Champagne & Popcorn: The French Movie Blog

13 Tzameti

2006-07-29T10:19:00.000-05:00

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

2006-07-20T13:40:00.000-05:00

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

2006-07-19T13:22:00.001-05:00

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

2006-07-17T03:37:00.000-05:00

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.

2006-07-13T16:02:00.000-05:00

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

2006-07-12T16:10:00.000-05:00

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

2006-07-11T12:33:00.000-05:00

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!

GABRIELLE

2006-07-07T19:35:00.000-05:00

GABRIELLE is Patrice Chéreau’s stunning adaptation of the short story “The Return” by Joseph Conrad. Recreating turn-of-the-century France with superb attention to detail, Chéreau casts an unrelenting gaze on the marital breakdown that overwhelms a middle-aged bourgeois couple, played with chilling precision by Isabelle Huppert and Pascal Greggory.

A wealthy Parisian, Mr Hervey steps off a train into the teeming bustle of the city. While on his way home, he reflects on the various successes of his life and the fortress of safety he has built around himself. It is no long, however, before his confidence is rudely shattered by the discovery of a letter from his wife, Gabrielle, waiting for him upon his return. The contents of this message will crumble that safety and plunge him into an unknown world of vulnerability, abandonment, and betrayal. [Yadayadayada] The couple soon finds themselves engaged in a parry-and-thrust of emotion that change mid-sentence and stretch their ability to function and live within the same house.

This adaptation, whose direction is ripped from the stage in stylized proscenium, (Patrice Chereau is a theatre director too) is as much a success for its photography as for its acting. Pascal Greggory is so convincing as a businessman whose life has no room for happenstance and who sees his whole world being upset with the loss of his safety anchor. Isabelle Huppert plays a poignant Gabrielle (receiving a nomination for the Césars), an apparently aloof woman who goes beyond pretence to reveal her true nature: passion. Newcomer Claudia Coli offers a strong performance as Isabelle Huppert’s confidante. This other trait, borrowed from the theater, has Gabrielle revealing many of her secrets through intimate exchanges with her lady-in-waiting.

All in all, a solid choice for the more traditional who wish to see a master flex his muscles with a varied palate of colors and styles that make Chéreau the name that he is. But don't take our word, people have already enjoyed the film at festivals all around the world, from Venise and Los Angeles to Toronto, San Francisco, and New York.

The secret

2006-07-07T15:54:00.000-05:00

I just read that French actor Vincent Perez (you may have seen him in Cyrano de Bergerac, Queen Margot or Indochine) will helm the new Luc Besson / Europa Corp production : The Secret. Starring David Duchovny (X-Files, Zoolander, Evolution) and Olivia Thirlby (United 93) "The Secret" is a english-language remake of the japanese film "Himitsu" by Yojiro Takita.
Screenplay is the following : A car accident has left Benjamin’s wife, Hannah, and 16-year-old daughter, Samantha, both in a coma. But while Samantha is waking up, Hannah dies. Benjamin is upset by the loss of his wife but soon discovers that Hannah’s spirit seems to have penetrated Samantha’s skin.

It is going to be interesting to see Vincent Perez’s work as a director, since until now he only directed the little French film Peau d'ange. Will this project be the first step in Luc Besson’s plan to conquer the world ? Only a few months remain before we find out.

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

2006-07-03T14:40:00.000-05:00

It's the 4th of July and you know what that means: Only 10 days until the 14th.

I'll be away for a few days, but stay tuned for new posts coming very soon.

Don't forget to root for France as they battle Portugal for a shot at the World Cup finals!

A bientot.

RECENTLY PURCHASED ON DVD

2006-07-03T14:01:00.000-05:00

Just got back from Kim's video. Got a few sweet Criterion DVD's including Harlan County USA (1976, Barbara Kopple). I had been waiting for years for this doc' to come out as a special edition DVD. Ahh, Criterion how I love thee. But as I scanned the aisles for other gems I landed on an especially appetizing box set:

3 FILMS BY LOUIS MALLE

"Few directors have portrayed the agonies and epiphanies of growing up as poetically—and scandalously—as Louis Malle. Laced with autobiographical details, Murmur of the Heart; Lacombe, Lucien; and Au revoir les enfants tell stories of youth, set against the tumult of World War II and postwar France. Controversial, tragic, amusing, and poignant, these three films are not just coming-of-age stories but the director’s ongoing response to a world gone wrong, revealing his true nature as rebel." [From the Criterion Co.]

Some of the goodies:

* New, restored high-definition digital transfers

* New interviews with actor Candice Bergen and biographer Pierre Billard

* Excerpts from a French TV program featuring the director on the sets of Murmur of the Heart and Lacombe, Lucien

* Audio interviews with Malle from 1974, 1988, and 1990

* The Immigrant, Charlie Chaplin’s 1917 short comedy, featured in Au revoir les enfants

* A profile of the provocative character of Joseph from Au revoir les enfants, created by filmmaker Guy Magen, in 2005

* Original theatrical trailers

* New and improved English subtitle translations

* Essays by critics Michael Sragow, Pauline Kael, and Philip Kemp and historian Francis J. Murphy, as well as a filmography

Just check it out for yourself. I'll give you a full commentary when I've seen all three films again. It's been a while and I can't wait to see the cleaned up prints and all the extras. I know, I know, it's impossible not to sound like an ubernyerd when talking about the wonderous wonders of Criterion.

