13 Tzameti

Gela Babluani's second film 13 Tzameti, which opens next week at Film Forum, was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for world cinema at Sundance this year and is starting to buzz here in New York.

Twenty-two-year-old Sebastien (Georges Babluani) leads an impoverished life with his immigrant family constantly struggling to support them. While repairing the roof of a neighbor's house, he overhears a conversation about an expected package which promises to make the household rich. Sensing the opportunity of a lifetime, Sebastien intercepts the package which contains a series of specific instructions. Following the clues, he assumes a false identity and manages to slip through the grasp of the enclosing police as he ventures deeper and deeper into the countryside. The closer he gets to his destination and the more people he meets along the way, the less he understands about what he is looking for. Ultimately, he comes face to face with a ring of clandestine gamblers placing bets on the outcome of a multi-player, high stakes tournament of Russian roulette. Directed by newcomer Gela Babluani, 13 TZAMETI is a winner-take-all thriller, where an unfortunate young man is transformed into Contestant #13 with no way out save his luck.

- Palm Pictures



Brooklyn Vegan posted about it and Gothamist reviewed an advanced screening (and is giving away two tickets if you email GothamistContest (at) gmail dot com).

Obituary

Director Gerard Oury died at his home in Saint-Tropez on Wednesday night. He was 87.
Oury, whose top hits include the 1973 movie "Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob" (The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob) directed a series of films that keep the French laughing today. Besides "Rabbi Jacob," he is best known for the 1966 movie "La Grande Vadrouille" (Don't Look Now -- We're Being Shot At).
He directed France's greats, from comedians Louis de Funes and Bourvil to Jean-Paul Belmondo and Yves Montand.
Oury once said that his movies "dealt with serious things by making people laugh(…) it is more useful to make people laugh than to make a movie that preaches, is abstract."
He also was a member of the Academie des Beaux Arts and President Jacques Chirac, in a statement, called Oury's movies "an integral part of our culture and our imagination."

French Films Lead the U.S. Specialty Box-office

The good people at indieWire have released an interesting article on the health of French cinema this summer. It seems that summer isn't all about the studios after all, with several specialty titles doing quite well. Topping the list are three French films: Andre Techine's Changing Times, Laurent Cantet's "Heading South" (Vers Le Sud), and Patrice Chereau's "Gabrielle." Each of these films has been reviewed, right here on champagne and popcorn.

"The French are coming! The French are coming! Fears that American audiences for independent/specialty films have tired of artful, adult-oriented French movies seem to be premature, given results of the latest indieWIRE Box-Office Tracking Report (iWBOT). Based on per-theater grosses as reported to Rentrak Theatrical, it shows French films - featuring some of that nation's biggest stars - in the top three positions. They are Andre Techine's "Le Temp Qui Changent" (Changing Times) from Koch Lorber, Laurent Cantet's "Heading South" (Vers Le Sud) from Shadow Distribution, and Patrice Chereau's "Gabrielle" from IFC's First Take. A fourth, Francois Ozon's "Time to Leave" from Strand Releasing, also finished in the top ten.
[continue reading this article at indieWire]"

THE TIMES, THEY ARE A CHANGING

LES TEMPS QUI CHANGENT/ CHANGING TIMES
by André Téchiné
(Gemini Films / 96mins / NR)

The gist of it:
Antoine (Gérard Depardieu) is a French engineer assigned to oversee the construction of a major media center in Tangiers. The center will be the future home of a television network poised to rival Al Jazeera in the Arab world. But Antoine’s real motivation behind taking the assignment is to re-establish contact with his first love, Cécile (Catherine Deneuve), who he has quietly and faithfully loved for over thirty years. Cécile now lives in Tangiers with her husband Nathan (Gilbert Melki)- a Moroccan doctor from Casablanca several years her junior - and hosts an evening radio show, introducing love songs and reading romantic dedications.

