting in digital in his segment of the 2008 feature Tokyo!, one of his first works after the death of his beloved cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier, who died age 52 in 2003.
Carax revealed this move had changed his filmmaking process as he took the decision to stop watching the dailies from then on, which resulted in him ditching his habit of doing multiple retakes.
The director admitted that 15 years on, he is not a huge fan of shooting in digital.
“I don’t come from there. I still feel It’s a bad thing, even for the eyes… it’s become such a problem with digital...
The filmmaker said he had transitioned to shooting in digital in his segment of the 2008 feature Tokyo!, one of his first works after the death of his beloved cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier, who died age 52 in 2003.
Carax revealed this move had changed his filmmaking process as he took the decision to stop watching the dailies from then on, which resulted in him ditching his habit of doing multiple retakes.
The director admitted that 15 years on, he is not a huge fan of shooting in digital.
“I don’t come from there. I still feel It’s a bad thing, even for the eyes… it’s become such a problem with digital...
- 3/4/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
"Sensual. Intimate. Sophisticated. Beautiful." Janus Films has unveiled an official trailer and a new poster for the 4K restoration re-release of Chocolat, the feature directorial debut film from acclaimed French director Claire Denis. This originally premiered at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and launched the career of this talented female filmmaker. Not to be confused with Lasse Hallström's film Chocolat, which earned five Oscar nominations, this one is an entirely different film - set in Africa. A French woman returns to her childhood home in Cameroon - formerly a colonial outpost - where she's flooded by memories, particularly of Protée, her servant from her time there growing up. Starring Mireille Perrier, Isaach De Bankolé, Giulia Boschi, and François Cluzet. This new 4K digital restoration being released by Janus Films was supervised & approved by director Claire Denis, with a mono soundtrack. Restoration is by the laboratory Eclair Classics from the original...
- 2/21/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Slowly but surely the earlier work of Claire Denis is getting restorations and re-releases, from Beau Travail to L’intrus to No Fear No Die. While we hope Friday Night and US Go Home are in the cards, next up is her 1988 debut Chocolat. Made soon after she worked under Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders, the semi-autobiographical feature is based on her childhood in colonial French Africa as the daughter of a civil servant. Set for a theatrical release starting February 24 from Janus Films, the new 4K digital restoration was supervised and approved by director Claire Denis, made by the laboratory Eclair Classics from the original feature negative. Ahead of the release, a new trailer has now arrived.
Check out the trailer and synopsis below.
France (Mireille Perrier) reminisces about her childhood in Cameroon as her father (François Cluzet) comes and goes on call, which leads to the strengthening of her...
Check out the trailer and synopsis below.
France (Mireille Perrier) reminisces about her childhood in Cameroon as her father (François Cluzet) comes and goes on call, which leads to the strengthening of her...
- 2/8/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
French filmmaker Leos Carax discussed the highs and lows of his 42-year career at the Marrakech International Film Festival on Sunday.
He was candid about the setbacks and sense of doubt about his place on set in the early days of a shoot, across his seven feature directorial credits to date spanning Boy Meets Girl (1984), The Night Is Young (1986), Les Amants du Pont Neuf, Pola X, Tokyo!, Holy Motors and Annette.
“With each film, it’s true I’ve only done a few, but I feel like a beginner, a bit like an imposter so I need to do lots of tests to get to know the new tools, the cameras as the film gets on the road. I become a technician in a way,” he said.
Carax said a series of near-chance meetings with people who would become long-time collaborators had been at the heart of his career as a director.
He was candid about the setbacks and sense of doubt about his place on set in the early days of a shoot, across his seven feature directorial credits to date spanning Boy Meets Girl (1984), The Night Is Young (1986), Les Amants du Pont Neuf, Pola X, Tokyo!, Holy Motors and Annette.
“With each film, it’s true I’ve only done a few, but I feel like a beginner, a bit like an imposter so I need to do lots of tests to get to know the new tools, the cameras as the film gets on the road. I become a technician in a way,” he said.
Carax said a series of near-chance meetings with people who would become long-time collaborators had been at the heart of his career as a director.
- 11/13/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.NEWSJust have celebrating his 69th birthday and releasing a new album, David Bowie has left us. (The wonderful gif above is by Helen Green, via Dangerous Minds.)Dalian Wanda buys Legendary Entertainment: For the oh-so-reasonable price of $3.5 billion, the Chinese company which already owns American cinema chain AMC has bought the Hollywood production company. Some may remember this company because of its announcement to create the lavishly funded Qingdao Film Festival, directed and programmed by several Americans.Mia Hansen-Løve's Things to Come.More titles have been announced for next month's Berlin International Film Festival. Most exciting to us are new films by Lav Diaz, Mia Hansen-Løve, and André Téchiné. (And there's a wonderfully Ralph Fiennes-full new trailer for the Coen brothers' opening night film, Hail Caesar!) Meanwhile, the...
