To help sift through the increasing number of new releases (independent or otherwise), the Weekly Film Guide is here! Below you’ll find basic plot, personnel and cinema information for all of this week’s fresh offerings.
Starting this month, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list here, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.
See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for June 2016
Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, June 24. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.
Wide
Free State of Jones
Director: Gary Ross
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Keri Russell, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Jacob Lofland
Synopsis: “In Jones County, Miss., Newt Knight joins forces with other farmers and a group of slaves to lead a rebellion against the Confederacy.”
Independence Day: Resurgence...
Starting this month, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list here, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.
See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for June 2016
Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, June 24. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.
Wide
Free State of Jones
Director: Gary Ross
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Keri Russell, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Jacob Lofland
Synopsis: “In Jones County, Miss., Newt Knight joins forces with other farmers and a group of slaves to lead a rebellion against the Confederacy.”
Independence Day: Resurgence...
- 6/24/2016
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Hovering around the twenty-one to twenty-four feature film mark with at least a quarter of those films belonging to first time filmmakers, the Quinzaine des Realisateurs (a.k.a Directors’ Fortnight) has in the past couple of years, counted on a healthy supply of French, Spanish and Belgium produced film items, and has been geared towards the offbeat genre items as with last year’s edition curated by Edouard Waintrop and co. To be unveiled on the 22nd, as we attempted with our Critics’ Week predix, Blake Williams, Nicholas Bell and I (Eric Lavallee) are thinking out loud and hedging our bets on what the section might look like or what the programmers might be looking at for 2014. Here is our predictions overview:
Alleluia
Six years after presenting Vinyan at the Venice Film Festival, Fabrice Du Welz finally returns with potentially not one, but a pair of works for the ’14 campaign.
Alleluia
Six years after presenting Vinyan at the Venice Film Festival, Fabrice Du Welz finally returns with potentially not one, but a pair of works for the ’14 campaign.
- 4/16/2014
- by IONCINEMA.com Contributing Writers
- IONCINEMA.com
A Dangerous Method
Although I'm not a fan of biopic, I'm a little bit fascinated by how Sigmund Freud developed his own brand of psychology. Besides, any film directed by David Cronenberg, one of Canada's finest, is an event. Add to this the wonderful cast made of Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightley. Date of release: December 23.
Monsieur Lazhar
This film won't be a box-office success in Quebec because it features a foreign actor (French comedian Fellag) and a character who's supposed to be an immigrant. Yes, many Quebeckers are that close-minded. However, once in a while, it's a blessing to see that some Quebecker directors - in this case Philippe Falardeau - try to talk about immigration in films. Date of release: October 28.
Roméo Onze
Well, we've been hearing about this film during the summer and this might be the best film ever made by a Quebecker from ethnic minorities.
Although I'm not a fan of biopic, I'm a little bit fascinated by how Sigmund Freud developed his own brand of psychology. Besides, any film directed by David Cronenberg, one of Canada's finest, is an event. Add to this the wonderful cast made of Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightley. Date of release: December 23.
Monsieur Lazhar
This film won't be a box-office success in Quebec because it features a foreign actor (French comedian Fellag) and a character who's supposed to be an immigrant. Yes, many Quebeckers are that close-minded. However, once in a while, it's a blessing to see that some Quebecker directors - in this case Philippe Falardeau - try to talk about immigration in films. Date of release: October 28.
Roméo Onze
Well, we've been hearing about this film during the summer and this might be the best film ever made by a Quebecker from ethnic minorities.
- 9/3/2011
- by noreply@blogger.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
Les Films Christal, a branch of the Canadian film distributor Entertainment One, has released the trailer of Jean-Philippe Pearson's Le bonheur des autres. The film will come out in Quebec's theatres on October 7.
Twenty years before the events in the film's story, Jean-Pierre (Michel Barrette) left his wife, Louise (Louise Portal). At that moment, Marion and Sylvie, Jean-Pierre's two children, were respectively 10 and 8 years old. Moreover, since then, Louise has been raising her children all by herself. Eventually, Jean-Pierre will come back to his family and he believes that his past mistakes were forgotten.
During Sylvain's (Marc-André Grondin) 29th birthday, Jean-Pierre announces to his family that he's dating Evelynne (Julie LeBreton), a beautiful woman of 30 years old. Obviously, tensions between Jean-Pierre and his family get to the surface. While Louise sees this as an injustice, Sylvain complains about the absence of his father. As for Marion (Ève Duranceau), she has...
