The Measure of a Man (2015)

Directed by Stéphane Brizé
Country: France

Movie Review: “The Measure of a Man”, whose original French title “La Loi du Marché” literally means ‘the law of the market’, mirrors the social/economic crisis that fustigates the contemporary France. The skilled Vincent Lindon, awarded 'Best Actor' in Cannes, plays Thierry Taugourdeau, an unemployed 51-year-old factory worker who invests everything in specialized courses that seem not to be enough to get a job. He’s been looking for the smallest opportunity for more than a year now, after an unfair dismissal, and the financial problems are now starting to grow as a snowball. Thierry is a considerate family man who dedicates time to spend with his disabled child and goes to dance classes with his supportive wife in order to keep his mind sane. To guarantee this state of mind, he also refuses to follow his former co-workers into court and ask for an indemnity. It’s easy to conclude that his self-esteem and confidence hit the bottom. After simulating a job interview at the employment training center he’s enrolled, he gets the following remarks: the inability to smile, the way of dressing, the wrong posture when he’s sitting down on the chair, the low rhythm of speech, and the lack of enthusiasm when answering the questions. Despite the difficulties, Thierry is accepted as a security guard in a well-monitored supermarket, regaining his financial stability while witnessing a variety of theft cases committed by customers and employees. Having gone through hard times, he continues doing his job in a conscious way, but can’t avoid showing some uneasiness when listening to the motives that led these people to steal. In one case, involving a long-time employee, a lamentable tragedy occurs, and the silent Thierry becomes more and more overwhelmed about the way the management often reacts. Ambiguity surrounds the last scene of the film, making us wonder if Thierry will continue in the job for the sake of his family, or if this is too emotionally strained for him to handle. Director Stéphane Brizé, who also co-wrote with Olivier Gorce, avoids sentimental manipulations and hurls an actual, urgent theme that mixes family, work, and morality. Not disregarding his straightforward filmmaking style, the film caught me mostly because of the powerful acting by Vincent Lindon, who previously had worked with Brizé in “Madame Chambon” and “A Few Hours of Spring”.

Next Time I'll Aim for the Heart (2014)

Directed by Cédric Anger
Country: France

Movie Review: Based on startling real events, “Next Time I’ll Aim for the Heart” was the perfect vehicle for the acting skills of Laurent Canet, who plays a sexually repressed French gendarme whose victims of his discontentment are random women. The film, consistently written and directed by Cédric Anger, who recently has also written the screenplay for Andre Techine’s “In the Name of My Daughter”, was adapted from the novel ‘Un Assassin Au-dessus de Tout Soupçon’ by Yvan Stefanovitch. According to its creators, this character-study is a work of fiction, thus, a personal interpretation of a true story. Franck Neuhart (Canet), the protagonist, is a gendarme, a solitaire, and a killer who hates mankind. The film opens in 1978, when two friends, riding their scooters, hit a deserted road in the middle of the night, heading to a friend’s party. 19-year-old Alice stays behind just to realize that her life is in danger when persecuted without any reason by a driver who hits her twice, sending her to the hospital in a critical condition. In a letter addressed to the police, the aggressor says to despise recklessness and promises to aim for the heart in his next move. It’s excused to say he wasn’t bluffing. Besides these atrocities, the deceitful Franck, who sees his transfer overseas being denied and often breaks the security rules of the gendarmerie, had set up a bomb in a suspected car, parked near the accident; the blow causes first-degree burns in a colleague. When alone, he inflicts severe physical punishments to himself, and not even Sophie (Ana Girardot), a married woman who takes care of his clothes and for whom he has a special fondness, is capable of changing him for the better. To tell the truth, he gets even bitterer and disgusted after sleeping with her, acting weird and feeling compelled to kill again, implacably and in an unstoppable way. It was curious to see how calm he remained when killing, and how berserk he went after finishing his despicable actions. Also, it was infuriating the way he treated his colleagues when dissecting the case. An overwhelming pressure starts to grasp him when it’s announced that the assassin is a gendarme and a homosexual. The anguished original score (plus The Velvet Underground’s tune) works the brooding mood while a sort of dark mystery embraces every moment of the film. Mr. Canet was meritoriously nominated for the best actor at the Cesar Awards.