It's really quite something to see Deneuve and Depardieu reunited, and even more amazing (or frightening depending on how you look at it) to think that it's already been some 25 years since François Truffaut’s The Last Metro. This past intimacy is resurected and is quite tangible, making the couple of former lovers totally believable and, yes… even touching. In the past few years, it almost seemed like Depardieu had been coasting through roles a la De Niro - rarely accepting a role that would enable him to renew his art. But more recently, he seems to have escaped his own caricature, like in Quand J'étais chanteur (The Singer),Xavier Giannoli's film at Cannes this year which has Depardieu starring as a ballroom dancer… I hope this one will find distribution in the US (which is quite possible given that many people called the film the big surprise of the festival). But in the meantime, the release of Changing Times is a good way to witness the French legend's newfound taste for honest simplicity.

Around the central storyline are several intertwining stories whose appeal, despite a superb cast, is honestly less obvious than their beautiful Algerian coastal background.

Read more about the film [here].

Babylon A.D.

Well-known actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz has a new film project!
After several international successes such as La Haine (Starring Vincent Cassel) and Crimson Rivers (With Jean Reno), the young French filmmaker received mixed reviews with his first English-language Gothika (Halle Berry) and has not directed any other movie since this one in 2003.
Next he’s going to adapt a novel by Maurice G. Dantec: Babylon Babies. He wrote the screenplay with Eric Besnard and shooting is expected soon between Eastern Europe and Canada.
Synopsis is the following: In a close future dominated by the mafia, media and technology, a mercenary is hired to secretly transport a young woman from Russia to the US, and then learns that she has been manipulated by a synthetic virus and what lies inside her could doom the human race.
Cast hasn’t been definitely announced yet but Vin Diesel is likely to be the main character.
We’ll give you further information as soon as possible about this second big project for Mathieu Kassovitz.

Time To Leave

Time to Leave is the new Ozon film, short but emotionally intense. The screenplay is the following: Romain, a handsome, successful fashion photographer (Melvil Poupaud) learns that he has a malignant brain tumor and less than three months to live. Hiding his diagnosis, he alienates his family and his boyfriend. It is only during a short stay with his grandmother Laura (Jeanne Moreau) that he reveals his illness and that vulnerability is met with a big heart and sound advice. A chance encounter with a roadside café waitress Jany ( Valéria Bruni-Tedeschi) results in an unusual bargain that provides a happy, playful dimension to the proceedings.
Time to leave was a selection of the 2005 Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals.

This second part of Ozon’s trilogy on death is intensely dramatic. Avoiding all kinds of clichés, the French director provides a film with great emotional impact. The main character soon accepts his fate but represses his anger. The thirty-year-old photographer decides to lead his last days the way he wants instead of allowing his cancer to decide for him. That’s why he makes such decisions to clarify his relationships with his family and boyfriend; he wants to die without regret and especially wants to avoid facing up with the sadness that would result if he had told the truth to his family. It may be seen as selfish but it's the approach to death that this young man chose: he accepts but doesn’t want to face the reaction of his family who would surely urge him to fight. Another topic covered in this movie is the trace we want to leave after death; indeed Romain doesn’t really know how to react to the waitress’ proposal of becoming the biological father of her son.


The film features strong performances; the convincing Melvil Poupaud is accompanied by the brief but intense appearance of Jeanne Moreau in a scene that mixes both physical and psychological intimacy.
Photography is perfect, each shot is beautiful, especially the last scene which is gorgeously filmed on the beach. The film leaves the audience with a glimpse of the inner peace that Romain has achieved.

Boarding Gate

Some more good news! French Director Olivier Assayas has begun shooting his new English-language movie, Boarding Gate
The story will deal with Sandra, an Italian woman, played by Asia Argento(Marie Antoinette, Last Days), who lives in London and has a passionate affair with a former financial big shot Miles Rennberg, played by Michael Madsen. She also has a second lover (Tony Leung), a contract killer who has to kill the big shot. The second lover's wife (Yeoh) is behind the scenes, pulling the strings.
This screenplay and such charismatic actors promise a film full of action and surprises, with Assayas (Clean, demonlover) directing we can’t help but be impatient!