Twenty years before the events in the film's story, Jean-Pierre (Michel Barrette) left his wife, Louise (Louise Portal). At that moment, Marion and Sylvie, Jean-Pierre's two children, were respectively 10 and 8 years old. Moreover, since then, Louise has been raising her children all by herself. Eventually, Jean-Pierre will come back to his family and he believes that his past mistakes were forgotten.
During Sylvain's (Marc-André Grondin) 29th birthday, Jean-Pierre announces to his family that he's dating Evelynne (Julie LeBreton), a beautiful woman of 30 years old. Obviously, tensions between Jean-Pierre and his family get to the surface. While Louise sees this as an injustice, Sylvain complains about the absence of his father. As for Marion (Ève Duranceau), she has...
- 7/13/2011
- by anhkhoido@gmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
Laurent Cantet, who won the Palm d’Or at Cannes for one of his lesser films The Class (2008), is one of the best political filmmakers in the world today although his political cinema is of a different kind than that of past masters like Francesco Rosi, Gilo Pontecorvo and Constantin Costa-Gavras. Distinguishing Cantet from the others is his disinclination to ‘probe’ underneath the surface and provide an overriding analysis. His films do not try to see the whole picture – examine an event from different viewpoints – as Costa-Gavras does in Z (1969) – but tries to stick to one viewpoint. If his films lack an analytical side, their ambiguity perhaps also brings them closer to art.
Heading South (Vers le Sud, 2005) is set in poverty-stricken Haiti in the 1980s and tells the story of three middle-aged women tourists Ellen (Charlotte Rampling), Brenda (Karen Young) and Sue (Louise Portal) who arrive there individually with...
Heading South (Vers le Sud, 2005) is set in poverty-stricken Haiti in the 1980s and tells the story of three middle-aged women tourists Ellen (Charlotte Rampling), Brenda (Karen Young) and Sue (Louise Portal) who arrive there individually with...
- 2/10/2011
- by MK Raghvendra
- DearCinema.com
V, a French Canadian TV network, will renew the half-hour dramatic comedy Prozac, La Maladie Du Bonheur for a second season.
The first season's finale left us at a moment when Philippe Racine (Patrice Robitaille), a fallen columnist of a prestigious newspaper, was making some progress in his therapy. After all, he wanted to commit a suicide after he knowingly plagiarized an article of a French newspaper.
Also returning for the second season will be François Létourneau, Isabelle Blais, Louis Morissette, Gilles Renaud, France Castel, Louise Portal, Jean-Pierre Bergeron, Martin Laroche, Sophie Cadieux and Sandrine Bisson.
For the moment, V hasn't announced any premiere date for Prozac, which was written by Sophia Borovchyk and Karina Goma. However, the show will probably return next fall.
The first season's finale left us at a moment when Philippe Racine (Patrice Robitaille), a fallen columnist of a prestigious newspaper, was making some progress in his therapy. After all, he wanted to commit a suicide after he knowingly plagiarized an article of a French newspaper.
Also returning for the second season will be François Létourneau, Isabelle Blais, Louis Morissette, Gilles Renaud, France Castel, Louise Portal, Jean-Pierre Bergeron, Martin Laroche, Sophie Cadieux and Sandrine Bisson.
For the moment, V hasn't announced any premiere date for Prozac, which was written by Sophia Borovchyk and Karina Goma. However, the show will probably return next fall.
- 2/8/2011
- by anhkhoido@gmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
One can tell that V, a French Canadian TV network, is dying for the premiere of its new original series Prozac. Besides, the network has also released online a video that brings us on the set of this show created by Sophia Borovchyk and Karina Goma. In this video, the writers and a few members of the cast talk about the show's story.
The show's story is centred on Philippe (Patrice Robitaille), a columnist in his thirties who have always had everything in life. However, because of a major failure in his professional life, Philippe gets fired and even contemplates committing a suicide. This is why his relatives and close friends urge him to seek help.
This is why Philippe joins a group therapy for depressed people. he group is made of Marie (Sandrine Bisson), a morally naughty woman, François (Jean-Pierre Bergeron), a depressed crooner, and Mireille (Louise Portal), a...