Love (2015)

Directed by: Gaspar Noé
Country: France / Belgium

Movie Review: Disgracefully, Gaspar Noé’s “Love” is one of the worst movies of the year. This whimsical creation from the shocking French filmmaker, author of the interestingly disturbing “Irreversible” and “Enter the Void”, depicts the tortuous relationship of a couple translated into a melodramatic sexual trip to nowhere, part of a null plot punctuated with hideous dialogues and an emotional chaos that feels staged all the time. The film starts with a steady long shot of Murphy (Karl Glusman), a filmmaker wannabe, and his former girlfriend, Electra (Aomi Muyock), masturbating each other at the sound of a classical tune. Open-minded with regard to experiencing drugs and exploring their sexuality, the couple occasionally turns into a threesome or embarks in obscure parties whose only purpose is discovering different people and pleasures among orgies. After taking us into these orgies through spasmodic flashbacks that unsuccessfully try to build a balanced narrative, Mr. Noé clarifies that Murphy has a son with Omi (Klara Kristin), a neighbor who had spent one night with the couple. However, the pregnancy wasn't a result of that particular night, but of an infidelity when Electra was out for the weekend. The relationship comes immediately to an end, leading to Electra’s disappearance and leaving the disconsolate Murphy abandoned to his miserable life and thoughts, which are transmitted by a voice-over along the film. Many scenes translate in a nauseating self-pity and a sporadic hysteria that aggravate even more the tasteless plot commonly illustrated by repetitive and unnecessary 3D sex scenes, psychedelic drug trips, and an overall artificial execution. The tacky acting and the lousy score by Lawrence Schulz and John Carpenter were other factors that roundly failed in “Love”, a self-proclaimed sentimental sexuality that it’s not even sexy. Here, the stupid insistence on presenting explicit sex should not be mistaken by boldness. Other filmmakers did it with better results – Vincent Gallo in “Brown Bunny”, Abdel Kechiche in “Blue is the Warmest Color”, and even Lars Von Trier in “The Idiots” took advantage of this factor in a non-monotonous way. What’s the point of introducing a close-up shot from the top of a penis ejaculating? In his eagerness of becoming original, Mr. Noé fell in muddy territory and the result is an infuriating pretentiousness a.k.a. a total waste of time.

La Sapienza (2014)

Directed by: Eugene Green
Country: France / Italy

Movie Review: In Eugene Green’s “La Sapienza”, a strenuous camera guides us through architectural views and details before introducing us to Alexandre Schmidt (Fabrizio Rongione), a respected French architect who's being awarded for a lifetime’s work. Lyrical music floats in the air and Alexander’s speech, which referenced the human progress and praised the environmental consciousness, despite routine, pleased his wife, Aliénor (Christelle Prot), a dispirited psychoanalyst who still suffers in silence with the early death of their only child. The insomniac Alexander also lives embittered, haunted by the ghost of a former colleague and kind of a rival, who ended up shooting himself in the head. This story has a parallel with the rivalry between the renowned architects Borromini and Bernini. The former’s work is still being studied by Alexander, who considers it genius and mystical while he compares the latter’s with his own work - rational and respectful of powers, hierarchies, and rules. The couple faces some rebuffs on their respective professions and decides to make a trip to Italy in order to think things over. While passing by Stresa, on their way to Rome, they stop to assist two young siblings - Goffredo (Ludovico Succio), a recently graduated who’s about to go to Venice to study architecture, and his sister, Lavinia (Arianna Nastro), who just had another of her frequent and inexplicable dizzy spells. Aliénor thinks she can help her and refuses to leave the city until Lavinia is completely recovered while Alexandre takes Goffredo to Rome in a sort of a study trip. All four protagonists will learn how to liberate their own ‘ghosts’ that stubbornly remained imprisoned in them for so many years. Whereas the adults unexpectedly become students, the youngsters become teachers, and the light that brings perceptiveness gradually invades the dark spots of their lives. Mr. Green, influenced by the style of Manoel de Oliveira, Antonioni, and Pasolini, engenders a fascinating conception, a healing process that contemplates the human existence. Risky, complex, and perhaps too much articulated in its dialogues, “La Sapienza” is formal in the methodology and yet liberal in the message.