Untill next week...

SEA SEX AND SUN: SEX STARVED MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN AND THEIR HAITIAN BOY TOYS - LAURENT CANTET'S "HEADING SOUTH"

2006-06-30T10:28:00.000-05:00

Director Laurent Cantet follows up his critically acclaimed film Time Out set during an austere wintertime in France and Switzerland, with Heading South - set in Haiti during the late 1970s. Based on stories by Dany Laferriere, trust me when I say that the heat is not generated solely by the heavy tropical summer. Charlotte Rampling, Karen Young , and Louise Portal head a group of single middle-aged women who have come for some sea, sex, and sun. They crave the solicitous attention of attractive young Haitian men, especially a prized teenaged boy named Legba (played by non-actor Ménothy César, winner of the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the 2005 Venice Film Festival) for whom the women all vie for "companionship". The Queen Bee of this group of lady tourists, played by Rampling, is, according to Jay Weissberg of Variety, "the ideal actress to convey the Wellesley professor's liberated carnality, Bostonian snobbery, racism, [and] deep vulnerability."

Heading South received the Cinema for Peace Award at Venice and was described as "[a] gem...shattering." by Stephen Holden of the New York Times. But the reviews for this film have actually been of the “for or against”/ "love or hate" persuasion. Somehow, I think a lot of it has to do with how viewers interpret the Director's "neutral point of view" on the implications of the film's setting. During a Q&A in March for a NY pre-screening, Laurent Cantet explained that he considered the sexual misery of these women to be comparable to the more obvious misery of the Haitian characters of his film who live in poverty and daily danger under a violent regime. These miseries ultimately find a way to comfort each other - The obvious surface being the rich unhappy women giving their money in exchange for some tenderness. Remember, though, that the film is faithfully adapted from a Haitian book. A book that tells a story about people, and human emotions. It is by NO means an documentary essay on the socio-economic oppression of the Haitian population. It seems that most of the negative press has been generated by viewers who were shocked at Cantet's apparent disinterest in relating current events. It is, however, clear to me that he has the utmost respect for the Haitian people and that his ambition is none other than to tell a story. And man, what a story…

See "Heading South" when it opens in select cities July 7th.

C&P on MYSPACE

2006-06-29T12:15:00.000-05:00

It's official, Champagne and Popcorn is now on Myspace. No pushing,
there's enough love to go around. Just click [here ] to be our friend.
Nice to meet you.

Move Over Austin Powers: Seattle Goes Crazy for French Spy's Mojo

2006-06-21T08:44:00.000-05:00

(photo: SIFF)

As promised, from time to time Champagne and Popcorn will feature reports from some of the biggest Film Festivals in the U.S. that showcase French Films. Inaugurating this feature is the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). And although I was not able to attend personally - 'cause, you know, it's kind of a drive from New York - my friend Champagne made it out there to report for us. Here's what she had to say:

"SIFF is definitely the longest fest I know: 3 weeks over May and June, when the weather is 'supposed' to become more welcoming over here, and right before the summer break. If you ever took part in a festival, you know that 3 weeks is a marathon. The festival's real challenge was to know how to maintain the audience’s interest for that long. It seems that the SIFF team did the job pretty well though, with more or less packed house in each of the 6 theaters dispersed throughout the city. It's really not easy to ensure a good crowd, especially for the “difficult” genres like social dramas and foreign imports. It's all about managing to draw both a wide and curious audience.

The focus this year was on Danish cinema, but the selection from France remained as large and exciting as usual thanks to Franco-friendly programmer Carl Spence. Of the 24 French feature films programmed, I attended two that happened to be introduced by their respective directors, and I had the thrilling sensation of witnessing a rare communal experience. A warm and fuzzy communal experience.

The great surprise of the fest for me was at the Neptune theater, which was more than packed, mostly with young adults there to see the comedy OSS 117 - a sort of James Bond meets Austin-Powers-with-better-teeth parody starring French superstar comedian Jean Dujardin as a re-dunkulous leftover reject of colonial-era France. The best part is that this was originally a novel that, well, belonged to its time (read politically incorrect). Scratch that - A novel that was flat out first-degree and honestly quite racist. The authors of the adaptation decided to ridicule this dated and holier-than-thou attitude and to poke fun at its amusingly ignorant protagonist.