- 1/14/2016
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Qui aime les films français ?
If you do and you live in St. Louis, you’re in luck! The Seventh Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-presented by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series begins March 13th. The Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1930s through the early 1990s, offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema. The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations.
This year features recent restorations of eight works, including an extended director’s cut of Patrice Chéreau’s historical epic Queen Margot a New York-set film noir (Two Men In Manhattan) by crime-film maestro Jean-Pierre Melville, who also co-stars; a short feature (“A Day in the Country”) by Jean Renoir, on a double bill with the 2006 restoration of his masterpiece, The Rules Of The Game, and the...
If you do and you live in St. Louis, you’re in luck! The Seventh Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-presented by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series begins March 13th. The Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1930s through the early 1990s, offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema. The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations.
This year features recent restorations of eight works, including an extended director’s cut of Patrice Chéreau’s historical epic Queen Margot a New York-set film noir (Two Men In Manhattan) by crime-film maestro Jean-Pierre Melville, who also co-stars; a short feature (“A Day in the Country”) by Jean Renoir, on a double bill with the 2006 restoration of his masterpiece, The Rules Of The Game, and the...
- 3/4/2015
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Perhaps we can thank the critical success of his 2012 masterwork, Holy Motors for the resurgence of interest in the early works of Leos Carax, including not only a new documentary about the enigmatic filmmaker, but restorations and notable Blu-ray transfers of his first two titles, Boy Meets Girl (1984) and Mauvais Sang (1986) from Carlotta Films.
The introduction of Carax’s onscreen alter ego Denis Lavant, present in each of his five titles except for 1999’s troubled Pola X, feels very much like a loving homage of the Nouvelle Vague mixed with sublimation of melancholy emptiness in 1980s excess and the hollow virtues of young adulthood. In comparison to his other titles, Boy Meets Girl does feel very much like Carax’s first film, an artist figuring out his emotional resonance, his stylistic fascinations, a title that, in look and style feels strangely similar to David Lynch’s first film, Eraserhead (1977), another...
The introduction of Carax’s onscreen alter ego Denis Lavant, present in each of his five titles except for 1999’s troubled Pola X, feels very much like a loving homage of the Nouvelle Vague mixed with sublimation of melancholy emptiness in 1980s excess and the hollow virtues of young adulthood. In comparison to his other titles, Boy Meets Girl does feel very much like Carax’s first film, an artist figuring out his emotional resonance, his stylistic fascinations, a title that, in look and style feels strangely similar to David Lynch’s first film, Eraserhead (1977), another...
- 12/2/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Leos Carax’s debut film Boy Meets Girl (1984), now beautifully restored and showing at the Film Forum from August 8th (as part of a larger Carax retrospective), is a manual on egocentricity. Posturing as a story of heartbreak, love and finally tragedy, Boy Meets Girl is in fact a soapbox for young Alex (Denis Lavant) to explain his extended ontology and the distended sense of its worth. Alex’s disinterest in cooperating with the world is matched only by his insistence to control it. What we are left with is transcendent self-involvement through time, space and person: otherwise known as being in your twenties. Shot in black and white and set in the Paris of anytime, Carax with one hand tips his cap to love story nostalgia and with the other fondles the petty egoism of love.
As the title suggests, boy does indeed meet girl. Alex is our boy,...
As the title suggests, boy does indeed meet girl. Alex is our boy,...
- 8/9/2014
- by Cuyler Ballenger
- MUBI
"Film or art?" was the first question I was greeted with upon arrival at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, a question essentially inquiring whether I was attending to watch "films" or "art" (i.e. video art) at the festival. But since no such demarcation really exists in the program, the question therefore expanded beyond its modest confines to provoke all kinds of immediately doubting self-inquiry such as: (1) Oh God, what if I'm here just for film?; (2) Wait, who says film isn't art?; (3) Is this person picking a fight?; and (4) How come no one asks me this in Cannes?
Still, it was a question I should have expected, since a festival dedicated to short moving image media—now; it had "just" films to consider—implicitly posits a number of questions about its chosen subject. As someone with a cinephile background in, let's say, traditional cinema, it is both frightening and...
Still, it was a question I should have expected, since a festival dedicated to short moving image media—now; it had "just" films to consider—implicitly posits a number of questions about its chosen subject. As someone with a cinephile background in, let's say, traditional cinema, it is both frightening and...
- 5/9/2014
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
The first entry in a new and on-going series of audiovisual essays by Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin.