The New Girlfriend (2014)

Directed by: François Ozon
Country: France

Movie Review: Forceful actor Romain Duris, despite a bit funny dressed and acting as a woman, breathes some charm and certain glamour in the brand new drama “The New Girlfriend” from the admired French helmer François Ozon, who steadily carried out the screen adaptation of the Ruth Rendell’s short story of the same name. Anais Demoustier and Isild Le Besco play respectively Claire and Laura, two inseparable childhood friends who fortuitously meet their future husbands in the same night. For Claire, it was love at first sight, and she’s in a happy marriage with Gilles (Raphael Personnaz), who may be described as an open-minded, hard-worker, reliable man. Laura was also happy with David, but she dies shortly after giving birth to a beautiful baby daughter. Claire had promised she would take care of Laura's husband and child if something happened to her. However, after Laura's funeral, she persists in avoiding David, clearly struggling to cope with the painful loss. One day, without notice, she decides to stop by David’s house, accidentally discovering an unsettling secret, which only Laura was aware of: David was feeding his baby, dressed as a woman. After the initial shock, Claire starts gradually understanding and accepting David, who makes clear that he really feels the urge to dress and be a woman, regardless all the intimidation of having to assume it publicly. Claire, terribly confused at first, suddenly takes an underlying pleasure in shopping with David, now called Virginia, and even agrees to join him for a weekend at Laura’s country house. On that weekend, during a transgender show at a local nightclub, David is profoundly touched by the performance of the artist. From that moment on, feelings grow a bit messy and blurry at a certain point, a fact that didn’t stop me from following the course of events with a zealous interest. Mr. Ozon, who proves to be a legitimate filmmaker, grabs some moods from Almodóvar, yet giving priority to a seductive moderation over exuberance, and also from Xavier Dolan, with the particularity of being slightly more humorous and less staged. This is a reliable choice for an awesome matinee.

In the Name of My Daughter (2014)

Directed by: Andre Techine
Country: France

Movie Review: Apart from André Techiné’s “In the Name of My Daughter”, I’ve no memory of another recent film that had seduced me so much in the first two-thirds and then completely let me down in its conclusions. The film charmingly captivates at first, retrieving that old virtual French cinema that he created in the 90’s with “Wild Reeds”, “Thieves”, and “Alice and Martin”. Co-written by Téchiné and Cedric Anger, this is a fictional account of the true story of Agnes Le Roux, and was based on the memoir from her mother and casino’s heiress, Renée Le Roux. Counting on the incontestably talented trio of actors - Catherine Deneuve, Adele Haenel, and Guillaume Canet - the 72-year-old filmmaker was unable to finish strong what he had started, rushing the story into something faint, somewhat hazy, and consequently unsatisfying. The narrative begins in 1976 with the arrival of Agnes le Roux (Haenel) to France. She returns to Nice with no bags and a failed marriage, being welcomed by Maurice Agnelet (Canet), an ambitious divorced lawyer and father, who works as a business advisor for her mother, Renée (Deneuve). Struggling against financial decline, the latter soon becomes the president of the Palais de la Mediterranée, one of the fanciest casinos on the French Riviera. This is a crucial time for the scheming Maurice, who tries to persuade Renée to give him the position of assistant director. Simultaneously, he gets closer and closer to her daughter whose impatience grows broodingly due to her mother’s decision to momentarily retain her share of the inheritance left by her late father. In love, the candidly naive, Agnés, shows a dangerous availability to a man who transparently assumes other lovers and a cunning posture that only envisions wealth and power. When Renée ignores Maurice request, he unites forces with a mobster, and one of her strongest rivals, Fratoni. It doesn’t take too long for Agnés to join them in their destructive plan. Sadly, the final 30 minutes are feeble, an uncontrollable narrative calamity that blurs the, until then, absorbing portrait.

