Posted: May 5, 2015 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Audrey Diwan, Beast of Bastille, Black Souls, Cédric Jiminez, Dardenne Brothers, David Oelhoffen, Fabrizio Ferracane, Fabrizio Ruggirello, Francesco Munzi, Frédéric Tellier, Gilles Lellouche, Gioacchino Criaco, Giuseppe Fumo, Guy Georges, Jean Dujardin, La French, L’affaire SK1, Marco Leonardi, Maurizio Braucci, Nathalie Baye, Olivier Gourmet, Peppino Mazzotta, Pierre Michel, Raphaȅl Personnaz, The Connection, The French Connection, Zampa | 1,092 Comments »
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Warning: SPOILERS
I saw three movies over the past week that dealt with, shall we say, guys of the not so good variety as well as those trying to stop them. Two were shown at COL-COA, the French film festival, and the other, from Italy, had a regular run in local theaters.
All came to the same conclusion, though, which is somewhat reassuring. Crime is a very dicey way to live one’s life. Of course, being the good guys doesn’t always run that smoothly either.
The Connection (aka La French), the new based on true events crime thriller from France, would be fun to see on a double feature with American’s own The French Connection since the Gallic film is about the efforts of the Marseilles police to take down the villain played by Fernando Rey in the Gene Hackman film and covers events both before and after Popeye Doyle let that wily, bumbershoot totting criminal mastermind slip through his fingers in New York. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: July 6, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Camille Claudel, Francois Truffaut, Jacques Bonnaffe, Jacques Guerin, Jean Genet, Marc Albdenour, Martin Provost, Olivier Gourmet, Rene de Ceccatty, Sandrine Kiberlain, Seraphine, Simone de Beauvoir, The Story of Adele H., Violette, Violette Ludec | 2,596 Comments »
First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
Warning: SPOILERS
Violette, the new biopic of French feminist writer Violette Ludec (she was a contemporary of Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Paul Sartre and Jean Genet), is a beautiful film to watch. From a technical standpoint, I think anyone would be hard pressed to find much fault with it. The cinematography is gorgeously, if not depressingly, dark; the sets and costumes faithfully rendered; the music score is enticing; the story is never uninteresting.
At the same time, when it was over, I have to be honest and say that I never really had an emotional connection to the title character. Read the rest of this entry »