***
When asked about the central dance scene in Regular Lovers (Les amants réguliers, 2005), director Philippe Garrel testified that, as he and his closest co-workers get older, they more naturally collaborate – in order to get things done more efficiently, creatively and pleasantly. So did Garrel plot every camera move, choreograph every gesture, set the entire mise en scène of this dance, or any of the similar scenes in his films of the 21st century? It’s unlikely. This is not the awesome, choreographic, one-man mastery of a Max Ophüls, but a collectively shaped vibration or wave: actors, cinematographer, off-screen advisers, director, all mucking in together to capture a particular swirl of sensations and associations clustered around the motif of dance.
The songs, we imagine, are chosen (or at least vetted) by Garrel:...
***
When asked about the central dance scene in Regular Lovers (Les amants réguliers, 2005), director Philippe Garrel testified that, as he and his closest co-workers get older, they more naturally collaborate – in order to get things done more efficiently, creatively and pleasantly. So did Garrel plot every camera move, choreograph every gesture, set the entire mise en scène of this dance, or any of the similar scenes in his films of the 21st century? It’s unlikely. This is not the awesome, choreographic, one-man mastery of a Max Ophüls, but a collectively shaped vibration or wave: actors, cinematographer, off-screen advisers, director, all mucking in together to capture a particular swirl of sensations and associations clustered around the motif of dance.
The songs, we imagine, are chosen (or at least vetted) by Garrel:...
- 1/21/2014
- by Cristina Álvarez López & Adrian Martin
- MUBI
Leos Carax followed his short film Strangulation Blues (1980) with the tragic Boy Meets Girl in 1984. Starring Denis Lavant and Mireille Perrier, Carax’s first feature announced a new and exciting presence in both French and World cinema. Boy Meets Girl premiered in May 1984 at the Cannes Film Festival in the Independent Critics Week section, certainly a great venue to premiere a film and quite an impressive place to show a first feature as well. This film introduced many of the themes and cinematic problems that Carax would continually return to in his later films, such as a chance encounter between two people, failed romance, meditation on silent and contemporary cinema, and poetic treatments of Carax’s own biography.
Boy Meets Girl is an intense depiction of a social outsider and the way this outsider relates to the world around him. Alex (Lavant) is a tiny and timid Parisian. His screen...
Boy Meets Girl is an intense depiction of a social outsider and the way this outsider relates to the world around him. Alex (Lavant) is a tiny and timid Parisian. His screen...
- 10/26/2013
- by Cody Lang
- SoundOnSight
Working Title is teaming up with Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson's Leverage Production to reboot Fred Cavayé's Point Blank.
The original French action thriller centered on Samuel Pierret (Gilles Lellouche), a male nurse, who needs to setup the escape of a ganglord in order to keep his pregnant kidnapped wife alive. The film also starred Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin and Elena Anaya.
Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson will be producing. No confirmation that either will be involved as actors.
No production schedule has been released for this project.
Point Blank was released July 29th, 2011 and stars Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier, Claire Perot, Moussa Maaskri, Pierre Benoist. The film is directed by Fred Cavayé.
The original French action thriller centered on Samuel Pierret (Gilles Lellouche), a male nurse, who needs to setup the escape of a ganglord in order to keep his pregnant kidnapped wife alive. The film also starred Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin and Elena Anaya.
Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson will be producing. No confirmation that either will be involved as actors.
No production schedule has been released for this project.
Point Blank was released July 29th, 2011 and stars Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier, Claire Perot, Moussa Maaskri, Pierre Benoist. The film is directed by Fred Cavayé.
- 11/2/2012
- by MovieWeb
- MovieWeb
Chicago – Excluding its rather unnecessary epilogue, Fred Cavayé’s latest thriller, “Point Blank,” clocks in around one hour and fifteen minutes. It’s a fast paced film, but it oddly never feels rushed. All of the set-pieces and dramatic revelations are present and executed to perfection. What’s lacking here is the extra padding so often found in bloated Hollywood blockbusters.
Though Paul Haggis’s “The Next Three Days” aimed to imitate the expertly paced tension of a Cavayé’ picture by remaking his 2008 effort, “Anything for Her,” the original managed to tell the story in half the time and was twice as entertaining. As long as Americans can accept reading subtitles, there is no reason to remake Cavayé’s transcendently entertaining work, which has the power to thrill audiences on any continent.
Blu-ray Rating: 4.0/5.0
In some ways, “Point Blank” is a mirror image of “Anything for Her,” with its wronged protagonist on the run,...