(Jean Dujardin, oiled up for action)

At the screening, the filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius and actress Bérénice Béjo were sweating bullets, wondering if the humor would "translate" for its first US audience. They were reassured only a minute into the movie with huge bursts of laughter welcoming the first jokes, and then recklessly barreling through to the end of this energetic comedy. The grateful crowd, still crying from laughing so much, applauded the director warmly. He then explained quite humbly that the film had never had such an amazing success in his home country, certainly because OSS makes such mean fun of stereotyped French arrogance. But if the audience's reaction was enough to please him, the even better news was that the movie was picked as a favorite, and received the festival’s top award, the GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD FOR BEST FILM.

This should help the movie get a wider release, so don’t miss it then, this is definitely some pure side-splitting ridiculousness, somehow mixing intelligent innuendoes and inconceivable stupidity. The reviews should support it as they come in, with Variety already leading the way

"[…] A jubilantly retro score and a genuine flair for using the film and TV vocabulary of the '60s to revisit colonial arrogance put [OSS 117] in the same conceptual ballpark as Austin Powers." - Lisa Nesselson, Variety

"One of the most hilarious films of the year." - -- Boyd Van Hoeij, EUROPEANFILMS.NET

Another highlight, if not as memorable, was Fabienne Godet’s social drama Burnt Out, also without a US distributor for the moment (what are you guys thinking??) but well received by Seattle moviegoers. Lead by a brilliant cast including the Dardenne brothers' favorite actor Olivier Gourmet, the story details how moral harassment in the work-place and overall cowardice pushes a man to break down and become a victim, no longer able to use the system to his advantage. Fabienne Godet deeply moved her audience with the urgent message that every one of us should make it our duty not to fear social pressures and to find it within ourselves to revolt and speak up when confronted with the unacceptable."

##

SEE PHOTOS FROM THIS YEAR'S SIFF [HERE]

So that's it for this week's edition of Champagne and Popcorn. We'll have more next week. Also stay tuned as we return with more and more content as we get this thing up and running. Goodness we have so much in store for you guys you have no idea!!! (that's right I just dangled la carotte in front of you!)

A très bientôt,

Champagne and Popcorn.

DISTRICT B13 - "This [thing] ain't bad"

2006-06-16T15:42:00.000-05:00

Paris, 2010. A government imposed isolation wall surrounds the ghetto's housing projects. Without effective policing and security within these walls, gang rule is law.

Damien (Cyril Raffaelli) is a member of an elite police squadron's special unit. Highly trained in martial arts and the one agent able to navigate Paris' treacherous urban landscape, he is assigned the most important and dangerous mission of his career: to retrieve a hidden nuclear bomb, stolen by the most powerful gang of District 13.

Leïto (played by David Belle - The co-inventor of the now popular sport "Parkour") is a vigilante whose only goal is to save his sister from the clutches of this dangerous gang. He is a native of B13 and knows the area like the back of his hand.
Although Damien and Leïto’s alliance is not the most natural one, they must unite their skills in order to stop the countdown and the destruction of their loved ones. (While kicking some serious ***).

[“What? Oh come ON man! I have to read subtitles? F*ck this sh#t!.”]

Scene witnessed at a Manhattan theater:

After the thunderous rumble of a car and the opening shots of the film , the first line of dialogue made my neighbor jump. “What? Oh come ON man! I have to read subtitles? F*ck this sh#t!.” *Cue laughter/approval and/or disapproval from the room* After giving it another 5 minutes - probably spent crying over the
"better things" he could have done with his $10 - the same guy goes, as loud as before “alright, this [thing] ain’t bad, I’m stayin”. Well, not that it would have broken my heart if he had left (given his in depth play by play commentary throughout the film), but it was nice to witness firsthand the effect of a film that doesn't really fall into your usual "subtitled" film category.

In all honesty, if you need more than jaw dropping chases and acrobatic fights to enjoy a movie, this one might not, well…be for you. But within the genre, District B13 is definitely a solid choice for at least two good reasons:

1) Lead actor David Belle is a guy whose favorite hobby is to jump from roofs to terraces (see the AMAZING commercial for the BBC and you'll have to admit he’s impressive). My hobby is coin collecting, so in comparison…

2) OK, as simple as the moral and political messages are, they’re actually pretty sane, if certainly paranoid. Peace and fraternity can exist, even amongst chaos, and a total defiance of the status quo...

One thing's fore sure though, you won’t recognize your good ole' accordion playin'- baguette eating-beret wearing Paris in this dystopian Banlieue.

… Oh, and the reviews are incredible.Either they are in love with David Belle or they are simply stunned at the quality…for a non-Hollywood action flick.

Check out the very cool flash site for the trailer and other stuff :www.districtb13.com
Or you can be their best friend forever on Myspace

DISTRICT B13 [Magnolia Pictures] is in theaters now.
IN NYC (Click theater to buy tickets)
AMC EMPIRE 25: Showtimes: 3:35pm | 10:25 | 12:40am
ANGELIKA FILM CENTER: Showtimes: 11:30am | 1:45pm | 3:50 | 5:55 | 8:00 | 10:10 | 12:05am