Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence

Quite the little trove of treasures this one, and some duds too. Chacun son cinéma is a collection of short works by various directors which was released in 2007 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival. Many different topics and genres are explored. It's a bit of a mixed bag but there is something here for everyone.

Amazing director / especially movie of innaitu and Polanski

Chacun son Cinema is a collection of 33 short films, 3-minute long each, made by renowned international directors, which was released in 2007 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival. The shorts revolve about the emotional connection of the director with movies in general, certain movies in particular, or some movie theaters.

As you can expect from a collection of short films, there are good bits, so-so bits, and bad bits.

The movies I liked the most were eight. I loved two of the Asian ones, "Movie Night" by Yimour Zhang and "Zhanxiou Village" by Kaige Chen, which really reminded me of my childhood and my relation with movies; they are beautifully shot and have special magical moments in them. I found hilarious "Cinema Erotique" by Polanski. "Cinema around the corner" by Lelouch is very stylish, while "The Foundry" by Kaurismoki and "Dans le Noir" by Konchalovsky are great concepts an thought- provoking films. I also liked the emotion (without the corn) in "Darkness" by the Dardennes and "Anna" by Iñarritu. Some of the others are still interesting an nice, some others a complete disappointment and waste of time.

The main flaws of the movie, to me, are 1/ the length being limited to 3 minutes, the director has a time constriction that doesn't allow to do much, really, and the stories in the shorts resent it. 2/ The regional unbalance in the selection of the movie directors, very French on the other hand, with a complete shocking absence of Spanish directors! 3/ The only sub-Saharan movie is not even made by an African director... that's a sort of Colonialism... 4/ The presence of that mediocre called Moretti chosen to represent Italy.

However, it is an interesting and enjoyable collection of stories. Cinema is full of magic and has shaped our lives since childhood, and this collection of shorts tries to honor that.

This film is impossible to really describe accurately other than to say it 34 short (3 to 4 minutes) films about the movies and movie going. Covering a variety of topics from comedy and tragedy to documentary this is the a look at how many famous directors see the cinema.

I saw this on a Chinese DVD, which has 33 of the 34 movie done by various directors (only the Cohen Brothers contribution is missing). Most of the films are good, a couple are not bad rather they illicit a "what was that about" reaction and a few are glorious, explaining why the cinema is something so magical. I'm not sure this really is a film for all film goers since the films can be rather oblique, not to mention the ride is bumpy with a poor film sandwiched between a couple winners (or vice versa). I would love to critique each film, but that is dangerous since the films are so short it may reveal too much. I think the best way to see this film (as suggested by another poster) is to simply watch each film and wait to see what happens. In most cases the director isn't named until the end so you can simply watch each film without any sort of expectation. Granted some films are obvious as to who made them since the directors appear, but many of the others are not so clear.(I was right about half the time and wrong about half) Definitely worth a look. This is a must see for anyone deeply passionate about the movies and going to them.

CHACUN SON CINEMA- TO EACH HIS OWN CINEMA

Nowhere have I found the shorts listed in the order they play on the DVD. I am listing them here but it is most fun to watch them without looking at the list as most name the director following the 3 minutes short and it is fun to guess who directed each work. Several themes reappear such as blindness, near empty cinemas, projection problems and self reverential moments.

OPEN-AIR CINEMA- Raymond Depardon ONE FINE DAY- Takeshi Kitano THREE MINUTES- Theo Angelopoulos IN THE DARK- Andrei Konchalovsky DIARY OF A SPECTATOR – Nanni Moretti THE ELECTRIC PRINCESS HOUSE- Hou Hsiao-Hsien DARKNESS- Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne ANNA- Alejandro González Iñárritu MOVIE NIGHT- Zhang Yimou THE DYBBUK OF HAIFA- Amos Gitai THE LADY BUG- Jane Campion ARTAUD DOUBLE BILL –Atom Egoyan THE FOUNDARY- Aki Kaurismäki UPSURGE –Olivier Assayas 47 years later- Youssef Chahine IT'S A DREAM- Tsai Ming-Ling OCCUPATIONS- Lars Von Trier THE GIFT- Raul Ruiz THE CINEMA AROUND THE CORNER- Claude Lelouch FIRST KISS- Gus Van Sant CINEMA EROTIQUE- Roman Polanski NO TRANSLATION NEEDED- Michael Cimino AT THE SUICIDE OF THE LAST JEW IN THE WORLD IN THE LAST CINEMA IN

THE WORLD David Cronenberg I TRAVELLED 9000 KM TO GIVE IT TO YOU –Wong Kar Wai WHERE IS MY ROMEO? –Abbas Kiarostami THE LAST DATING SHOW- Billie August IRTEBAK – Elia Suleiman SOLE MEETING –Manoel De Oliveira 5.557 MILES FROM CANNES WAR IN PEACE –Wim Wenders ZHANXIOU VILLAGE- Chen Kaige HAPPY ENDING- Ken Loach

Not on the DVD are a second Walter Salles short, Joel and Ethan Coen's WORLD CINEMA and David Lynch's ABSURDA, all delivered to late to be included.

List of actors and segments: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0973844/