Though Paul Haggis’s “The Next Three Days” aimed to imitate the expertly paced tension of a Cavayé’ picture by remaking his 2008 effort, “Anything for Her,” the original managed to tell the story in half the time and was twice as entertaining. As long as Americans can accept reading subtitles, there is no reason to remake Cavayé’s transcendently entertaining work, which has the power to thrill audiences on any continent.
Blu-ray Rating: 4.0/5.0
In some ways, “Point Blank” is a mirror image of “Anything for Her,” with its wronged protagonist on the run,...
- 12/21/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Director: Fred Cavayé Writers: Fred Cavayé, Guillaume Lemans Starring: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier, Claire Perot, Moussa Maaskri Point Blank is a dark, relentless, and stylishly directed new French crime thriller that drops an innocent man into a paranoid world of kidnapping, corruption, hopelessness, and betrayal. Director Fred Cavayé seems equally inspired by the unsettling, claustrophobic world of American film noir and that rich period of French crime films in the eighties and early nineties that gave us masterworks by Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita) and Jean-Jacques Beineix (Diva). Yet for all of its momentum and sheer kinetic energy, the film loses sight of the essentials--character, emotion, and motivation--far too much of the time, resulting in a film that isn’t nearly as thrilling or as suspenseful as it should be. Samuel (Gilles Lellouche) is a nurse’s aide who works in a hospital where...
- 9/2/2011
- by Dave Wilson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Chicago – In our latest French thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 10 admit-two run-of-engagement movie passes up for grabs to the film “Point Blank” from French director Fred Cavayé!
The film opened in Chicago on Aug. 12, 2011 at Landmark Century Centre Cinema. “Point Blank” stars Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier, Claire Perot, Moussa Maaskri, Pierre Benoist, Valérie Dashwood, Virgile Bramly, Nicky Naude, Adel Bencherif, Vincent Colombe, Chems Dahmani and Grégoire Bonnet from writer and director Fred Cavayé.
To win your free run-of-engagement movie pass for “Point Blank”, just answer our question in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! These movie passes are valid during the film’s theatrical run at Landmark Century Centre Cinema in Chicago. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and win can be found beneath the graphic below.
The movie poster for “Point Blank” from French director Fred Cavayé.
The film opened in Chicago on Aug. 12, 2011 at Landmark Century Centre Cinema. “Point Blank” stars Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier, Claire Perot, Moussa Maaskri, Pierre Benoist, Valérie Dashwood, Virgile Bramly, Nicky Naude, Adel Bencherif, Vincent Colombe, Chems Dahmani and Grégoire Bonnet from writer and director Fred Cavayé.
To win your free run-of-engagement movie pass for “Point Blank”, just answer our question in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! These movie passes are valid during the film’s theatrical run at Landmark Century Centre Cinema in Chicago. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and win can be found beneath the graphic below.
The movie poster for “Point Blank” from French director Fred Cavayé.
- 8/15/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Fred Cavayé directs Point Blank, which follows Samuel (Gilles Lellouche), a happily married nurse working in a Paris hospital. When his very pregnant wife (Elena Anaya) is kidnapped before his helpless eyes, everything falls apart. After being knocked unconscious, he comes to and his cell phone rings: he has three hours to get Sartet (Roschdy Zem), a man under police surveillance, out of the hospital. Shot on location in wide lens, Point Blank is an exhilarating non-stop ride through Paris' streets, subways, hospitals, warehouses, and police stations, as Samuel quickly finds himself pitted against rival gangsters and trigger-happy police in a deadly race to save the lives of his wife and unborn child. We have an exclusive clip from this Magnolia Pictures release, which you can check out below.
Click to watch Exclusive: Subway Chase!
Point Blank was released July 29th, 2011 and stars Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya,...
Click to watch Exclusive: Subway Chase!
Point Blank was released July 29th, 2011 and stars Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya,...
- 7/29/2011
- by MovieWeb
- MovieWeb
Title: Point Blank Directed By: Fred Cavaye Written By: Fred Cavaye, William Lemans Cast: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gerard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 7/13/11 Opens: July 29, 2011 Whoever said that French movies are talky? What about “The French Connection?” Ok, that’s not French, and the famous chase on the elevated line takes place in Brooklyn, not Paris. “Claire’s Knee”? Yes, that’s more like the French style, the story of a thirty-something diplomat with a taste for a teen and a desire to touch her knee. How about both parts of “Mesrine”? Now we’re getting closer. “Mesrine,” is based on an actual gangster who...
- 7/14/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Reviewed by Jay Antani
(June 2011)
Directed by: Fred Cavayé
Written by: Fred Cavayé and Guillaume Lemans
Starring: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier, Claire Perot, Moussa Maaskri and Pierre Benoist
Save for its title, Fred Cavayé’s “Point Blank” is unrelated to the 1967 lone-gun thriller. The new movie certainly deserves its in-your-face title for the sheer velocity of its pacing, but viewers familiar with the Lee Marvin classic will pine for its style and intelligence while shaking their heads at the ludicrousness of Cavayé’s namesake movie.