Samba (2014)

Directed by: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
Country: France

Movie Review: Aiming to please the masses, “Samba” is brought from France by the team of directors, Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, who have made a smashing success four years ago with the enjoyable “The Intouchables”. As in the latter, Omar Sy is the main character, this time playing Samba Cissé, a Senegalese migrant who keeps trying to regularize his situation in France to avoid deportation, after ten years working as a dishwasher in Parisian restaurants. Therefore, and despite of the score featuring Gilberto Gil and Jorge Benjor, “Samba” the film, rather than enhancing the dance genre, tries to portray the sad reality of this man, even if using bland routines to do it. After being caught by the authorities, situation that requires a temporary detention and presence before a judge, Samba gets help from an NGO whose new volunteer, Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a sleepless senior executive under medical leave, feels sympathy for him and his case. Despite the warnings not to get too close to the undocumented people, Alice falls for Samba who, in the meantime, sleeps with the ‘vanished’ girlfriend of his friend Jonas. Facing difficult situations in the occasional jobs he accepts, and under the pressure of sending money to his unfeeling mother, Samba will rely on his ‘Brazilian’ friend, Wilson (Tahar Rahim), to give him a hand, while he begins a relationship of proximity with the anxious, and sometimes frenzied, Alice. Some of the little fun that arises from watching this too polished drama comes from the difficult communication among aid workers and migrants. As for the rest, the film slips in a few scenes, which sometimes are feel-good in the cheesiest way, sometimes are awfully unreasonable. All this is aggravated by the fact that the romance between Samba and Alice doesn’t spark good vibes. The film might draw some interest to viewers who are looking for dramas with warm stories and happy outcomes. For the ones looking for something original and solid, “Samba” doesn’t dance so well.

Eden (2014)

Directed by: Mia Hansen-Love
Country: France

Movie Review: “Eden” is a poignant drama that plausibly evokes the Parisian electronic dance music of the 90’s, being the fourth feature from the creative and always interesting filmmaker Mia Hansen-Love, who co-writes with her DJ brother, Sven, loosely based on his experiences. Félix de Givry responds with resolution to his first main role, playing Paul Vallée, a teenager who gives up finishing his studies to become an established DJ in the Paris underground dance scene, environment that offers him as much drugs and girls as he wants. Adopting the Chicago’s garage style (a blend of house and disco), Paul and his friend Stan form a duo called ‘Cheers’, supported by the depressive Cyril who draws the covers for their records, while other two friends start the acclaimed group ‘Daft Punk’. Regardless being a sensation, the reckless super-hip nightlife boy, unable to control his outgoings, falls into debt and becomes a cocaine addict, ultimately resorting to his mother’s financial help to get back on the right track. Among his numerous girlfriends, which include an American who decides to return to NY and a party-lover bourgeois who wants to spend the money he doesn’t have, there is one that keeps returning over and over – Louise, a flirty girl who never hid her attraction for Paul. However, jealousy, stagnation, and instability frustrate the chances of a more serious commitment. As hypnotic and contagious as the rhythms we listen to, “Eden” evinces an astounding realism, incorporating the characters, images, and music with zest, and ultimately composing a slice of real life whose course takes us from the euphoria of a successful youth to the sadness of its disappearance, together with the awareness that it’s time to grow up and assume responsibilities. By the end, in one of the strongest scenes, Paul, already clean of drugs, looks at a young female DJ with stupefaction and nostalgia. The siblings Hansen-Love assured that the time hops in the narrative work out seamlessly.

24 Days (2014)

Directed by: Alexandre Arcady
Country: France

Movie Review: Algerian-born French director, producer and co-writer, Alexandre Arcady, probes the real incidents that devastated a Parisian Jewish family in 2006. The case was known as ‘The Affair of the Gang of Barbarians’, where 27 people were tried for kidnapping, torture, and consequent death of a modest cell phone salesman, Ilan Halimi, who died 24 days after his capture by a ruthless gang that operated both in France and Ivory Coast. At the time, the case shocked France since anti-Semitism and financial reasons were proved to be on the basis of the crime. Zabou Breitman impersonates Ruth Halimi, the disconsolate mother, who after introducing herself, starts narrating how her beloved son suddenly fell in the hands of a gang whose leader, Youssouf Fofana aka Django, became the negotiator of the ransom. Ilan was conducted to his aggressive captors by a mysterious beautiful woman who met him at his store. The family decides to follow the police advice: not to pay the ransom and negotiate with the unscrupulous leader of the gang, who becomes more and more impatient, as well as discredited in the eyes of his accomplices due to the impasse created. False suspects and clues, descriptions that don’t match at all, and a bunch of threatening phone calls, most of them to Ilan’s father, Didier (Pascal Elbé), consume some time until taking us somewhere. The film is not devoid of tension, passing some of the anxiety to the viewer. It doesn’t reinvent the formula, but its narrative doesn’t compromise either, in spite of some repetitive basic procedures and circumstantial overdramatic scenes. Generally speaking, Mr. Arcady maintains the film controlled, and even if it’s not a great thriller, “24 Days” provides an acceptable fact-based reconstruction of a shameful operation.

