SFFS French Cinema Now Seeries, Oct 24-30, 2012

[Chris Knipp]

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/5089/fcn12.jpg

The San Francisco Film Society French Cinema Now series
(http://sffs.org/Exhibition/SF-Film-Society-Cinema/French-Cinema-Now.aspx) Oct. 24-30, 2012

The Festival Coverage thread is here (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28681#post28681).

The program:

Camille Rewinds (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3341-New-York-Film-Festival-2012&p=28464#post28464)
Noémie Lvovsky (Camille redouble, France 2012)
OPENING NIGHT FILM Camille, a 40-something mother in the midst of a painful divorce from her high-school sweetheart, gets the chance when she passes out at a New Year’s Eve party and wakes up back in the ’80s where everyone reacts to her as if she were 16 again.
Wednesday October 24, 6:30 pm
Saturday October 27, 3:30 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

Donoma (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27583#post27583)
Djinn Carrenard (France 2011)
This bold and confident first feature from Haitian filmmaker Djinn Carrénard layers issues of race, class, religion and gender within a variety of intersecting storylines involving multiple youngsters in Paris.
Wednesday October 24, 9:15 pm
Sunday, October 28, 1:30 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

Aliyah (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28694&posted=1#post28694)
Elie Wajeman (Alyah, France 2012)
Lacking the spiritual motivation that spurs many Jews to make Aliyah—a return to the Holy Land—low-level drug dealer Alex instead sees it as a chance to escape his current life, specifically the burden of his older brother Isaac, who is perpetually on the brink of disaster. Thursday, October 25, 6:30 pm
Monday, October 29, 9:00 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

My Worst Nightmare (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28683#post28683)
Anne Fontaine (Mon pire cauchemar, France 2011)
Opposites collide to humorous effect in Anne Fontaine's satire of the Parisian bourgeois. An uptight gallerist and her partner hire a boorish Belgian construction worker for a remodeling job and he teaches them both how to enjoy life a bit more.
Thursday October 25, 8:45 pm
Saturday October 27, 6:30 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

All Together (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012#post28685)
Stéphane Robelin (Et si on vivait tous ensemble?, France/Germany 2011)
Set against the backdrop of France's economic crisis, this trenchant crowd-pleaser depicts a group of elderly friends who decide to pool their resources and live out their sunset years under the same roof.
Friday, October 26, 4:00pm
Saturday, October 27, 1:15pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

Mobile Home (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28689#post28689)
François Pirot (Belgium/Luxembourg/France 2012)
Simon and Julien are handsome girl chasers, handicapped by the fact that they are out of work and living with their parents. Using money that his folks had set aside for his future, Simon decides to buy the titular vehicle and asks his best pal to join him on the road toward new adventures and locales.
Friday October 26, 6:30pm
Sunday October 28, 9:00 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

A World Without Women (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28692#post28692)
Guillaume Brac (Un monde sans femmes, France 2011)
Patricia and her daughter Juliette have rented a cottage in a lazy, beachfront town. Both of them play a back-and-forth emotional tease with Sylvain, the flat's schlubby proprietor, and the resulting psychological effects on all parties are explored with subtlety and impressive acting.
Friday October 26, 9:15 pm
Sunday October 28, 6:30 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

Hors Satan (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3165-Paris-movie-report-%28oct-2011%29&p=26927#post26927)
Bruno Dumont (France 2011)
Suffused with elemental images—fire, sky, sea, land—Bruno Dumont's latest provocation concerns an unnamed drifter disturbing the balance in a seaside town.
Saturday October 27, 9:00 pm
Monday October 29, 6:15 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

Louise Wimmer (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3239-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-at-Lincoln-Center-2012&p=27474#post27474)
Cyril Mennegun (France 2011)
This devastating portrait of a middle-aged woman living out of her car puts a compelling face on the millions of people suffering from Europe's current financial woes.
Sunday October 28, 4:30 pm
Tuesday October 30, 9:00 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

Sister (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3273-PARIS-MOVIE-REPORT-%28May-2012%29&p=27828#post27828)
Ursula Meier (L’enfant d’en Haut, France/Switzerland 2011)
Reminiscent of the brand of social realism perfected by the Dardennes brothers and starring Léa Seydoux, this is a powerfully acted story of siblings living in the proximity of a Swiss ski resort.
Tuesday October 30, 6:15 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

[Chris Knipp]

Anne Fontaine: My Worst Nightmare (2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28683#post28683)

An exercise in what the NY Post critic Kyle Smith calls "the French fascination with the clash of slobs and nobs," this time the slob played with energy and charm by Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde, as a foul-mouthed but sexy Belgian carpenter, and the nob is represented by stylish ice queen Isabelle Huppert, as an impossible-to-please gallerist. For us this reads as pretty conventional, and Fontaine seems to be past her best work. Mon pire cauchemar plays better in Paris than in San Francisco.