This new “Point Blank” gets off the blocks fast with an opening montage of a foot chase through Parisian streets as gangsters stay on the heels of a mysterious fleer. The nifty sequence ends with a gunshot and motorcycle accident that leaves the fleer wounded and whisked off to the hospital. The nervy yet smooth filmmaking on display in...
(June 2011)
Directed by: Fred Cavayé
Written by: Fred Cavayé and Guillaume Lemans
Starring: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier, Claire Perot, Moussa Maaskri and Pierre Benoist
Save for its title, Fred Cavayé’s “Point Blank” is unrelated to the 1967 lone-gun thriller. The new movie certainly deserves its in-your-face title for the sheer velocity of its pacing, but viewers familiar with the Lee Marvin classic will pine for its style and intelligence while shaking their heads at the ludicrousness of Cavayé’s namesake movie.
This new “Point Blank” gets off the blocks fast with an opening montage of a foot chase through Parisian streets as gangsters stay on the heels of a mysterious fleer. The nifty sequence ends with a gunshot and motorcycle accident that leaves the fleer wounded and whisked off to the hospital. The nervy yet smooth filmmaking on display in...
- 7/3/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Reviewed by Jay Antani
(June 2011)
Directed by: Fred Cavayé
Written by: Fred Cavayé and Guillaume Lemans
Starring: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier, Claire Perot, Moussa Maaskri and Pierre Benoist
Save for its title, Fred Cavayé’s “Point Blank” is unrelated to the 1967 lone-gun thriller. The new movie certainly deserves its in-your-face title for the sheer velocity of its pacing, but viewers familiar with the Lee Marvin classic will pine for its style and intelligence while shaking their heads at the ludicrousness of Cavayé’s namesake movie.
This new “Point Blank” gets off the blocks fast with an opening montage of a foot chase through Parisian streets as gangsters stay on the heels of a mysterious fleer. The nifty sequence ends with a gunshot and motorcycle accident that leaves the fleer wounded and whisked off to the hospital. The nervy yet smooth filmmaking on display in...
(June 2011)
Directed by: Fred Cavayé
Written by: Fred Cavayé and Guillaume Lemans
Starring: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier, Claire Perot, Moussa Maaskri and Pierre Benoist
Save for its title, Fred Cavayé’s “Point Blank” is unrelated to the 1967 lone-gun thriller. The new movie certainly deserves its in-your-face title for the sheer velocity of its pacing, but viewers familiar with the Lee Marvin classic will pine for its style and intelligence while shaking their heads at the ludicrousness of Cavayé’s namesake movie.
This new “Point Blank” gets off the blocks fast with an opening montage of a foot chase through Parisian streets as gangsters stay on the heels of a mysterious fleer. The nifty sequence ends with a gunshot and motorcycle accident that leaves the fleer wounded and whisked off to the hospital. The nervy yet smooth filmmaking on display in...
- 7/3/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
From opening chase to brilliant climax, Fred Cavayé's gripping follow-up to Pour elle is well worth travelling for
One of Time Out's movie critics, David Jenkins, began a piece last week by asking: "How far would you travel to see a film?" In his case, the answer was a day trip to Lille to see The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick's Palme d'Or winner. Owing to some dispute over distribution rights, it wasn't being shown in Britain, and the Calais multiplex was only screening a French-dubbed version. Fortunately, the rights problem has been resolved and the picture opens here on 8 July.
Well, I'm just off on holiday to a remote corner of Värmland, a Swedish province largely denuded of cinemas. Torsby, Sven-Göran Eriksson's hometown to the north of where I'll be, has a main street called Biografgatan but no longer has a biograph. So I was ready...
One of Time Out's movie critics, David Jenkins, began a piece last week by asking: "How far would you travel to see a film?" In his case, the answer was a day trip to Lille to see The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick's Palme d'Or winner. Owing to some dispute over distribution rights, it wasn't being shown in Britain, and the Calais multiplex was only screening a French-dubbed version. Fortunately, the rights problem has been resolved and the picture opens here on 8 July.
Well, I'm just off on holiday to a remote corner of Värmland, a Swedish province largely denuded of cinemas. Torsby, Sven-Göran Eriksson's hometown to the north of where I'll be, has a main street called Biografgatan but no longer has a biograph. So I was ready...