Far From Men (2014)

Directed by: David Oelhoffen
Country: France

Movie Review: Loosely adapted from Albert Camus’ existentialist short story “The Guest”, “Far From Men” is probably the most generous tale I’ve seen lately on film. Taking us to 1954’ rebellious Algeria, more precisely to the Atlas mountains, the third feature from writer/director David Oelhoffen overcomes every possible conflict among religions, probing an unlikely friendship between Daru (Viggo Mortensen), a solitary French Algerian-born schoolteacher, and a man entrusted to his care, Mohamed (Reda Kateb), a non-rebel Arab farmer who slit his cousin’s throat in a squabble about grain. The reluctant Daru, also a former French Army official, was ordered to take this apparently craven man to Tinguit to face trial and hear a verdict that certainly wouldn’t bring anything different than death. Surprisingly, is Mohamed himself who asks to be taken there, humbly accepting his fate. The fatiguing long walk, throughout the precarious rocky ground and occasional harsh weather conditions, will bring many encounters, some unwelcome, some less bad. As a man of principles, Daru gets visibly affected whenever an extreme situation forces him to kill. All he wants is to get back to his tiny school, but after listening to what the prisoner-turned-companion has to say, he presents him with the most beautiful of the gifts: the choice of freedom. At the sound of exotic melodies composed by Warren Ellis and Nick Cave, Oelhoffen thoroughly recreates the suffocating atmosphere of Camus’ works, thanks to the arid landscapes captured by the lens of cinematographer Guillaume Deffontaines, even if the pronounced Western genre seems a bit unreasonable within this context. Equally humane and sad, rather gentler than vibrant, the extremely well acted “Far From Men” addresses war, choices and courage in a very personalized way.

Fighters (2014)

Directed by: Thomas Cailley
Country: France

Movie Review: Debutant filmmaker Thomas Cailley did a respectable job in “Fighters” (also known by the moronic title “Love at First Fight”), a breezy romance set in a small French seaside town during summertime. Yet, I must admit I expected some more from a film that collected four prizes in Cannes, three César awards, and the Prix Louis Delluc for best first film, among others. After the death of his father, the adroit Arnaud (Kevin Azais) decides to help his brother in the family business. Still, he hasn't completely decided if he wants to stay or join the army whose recruitments are taking place in his hometown. All the doubts will be dissipated when he comes across with Madeleine (Adele Haenel), a quirky girl who wants to join the army’s summer course in order to prepare herself for entering the hardest fight regiment. Madeleine is the soul of the film – impatient, restless, obsessive, physically strong, reactive to the minimum confrontation, and seductive. In turn, Arnaud is the heart of the film – calm, patient, protective, mindful, methodic, friendly and extremely generous. Heart and soul become one in the end, giving the best they have to help each other. An affable chemistry can be felt between the young couple who eventually finds their ways for smiling, even after an adventurous final episode where their lives were threatened. Cailley suavely portrays everything in a guileless way, impelling us to feel empathy for the protagonists. His strategy culminates in a heartening finale where vows of a fresh start are assured. Adele Haenel’s performance was colossal and “Fighters”, despite its many charms, sinned for lacking more ambition and for not having explored the adventure a bit further.

