French legal drama, The Thread, which is directed by and stars the revered Daniel Auteuil, is in many ways a familiar courtroom drama but Auteuil invests the story with a potent sense of intrigue and an affecting personal quality. Based on actual events, the film sees Auteuil play Jean Monier, a lawyer in the throes of self-doubt and disillusionment with
Read moreBeating Hearts sounds like the name of a self-important album from the 80’s and the vibrant but overlong and clichéd French romantic crime drama Beating Hearts (or L’amour Ouf) feels like the movie equivalent of such an album. The film traces the 12-year romance of delinquent thug Clothaire (played by François Civil as an adult and Malik Frikah as a
Read moreLoosely inspired by Henry James’ novella The Beast In The Jungle, the beguiling, occasionally disturbing, sometimes funny and at times brain boggling French-Canadian science fiction film, The Beast sits beside Slaughterhouse Five and Cloud Atlas in the ‘fascinating head scratcher’ sub-genre. This is one of those films where characters shift through different realities appearing at different times and in different
Read moreDespite its late arrival in cinemas in 2019, Portrait of A Lady On Fire was one of the most talked about releases of the year. The attention it’s received is in part due to the fact that it’s simply a quality piece of cinema but also because this meditative art house film is about as far as cinema gets from
Read moreEnjoying French actor/ writer/ director Albert Dupontel’s oddball WW1 drama See You Up There is largely dependent on the viewer’s attitude toward the quirkier side of French cinema. Those who enjoy manic behaviour, over-the-top performances, bizarre imagery and general silliness characteristic of French directors like Jean Pierre Jeunet will spoil their trousers over this film. Those who recoil at that
Read moreGaugin is one of the more descriptive titles in recent cinema as it sums up much of this film. This is a dramatisation of the life of famed French post-impressionist artist Paul Gaugin or at least the part he spent in the pacific island of Tahiti painting iconic images of the locals. Set in 1891, the film sees poverty-stricken artist
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