- 6/11/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
This is the Pure Movies review of Point Blank (À bout portant), directed by Fred Cavayé and starring Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier, Claire Perot, Moussa Maaskri, Pierre Benoist and Valérie Dashwood. Methodical in technique, Fred Cavayé's astoundingly astute eye for action-thriller writing/directing makes Point Blank one of the most lean, well-paced and credible international films of the genre in recent years. French film-makers have a born flair for this category, mixing heightened emotion with electrifying suspense, and Point Blank is no exception. But it’s far from formulaic, and is packed with twists and variations on the expected and realistic character responses to keep you totally engaged – forgiving the odd incredulous episode. Imagine Neeson’s Taken, without the added attraction of a big-named star.
- 6/10/2011
- by Lisa Keddie
- Pure Movies
Out of the Blue (La Surprise) proves once again that the French do melodrama well. A heartfelt film about the complications and joys of finding love in unexpected places, the movie is a well-paced treat for fans of a good “kitchen sink” drama/romance.
Directed by Alain Tasma and written by Dominique Garnier, the film is currently making the rounds of the independent film festival circuit.
The drama begins in the very first scene, as we watch Marion (Mireille Perrier), an attractive middle-aged woman, leave her husband quite permanently instead of carry on with their evening plans.
Paul (Robin Renucci) is an unappreciative jerk from the get-go, though Marion's decision is complicated by the protests of their teenage daughter Justine (Chloé Coulloud), who doesn’t take the news well.
Marion herself is a high school drama teacher (Justine is even in her class), and she begins her single life with...
Directed by Alain Tasma and written by Dominique Garnier, the film is currently making the rounds of the independent film festival circuit.
The drama begins in the very first scene, as we watch Marion (Mireille Perrier), an attractive middle-aged woman, leave her husband quite permanently instead of carry on with their evening plans.
Paul (Robin Renucci) is an unappreciative jerk from the get-go, though Marion's decision is complicated by the protests of their teenage daughter Justine (Chloé Coulloud), who doesn’t take the news well.
Marion herself is a high school drama teacher (Justine is even in her class), and she begins her single life with...
- 7/15/2009
- by danieller
- AfterEllen.com
Garrel to be honored at San Sebastian
MADRID -- French director Philippe Garrel will be honored by the 55th annual San Sebastian International Film Festival, which will showcase his work as part of its contemporary director retrospective, organizers said Friday.
The festival, which runs Sept. 20-29 in Spain's northern Basque region, called Garrel "one of the most independent figures on the French movie scene" and an inspiration for such modern filmmakers as Gus Van Sant, Olivier Assayas and Jose Luis Guerin.
Son of veteran actor Maurice Garrel, brother of La Sept broadcaster Thierry Garrel and father of actor Louis Garrel ("The Dreamers"), the French director has worked with actresses including his partner Nico, Jean Seberg, Bulle Ogier, Tina Aumont, Anne Wiazemski, Emmanuelle Riva, Mireille Perrier, Anemone and Catherine Deneuve.
His films, which mix extreme emotions and heavily utilize closeups, include "La cicatrice interieure" (1970), "Un ange passe" (1975), "L'enfant secret" (1979), "Les baisers de secours" (1988), "La naissance de l'amour" (1993), "Le vent de la nuit" (1998) and "Les amants reguliers" (2005), winner of the Venice Film Festival's Silver Lion for best director.
The festival, which runs Sept. 20-29 in Spain's northern Basque region, called Garrel "one of the most independent figures on the French movie scene" and an inspiration for such modern filmmakers as Gus Van Sant, Olivier Assayas and Jose Luis Guerin.
Son of veteran actor Maurice Garrel, brother of La Sept broadcaster Thierry Garrel and father of actor Louis Garrel ("The Dreamers"), the French director has worked with actresses including his partner Nico, Jean Seberg, Bulle Ogier, Tina Aumont, Anne Wiazemski, Emmanuelle Riva, Mireille Perrier, Anemone and Catherine Deneuve.
His films, which mix extreme emotions and heavily utilize closeups, include "La cicatrice interieure" (1970), "Un ange passe" (1975), "L'enfant secret" (1979), "Les baisers de secours" (1988), "La naissance de l'amour" (1993), "Le vent de la nuit" (1998) and "Les amants reguliers" (2005), winner of the Venice Film Festival's Silver Lion for best director.
- 6/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'The Ice Rink'
It used to be said during the glory days of foreign cinema that American audiences had an exaggerated sense of their quality because only the cream of the crop arrived on U.S. shores. It's a sad commentary on today's mediocre crop of international films that "The Ice Rink" has been picked up for domestic theatrical consumption.
This satire of filmmaking, a sort of "Day for Night" wannabe set largely at an ice rink, is so slight that it's a wonder that the print survived the trans-Atlantic crossing.