The Salt of the Earth (2014)

Directed by: Wim Wenders / Juliano Ribeiro Salgado
Country: France / Brazil / Italy

Movie Review: “The Salt of the Earth” is a masterly documentary about the life and work of the amazing Brazilian photographer, Sebastião Salgado. This touching piece of cinema was co-directed by the acclaimed German filmmaker Wim Wenders and Salgado’s eldest son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. Carrying an enormous emotional weight and impressive sense of timing, the stunning pictures of Mr. Salgado are slowly displayed, at the same time that we listen, completely stupefied, to his own voice, explaining the circumstances in which they were taken after a brief historical contextualization. There are times in which Salgado’s face merges into his pictures – a face that never expresses any sentimentality. However, through his voice, whether in French or in Portuguese, we notice the deep impact those moments had on him. After so many years covering death in its most various forms - war, genocides, disasters and starvation - it was admirable how Salgado sought desperately for life in its most pure manifestations – nature, primitive people, wildlife. ‘I got sick in the soul’ he says, expressing a painful discontentment for what we, humans, are capable to do to one another. ‘Suddenly I felt the urge to make a tribute to the beauty of our planet’. Everything in “The Salt of the Earth” has the right proportions. There’s no exploitation of the subject, and there are no forced attempts to make greater what is already great. A profound respect for a courageous man and his work is what we see here. I felt I could have spent another two hours looking at his photography, both heartbreaking and dazzling visions, and listen to the tremendous stories supporting it. Unforgettable pictures, unforgettable stories, unforgettable film.

Life of Riley (2014)

Directed by: Alain Resnais
Country: France

Movie Review: Iconic French filmmaker, Alain Resnais, went more and more theatrically during the last phase of his prolific career (six decades), terminated a year ago with his death at the age of 91. The creator of timeless classics such as “Hiroshima Mon Amour”, “Last Year at Marienbad”, “My American Uncle” and “Providence”, was considered a conceptual visionary whose narratives evinced a bold distinctiveness associated with a strong socio-political content. His latest comedy-drama, “Life of Riley”, reunites seven characters, more or less intimate to the ‘invisible’ George Riley. All of them are going to interact over several episodes composed of stage-settings and separated by drawings, which work as substitutes for the establishing shots. This was the third play from Alan Ayckbourn to be adapted by Resnais - previous two were “Smoking/No Smoking” and “Private Fears in Public Places”, both considerably more successful. Even if somewhat tepid at times and struggling to extract the best from the cast, “Life of Riley” was superior to “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” from three years ago. The plot revolves around three couples (plus the daughter of one of them) whose relationships are jeopardized because of Riley, a mutual friend with only six months to live. While rehearsing for a play, the men are consumed by jealousy and feel abandoned while the women are battling one another to become Riley’s choice for a trip to Tenerife. The domestic quarrels flow in light tones and the J.M. Besset’s dialogues are pretty French. Hippolyte Girardot and Sabine Azéma’s performances stood out, categorically defining the quirkiest couple: Colin, the clock-watcher, and his agitated wife Kathryn. Each character’s close-up alludes to comics by using a gridded-pattern on the background. Not grandiose, but an honorable farewell for Mr. Resnais.

Breathe (2014)

Directed by: Mélanie Laurent
Country: France

Movie Review: As a psychological coming-of-age drama, “Breathe”, the second feature from actress turned director, Mélanie Laurent, doesn’t let us down. Laurent shared the writing credits with another French actor, Julien Lambroschini, basing herself on the bestselling novel of the same name by Anne Sophie-Brasme. The film is a refreshing tale of poisoned friendship between two teenage girls, depicted with solid emotional contours, but somehow penalizing the whole with a finale that seemed too brusque and easy for me. Josephine Japy plays the 17-year-old Charlene aka Charlie, who finds solace in the company of her loyal group of school friends since at home she’s restless due to their parents’ bitter relationship. When the seductive and easy talker, Sarah, impeccably performed by Lou de Laage, arrives for the first time, Charlie seemed conquered by her apparent freedom and self-assured posture. While Charlie willingly shares her most inner secrets with Sarah, the latter will do exactly the opposite, concealing aspects of her private life that are anything but cheerful or motivating. Can this life be an excuse for Sarah’s intolerable behavior toward Charlie? Her game consisted, basically, of manipulative moves, taking whatever she wants, and then unthankfully moving away again, avoiding and despising who helped her. This contemptuous falsity was successfully depicted, drawing an inevitable irritation that makes us take the side of Charlie when tragedy occurs. An oppressive suffocation (valid for both characters) can be distinctly felt throughout the film – the continual attempts to understanding what’s going on, emotional shakiness, an asthma crisis, an urgent open of a window, or a terrifying conclusion – all of them require a deep breathe.