Already reviewed: DONOMA, CAMILLE REWINDS, HORS SATAN, LOUISE WIMMER, SISTER. Coming: ALL TOGETHER / SI ON VIVAIT TOUS ENSEMBLE? -- which features a 74-year-old Jane Fonda and Geraldine Chaplin showing off their fluent French.

[Chris Knipp]

Stéphane Robelin: All Together (2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012#post28685)

The French titles means "Suppose We All Live Together?" and the five aging baby-boomers, two couples and a single, decide to move in together in the big house occuped by one couple; the two ladies are played by Geraldine Chaplin and Jane Fonda. Not a deep film, but one that looks at serious issues. One of their number has fatal cancer, another has a heart attack, and a third is developing dementia. They all manage to live with grace.

[Chris Knipp]

François Pirot: Mobile Home (2012)

The story of two young Belgians stuck on the verge of adulthood in their twenties, who buy a mobile home to go on a great adventure but have trouble getting going. The film seems rather slight, but the two actors, Arthur Dupont and Guillaume Gouix, provide on screen charm and the French critics called this "beautiful and tender" and "finely written." That may be academic for viewers who know no French because some of the subtitles flick on and off in milliseconds.

[Chris Knipp]

Guillaume Brac: A World Without Women (2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28692#post28692)

The title doesn't quite fit but this is a delicate and original film, actually a "moyen-métrage," mid-length, not a feature, 54 minutes, shown here, as presented in French cinemas this February, proceeded by a 24-minute one called Stranded or Naufragé, both featuring unique performances by Vincent Macaigne as a shy, sweet lonely guy called Sylvain. One of the discoveries of the five in this series I hadn't seen before. I still rate Ursula Meier's Sister highest of the ten, but there are more that I like than that I dislike. Alyah left me feeling a bit shortchanged, but it has a lot of style and is just almost really cool, and another new director to me. See below.

[Chris Knipp]

Elie Wajeman: Aliyah (2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28694&posted=1#post28694)

A stylish mood piece and character study starring Pio Marmai about a young Jewish petty drug dealer in Paris who escapes from his messed-up life and his responsibililty to his irresponsible brother Isaac (director Cédric Kahn) by immigrating to Israel to work on a cousin's new restaurant.

[Chris Knipp]

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/5089/fcn12.jpg

Index to links to my reviews:

Aliyah (Elie Wajeman 2012)--FCN (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28694&posted=1#post28694)
All Together (Stéphane Robelin 2012)--FCN (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28685#post28685)
Camille Rewinds (Noémie Lvovsky 2012)--NYFF 2012 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3341-New-York-Film-Festival-2012&p=28464#post28464)
Donoma (Djinn Carrénard 2011)--ND/NF 2012 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27583#post27583)
Hores Satan (Bruno Dumont 2011)--Paris Movie Report II 2011 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3165-Paris-movie-report-%28oct-2011%29&p=26927#post26927)
Louise Wimmer (Cyrile Mennegun 2011)--R-V 2012 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3239-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-at-Lincoln-Center-2012&p=27474#post27474)
Mobile Home (Francois Pirot 2012)--FCN (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28689#post28689)
My Worst Nightmare (Anne Fontaine 2011)--FCN (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28683#post28683)
Sister (Ursula Meier 2011)--Paris Movie Report (May 2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3273-PARIS-MOVIE-REPORT-%28May-2012%29&p=27828#post27828)
World Without Women , A (Guillaume Brac 2012)--FCN (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28692#post28692)


My favorite of these is SISTER, by a mile: one of the year's best foreign films. For cinephiles HORS SATAN is a must-see, and DONOMA and ALIYAH and A WORLD WITHOUT WOMEN are first films by exciting new directors. I enjoyed the very French remake of PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED, a big hit in France, Noémie Lvovsky's CAMILLE REWINDS. For a socially responsible movie LOUISE WIMMER is worth watching. The other three you can take or leave. This is a good small selection. However, bear in mind that the most important French language films of the year besides SISTER were not included here. But they have US releases: Haneke's AMOUR, Leos Carax's HOLY MOTORS (both NYFF), Jacques Audiard's RUST AND BONE (US release coming). Watch for them, and for SISTER. Metacritic rating of SISTER: 81; of HOLY MOTORS: 86. AMOUR and RUST AND BONE aren't out in the US yet (Oct. 29, 2012) but will rate high. A great new French film about politics, released this time last year in Paris and shown in several US festivals: Pierre Schöller's THE MINISTER. Other titles that might have been included are Matthieu Kassowitz's REBELLION, Robert Guédiguian's SNOWS OF KILAMANJARO. Don't forget what was not only the most successful French film of the past year but 2nd biggest French box office film ever, INTOUCHABLES, still showing in New York.