Written and directed by novelist Jean-Philippe Toussaint, the film concerns the misbegotten efforts of a French director (Tom Novembre) to film a love story set in the world of hockey. His efforts are undermined by a cast who largely don't speak French, including a boorish American movie star (Bruce Campbell of the "Evil Dead" series) and an entire team of Lithuanian hockey players.
His other problems include a starlet (Dolores Chaplin, who is indeed Charlie's granddaughter) who immediately begins a disruptive affair with her co-star; a crew who don't know enough to shut off their bright lights, with the result that the ice melts into a slushy mess; and a producer (the still lovely Marie-France Pisier) who has optimistically promised that the film be completed in time for the Venice Film Festival. This results in a frantic, last-minute helicopter ride to the legendary Cinecitta film studio.
Mostly, what the film depicts is an endless series of pratfalls and sight gags relating to the entire cast and crew's inability to navigate the ice. Although this reliance on physical humor is a refreshing counterpoint to the onslaught of endlessly talky French cinema in recent years, the uninspired staging and lack of visual wit make the film's abbreviated running time of 80 minutes seem like eons. The only moments of pleasure come from the excellent cast, including Campbell's hilariously droll turn as the befuddled movie star and Chaplin demonstrating that talent is indeed genetic with her physical clowning. Also providing amusing moments are Mireille Perrier, as the director's beleaguered assistant, and veteran actor Jean-Pierre Cassel, as the rink's daffy owner.
THE ICE RINK
Interama Inc.
Director-screenwriter:Jean-Philippe Toussaint
Producers:Anne-Dominque Toussaint, Pascal Judelewicz
Director of photography:Jean-Francoise Robin
Editors:Ludo Troch, Anne Argouse
Color/stereo
Cast:
The director:Tom Novembre
The assistant:Mireille Perrier
The producer:Marie-France Pisier
The actor:Bruce Campbell
The actress:Dolores Chaplin
Director of ice rink:Jean-Pierre Cassel
Running time -- 80 minutes
No MPAA rating...
This satire of filmmaking, a sort of "Day for Night" wannabe set largely at an ice rink, is so slight that it's a wonder that the print survived the trans-Atlantic crossing.
Written and directed by novelist Jean-Philippe Toussaint, the film concerns the misbegotten efforts of a French director (Tom Novembre) to film a love story set in the world of hockey. His efforts are undermined by a cast who largely don't speak French, including a boorish American movie star (Bruce Campbell of the "Evil Dead" series) and an entire team of Lithuanian hockey players.
His other problems include a starlet (Dolores Chaplin, who is indeed Charlie's granddaughter) who immediately begins a disruptive affair with her co-star; a crew who don't know enough to shut off their bright lights, with the result that the ice melts into a slushy mess; and a producer (the still lovely Marie-France Pisier) who has optimistically promised that the film be completed in time for the Venice Film Festival. This results in a frantic, last-minute helicopter ride to the legendary Cinecitta film studio.
Mostly, what the film depicts is an endless series of pratfalls and sight gags relating to the entire cast and crew's inability to navigate the ice. Although this reliance on physical humor is a refreshing counterpoint to the onslaught of endlessly talky French cinema in recent years, the uninspired staging and lack of visual wit make the film's abbreviated running time of 80 minutes seem like eons. The only moments of pleasure come from the excellent cast, including Campbell's hilariously droll turn as the befuddled movie star and Chaplin demonstrating that talent is indeed genetic with her physical clowning. Also providing amusing moments are Mireille Perrier, as the director's beleaguered assistant, and veteran actor Jean-Pierre Cassel, as the rink's daffy owner.
THE ICE RINK
Interama Inc.
Director-screenwriter:Jean-Philippe Toussaint
Producers:Anne-Dominque Toussaint, Pascal Judelewicz
Director of photography:Jean-Francoise Robin
Editors:Ludo Troch, Anne Argouse
Color/stereo
Cast:
The director:Tom Novembre
The assistant:Mireille Perrier
The producer:Marie-France Pisier
The actor:Bruce Campbell
The actress:Dolores Chaplin
Director of ice rink:Jean-Pierre Cassel
Running time -- 80 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 3/27/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review - 'Love Without Pity' By JEFF MENELLNEW YORK -- ''What's to stop us?'' asks the main character of this film, and the answer is simply, ''Nothing.'' The trials and tribulations of mismatched love are vividly brought to life in Eric Rochant's totally enchanting ''Love Without Pity,'' a film that possesses the unstoppable combination of a humorous, realistic script and that rare, magical chemistry between its two stars.