Bird People (2014)

Directed by: Pascale Ferran
Country: France

Movie Review: Writer/director Pascale Ferran returns eight years after “Lady Chatterley” has conquered some moviegoers’ hearts. “Bird People” is a drama with hints of fantasy that tells the story of two strangers who eventually met. Gary Newman (Josh Charles) is an American businessman who is staying at Hilton hotel in Paris where he has an important meeting. Constantly traveling and rushing, the restless Gary is assaulted by attacks of anxiety and an uneasiness that makes him exhausted. When he’s informed that the company needs him in Dubai by December 31st, Gary decides to purposely miss the plane and quit, not only his job but also his wife. Through a realistic skype conversation, he lets her know his intentions of not returning to the US, putting an end to a marriage that seemed to suffer from misunderstandings and a deficient communication. Simultaneously we follow Audrey (Anaïs Demoustier), a student who works as a maid at the same hotel. As a dreamer, she kicks the monotony of work by listening to the guest’s conversations and observing them from afar. Ferran was able to make us plunge into these particular lives, taking some good moments to let the story breath at the same time that asphyxiates us with the drama of its characters. Suddenly the realistic story shifts to a surreal episode involving Audrey who apparently was transformed in a peeking sparrow that wanders from window to window, avid to find something stimulating. This little adventurous installment withdrew some dramatic strength to the story by rambling in its own creative process, built with the help of a disciplined narrative that resorts to a voice-off whenever needed.

Girlhood (2014)

Directed by: Celine Sciamma
Country: France

Movie Review: With “Girlhood”, French writer/director, Celine Sciamma, addresses once again the subject of coming of age, but in a totally different perspective than in “Tomboy”. Sciamma created the perfect scenario to depict her main character, a 16-year-old girl called Marieme (Karidja Touré) who decided to stop being shy, getting away from her precarious family life and giving up school in order to join a gang of the hood, formed by three older girls: Adiatou, Lady and Fily. Their day-to-day basically consisted in drinking, smoking, stealing clothes from stores and money from frightened schoolgirls, in addition to engage in street fights with other gangs. Bashful at first, Marieme soon learned how to look straight into the eyes of people and talk aggressively. With absent parents, she showed to be always very attentive and responsible regarding her sisters, but her main concern was her older brother who often reacted violently if she didn’t comply with his demands. As ambition grows hastily and dreams get wings, Marieme takes unreliable steps to assure her freedom and independence, even if she has to sacrifice her love for one of his brother’s best friends. Socially incisive, “Girlhood” was consciously written and generally well performed, but I felt it got stranded for too long in the ‘cool’ postures of the girls, what made the film not to flow during particular periods of time. Sciamma’s execution was not always empathic, occasionally turning “Girlhood” into an immature exposure that gains emphasis after it has given the sensation that we had reached the end, for at least a couple of times. It’s observant, without a doubt, but sinned for being insistently unripe in determined scenes.

Goodbye to Language (2014)

Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard
Country: France / Switzerland

Movie Review: Both experimental and philosophical, “Goodbye to Language” shows a creative Jean-Luc Godard who, at the age of 84, exposes his thoughts freely. Shot in 3D, the film showcases a personal stamp of ideas and metaphors, wrapped with a fictional story about the relationship between a single man and a married woman, who adopt Roxy, a stray dog. The man says the best inventions of the world were the infinity and zero. The woman, far more fatalist, disagrees saying it were sex and death. In an interspersed way, Godard makes considerations about the power of images and lost words, and brings us a bunch of references like Solzhenitsyn, Ellul, Rilke, Rodin, Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, Monet, Riemann, Byron and Shelley, and even the Apaches, just to mention a few, while he tries to convey his own political and social vision of the world. Some notions are quite interesting while others get us completely lost, whether on ‘infinity’ or ‘zero’. In “Goodbye to Language”, Godard opts for a non-linear editing along with a fragmented narrative where the sequence of images, including black-and-white archive and multiple compositions saturated in color, multiply in front of our eyes. It might not be fully articulated, but it doesn’t disappoint either, in the sense that we’re pelted with valid personal thoughts presented with humor and a poignant sarcasm, that have wings to be explored (more than one viewing is required). That’s why Godard will always be remembered as a provocateur and a distinct cineaste. This is a philosophical trip only for those who take pleasure in watching plotless films.

Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)

Directed by: Olivier Assayas
Country: France / others

Movie Review: “Clouds of Sils Maria”, the compelling new drama from the acclaimed director Olivier Assayas, gathers all the necessary elements to provide a focused, well structured, and mesmerizing session of contemporary cinema. We follow Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche), a celebrated actress who crosses the Alps on a train in the company of her dedicated assistant and friend, Valentine (Kristen Stewart). They’re heading to Zurich where she’s going to homage and receive a prize in the name of Whilem Melchior, the director who launched her career when she was 18. ‘Maloja Snake’ was the name of the play where she represented flawlessly a young girl who seduces and then destroys an older woman. Her plan to visit Wilhem at his place in Sils Maria after the event is thwarted by the news of his death. Soon she forgets about it, since Klaus, a new emerging director, invites her to participate in his version of the same play, but this time in the role of the older woman. Even feeling weird about it, Maria accepts, not without developing a strong curiosity about Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloe Grace Moretz), the polemic young actress who will be playing her former role. Assayas sets up a world of cynicism, moods, direct confrontations and put up postures, at the same time that insecurities, indecisions, and even superstitions, give shape to Maria’s character, in an absorbing, realistic way. Suddenly, aging became so difficult for Maria whose close relationship with Valentine is visibly affected by the play. “Clouds of Sils Maria” feels spontaneous, entangling us deeply along its perceptive observations.

The Blue Room (2014)

Directed by: Mathieu Amalric
Country: France

Movie Review: Actors Mathieu Almaric and Stéphanie Cléau star and share the writing credits of “The Blue Room”, a mystery crime tale à la Chabrol, based on George Simenon’s novel of the same name. The film starts passionately with stylized images of two secret lovers, Valentin (Amalric) and Esther (Cléau), whose bodies interweave in a modest room. She bit his lips and now asks if his wife will make questions about it. A moment later, she was asking the inevitable question: ‘are you sure you can be with me for all your life? Won’t you be afraid?’ The story then shifts to an investigation of a murder where Valentin, detained, seems to be the main suspect. From what was he accused? Once the questions are all about his relationship with Esther, we get to know that she is involved. There’s something dangerous and yet attractive in her character. At first the structure baffles us, but progressively we realize that it’s not just the murder of Esther’s husband that’s in question, but also Valentin’s wife, Delphine (Léa Drucker), who also died in sordid circumstances. Director Amalric opts for a steady camera to ‘paint’ the tasteful pictures, assisted by the efficient cinematography of Christophe Beaucarne. Gregoire Hetzel’s score invokes some grief, a feeling transposed to Valentin’s face, especially when confronted with the coldness insanity of his lover in court. Non-thrilling in an unconventional way, the film is also far from being detailed, which in this case is not a bad thing, since when the film ends, its characters remain intriguing.

Abuse of Weakness (2013)

Directed by: Catherine Breillat
Country: France / others

Movie Review: Breillat’s bold cinema always has something pertinent to say and is not always pleasing to watch. That’s exactly what we can expect from “Abuse of Weakness”, a semi-autobiographical work, that is simply a bitter tale of obsession and loneliness. Isabelle Huppert gives a tour-de-force performance in the role of Maud, a cult filmmaker who debates herself to recover from a stroke that almost took her life away. Her convalescence went better than expected, and despite impaired from the left arm, Maud was capable to return to her new film. While watching a TV interview with Vilko (Kool Shen), a crook who served twelve years in jail for tricking both rich and poor, she decides to offer him the main role in her next movie. Becoming fascinated with his arrogance and insolence, and more and more dependant of his companionship, Maud starts to endorse him checks with large sums of money. Vilko, spends the money with his wife and kid, gambling, and in his secretive private life, while Maud sinks herself in debt. However, she never loses face, or tries to change her sarcastic, unaffecting and contemptuous tones and behaviors. Regardless her threatening illness, this film is mostly about money, greediness, and manipulation of people in order to satisfy needs and whims. There’s plenty of craziness in this episode, and the ending confirms exactly that, when confronted with her children’s questions, Maud states: ‘it was me... but it wasn’t me’. The usual efficiency and control in Breillat’s direction, places “Abuse of Weakness” in the list of complex real-story films to watch.