Here’s the pitch: this is the story of Jeanne d’Arc, the 15th century French peasant who claimed to experience religious visions and whose participation in the Hundred Years’ War boosted French morale and helped them win the war. It is … Continue reading REVIEW: Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (2017)
Chloé (Marine Vacth) is 25-year-old former model living in Paris. She suffers badly from anxiety and depression. She feels constant stomach pain that does not have a physical diagnosis. She is referred to a therapist named Paul (Jérémie Renier), but … Continue reading REVIEW: Double Lover (2017)
Daguerreotype sees the young, unemployed Jean (Tahar Rahim) accept an offer to become an apprentice to the photographer Stephane Megray (Olivier Gourmet). Stephane lives in a decaying Parisian mansion with his daughter Marie (Constance Rousseau). He is obsessed with using 19th … Continue reading REVIEW: Daguerreotype (2016)
Maryline (Adeline D’Hermy) is an aspiring actor who travels from her rural home town to Paris in the hope of forging a successful career. When disaster strikes at her first attempt, she finds herself working in a postal office with … Continue reading REVIEW: Maryline (2017)
The late Satoshi Kon is without exaggeration one of the most talented and significant directors in the history of animation, and thanks to French filmmaker Pascal-Alex Vincent he is now the focus of a feature-length documentary about his life and … Continue reading FANTASIA REVIEW: Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist (2020)
Narrative cinema is a broad medium with seemingly endless potential for disrupting common tropes, experimenting with form, and subverting audience expectations. That said, the further a filmmaker strays from the accepted mainstream the more challenging their work will become for … Continue reading REVIEW: A Korean in Paris (2015)
Comedy hit Antoinette in the Cévennes was one of the most popular films at this year’s Alliance Française French Film Festival. Thanks to Madman Entertainment, Caroline Vignal’s wonderful misadventure of hiking with a donkey and chasing after love is now … Continue reading REVIEW: Antoinette in the Cévennes (2020)
It begins, oddly enough, with Gary Numan. His 1980 rendition of Erik Satie’s “Trois Gymnopédies” accompanies a stark shot of a snowfield from above. In stumbles a hysterical young woman, barely able to stand. When she falls, she convulses on … Continue reading “Mummy, there are bugs in here” | Climax (2018)
There will always be a place in the hearts – and stomachs – of moviegoers for films about food. Whether it is an animated film like Ratatouille or a cult favourite like Tampopo, films about food seem to inspire all kinds of … Continue reading REVIEW: Délicieux (2021)
Three Paris police officers have their morality sorely tested in Anne Fontaine’s considered and powerful drama Night Shift (aka Police). Virginie (Viriginie Efira) has fallen pregnant to a fellow officer, and is planning for an abortion. The officer in question, Aristide (Omar Sy) … Continue reading REVIEW: Night Shift (2020)