This endearing love story, told in uncomplicated, unpretentious fashion, is sure to have a successful, long-lasting romance with the art-house crowd. Its youthful energy and appeal, however, may also attract the audience usually turned off by subtitles. This one could play for a long time.
Also aiding in the film's allure is its almost terminally charming male lead, Hippolyte Girardot. He plays the totally irresponsible, heart-breaking Hippo, and although he's somewhat softer-looking than Jean-Paul Belmondo was, his mask of indifference and boyish, cocky nature earn him a favorable comparison with the legendary French Bogart.
Hippo spends his time doing as little as possible. He and his buddy, Halpern (Yvan Attal), sit on the hood of his dilapidated car, smoking cigarettes and looking for new, lovely conquests on whom they can squander their immense charms.
At his pigsty apartment that he shares with his younger, drug-dealing brother, Xavier (Jean Marie Rollin), he alternates between partying all night and avoiding calls from relationship-minded women.
So, naturally, it comes as a big surprise when he finds himself falling head over heels for Nathalie (Mireille Perrier), an ambitious, educated Jewish beauty. But is it possible for her to fall for a devilish, undriven, carousing young man named Hippo? Do opposites really attract? Yes, but not necessarily each other. They do find love, but their vast differences cause this bumpy relationship to hit more valleys than it does peaks.
Girardot makes Hippo so likable that, in spite of his unforgivable (though humorous) treatment of former girlfriend Francine (Cecile Mazan), we still want for Nathalie and him to end up together. Whether or not they belong together is a wholly separate issue. ''Guys with no future bug me, '' she tells him.
Perrier, another of France's natural wonders, is both appropriately tough and vulnerable as the beautiful Nathalie. She is easy to fall in love with, in spite of her high standards. But it is Girardot as the memorable Hippo who is the spine of this film. He is definitely a rogue, but he has a big heart, and we can't help but like him.
Rochant, only 29 himself, seems well in tune with the difficulties of youth, and successfully brings these characters, their words and actions to realistic life. ''Love Without Pity'' is an utterly charming sweet-and-sour love story that shouldn't be missed.
LOVE WITHOUT PITY
Orion Classics
Director-writer Eric Rochant
Director of photography Pierre Novion
Editor Michele Darmon
Music Gerard Torikian
Color
In French with subtitles
Cast:
Hippo Hippolyte Girardot
Nathalie Mireille Perrier
Halpern Yvan Attal
Xavier Jean Marie Rollin
Francine Cecile Mazan
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Also aiding in the film's allure is its almost terminally charming male lead, Hippolyte Girardot. He plays the totally irresponsible, heart-breaking Hippo, and although he's somewhat softer-looking than Jean-Paul Belmondo was, his mask of indifference and boyish, cocky nature earn him a favorable comparison with the legendary French Bogart.
Hippo spends his time doing as little as possible. He and his buddy, Halpern (Yvan Attal), sit on the hood of his dilapidated car, smoking cigarettes and looking for new, lovely conquests on whom they can squander their immense charms.
At his pigsty apartment that he shares with his younger, drug-dealing brother, Xavier (Jean Marie Rollin), he alternates between partying all night and avoiding calls from relationship-minded women.
So, naturally, it comes as a big surprise when he finds himself falling head over heels for Nathalie (Mireille Perrier), an ambitious, educated Jewish beauty. But is it possible for her to fall for a devilish, undriven, carousing young man named Hippo? Do opposites really attract? Yes, but not necessarily each other. They do find love, but their vast differences cause this bumpy relationship to hit more valleys than it does peaks.
Girardot makes Hippo so likable that, in spite of his unforgivable (though humorous) treatment of former girlfriend Francine (Cecile Mazan), we still want for Nathalie and him to end up together. Whether or not they belong together is a wholly separate issue. ''Guys with no future bug me, '' she tells him.
Perrier, another of France's natural wonders, is both appropriately tough and vulnerable as the beautiful Nathalie. She is easy to fall in love with, in spite of her high standards. But it is Girardot as the memorable Hippo who is the spine of this film. He is definitely a rogue, but he has a big heart, and we can't help but like him.
Rochant, only 29 himself, seems well in tune with the difficulties of youth, and successfully brings these characters, their words and actions to realistic life. ''Love Without Pity'' is an utterly charming sweet-and-sour love story that shouldn't be missed.
LOVE WITHOUT PITY
Orion Classics
Director-writer Eric Rochant
Director of photography Pierre Novion
Editor Michele Darmon
Music Gerard Torikian
Color
In French with subtitles
Cast:
Hippo Hippolyte Girardot
Nathalie Mireille Perrier
Halpern Yvan Attal
Xavier Jean Marie Rollin
Francine Cecile Mazan
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 5/31/1991
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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