The French, 6/19.

"In a country known more for its frank portrayals of sex and meditations on philosophical ennui, an aesthetic of violence has emerged that, ironically, accomplishes what American auteurs have failed to do - recapture the grit, power, and above all, the danger of American horror in its 1970's heyday." Simon Augustine introduces his list of the "8 Most Disturbing Films of The New Wave of French Horror."

"Abdellatif Kechiche has started the casting and preparation for his fourth feature, which is scheduled to shoot in the first half of 2009," reports Fabien Lemercier at Cineuropa. "[T]he director will depart from a contemporary setting for the first time and plunge viewers into the early 19th century, retracing the experiences of an African woman confronted with racism in Europe: Saartjie Baartman, known as the 'Hottentot Venus.'"

"A glimpse at the current UK release schedule finds a glut of French-language filmmaking," notes Shane Danielson, blogging for the Guardian. "Why do we accord French cinema such dogged affection? In part, because some of it is astonishingly good - but also, because we're starved for broader options."

"[F]rankly, the aura surrounding the Nouvelle Vague can be a bit too fawning and mythical," writes Matt Prigge in the Philadelphia Weekly. "At worst Dans Paris and Love Songs simply reinforce this trend, presenting a Disneyland version of the Wave: people reading books in bed, dizzying on-location Paris footage, playful opening titles, fourth-wall breaks—the works. The films of Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer, etc, were trying to reinvent a medium; [Christophe] Honoré just wants you to think about the awesomeness of Chabrol, Rivette, Rohmer, etc. (And that reminds me: Go buy Richard Brody's excellent new Jean-Luc Godard biography Everything Is Cinema.)" More on Love Songs from Sam Adams in the Philadelphia City Paper.

In the Guardian, Ronald Bergan remembers Jean Desailly, whose "most famous film portrayal, in which he displayed his discreet bourgeois charm, was in François Truffaut's La Peau Douce (The Soft Skin, 1964)," and whose on and off stage partnership with Simone Valère spanned six decades.

Posted by dwhudson at June 19, 2008 9:43 AM