The show's story is centred on Philippe (Patrice Robitaille), a columnist in his thirties who have always had everything in life. However, because of a major failure in his professional life, Philippe gets fired and even contemplates committing a suicide. This is why his relatives and close friends urge him to seek help.
This is why Philippe joins a group therapy for depressed people. he group is made of Marie (Sandrine Bisson), a morally naughty woman, François (Jean-Pierre Bergeron), a depressed crooner, and Mireille (Louise Portal), a...
- 8/25/2010
- by anhkhoido@hotmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
V, a French Canadian TV network, has revealed the details of the script of its new original series Prozac, which was created by Sophia Borovchyk and Karina Goma. The show is currently in production in Montreal and will premiere this September.
In Prozac, we follow Philippe (Patrice Robitaille), a columnist who's living large until the day he's got fired because of a faux pas. Besides, when his friends and relatives learn that Philippe contemplates suicide, they implore him to seek help.
While he's at the end of the road and approaching his fourties, Philippe decides to join a group therapy for depressed people. The group is made of Marie (Sandrine Bisson), a morally naughty woman, François (Jean-Pierre Bergeron), a depressed crooner, and Mireille (Louise Portal), a patient with a Mother Teresa syndrome (i.e. wanting to help people at all cost even when they don't need it). Mathieu (François Létourneau...
In Prozac, we follow Philippe (Patrice Robitaille), a columnist who's living large until the day he's got fired because of a faux pas. Besides, when his friends and relatives learn that Philippe contemplates suicide, they implore him to seek help.
While he's at the end of the road and approaching his fourties, Philippe decides to join a group therapy for depressed people. The group is made of Marie (Sandrine Bisson), a morally naughty woman, François (Jean-Pierre Bergeron), a depressed crooner, and Mireille (Louise Portal), a patient with a Mother Teresa syndrome (i.e. wanting to help people at all cost even when they don't need it). Mathieu (François Létourneau...
- 7/24/2010
- by anhkhoido@hotmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
Since July 5, the upcoming Canadian romantic comedy Le bonheur des autres from director Jean-Phillipe Pearson has been in production in Montreal. This will be the case until August 13, 2010.
Twenty years before the events in the film's story, Jean-Pierre (Michel Barrette) left his wife, Louise (Louise Portal). At that moment, Marion and Sylvie, Jean-Pierre's two children, were respectively 10 and 8 years old. Moreover, since then, Louise has been raising her children all by herself. Eventually, Jean-Pierre will come back to his family and he believes that his past mistakes were forgotten.
During Sylvain's (Marc-André Grondin) 29th birthday, Jean-Pierre announces to his family that he's dating Evelynne (Julie LeBreton), a beautiful woman of 30 years old. Obviously, tensions between Jean-Pierre and his family get to the surface. While Louise sees this as an injustice, Sylvain complains about the absence of his father. As for Marion (Ève Duranceau), she has been trying to have a child for two years,...
Twenty years before the events in the film's story, Jean-Pierre (Michel Barrette) left his wife, Louise (Louise Portal). At that moment, Marion and Sylvie, Jean-Pierre's two children, were respectively 10 and 8 years old. Moreover, since then, Louise has been raising her children all by herself. Eventually, Jean-Pierre will come back to his family and he believes that his past mistakes were forgotten.
During Sylvain's (Marc-André Grondin) 29th birthday, Jean-Pierre announces to his family that he's dating Evelynne (Julie LeBreton), a beautiful woman of 30 years old. Obviously, tensions between Jean-Pierre and his family get to the surface. While Louise sees this as an injustice, Sylvain complains about the absence of his father. As for Marion (Ève Duranceau), she has been trying to have a child for two years,...
- 7/19/2010
- by anhkhoido@hotmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
V, a French Canadian TV network, revealed the leading cast of its upcoming original series Prozac - La maladie du bonheur. The show, which was written by Sophia Borovchyk and Karina Goma, is slated for a premiere this fall.
More than a month ago, V promised that we'll see in Prozac a "prestigious cast that will know how to convey the audacity and originality of Sophia Borovchyk's and Karina Goma's texts". The leading actors of the series will be Patrice Robitaille, Isabelle Blais, François Létourneau and Louis Morissette.
The story will be centred on Philippe (Patrice Robitaille), a man in his thirties who have always had everything in life. However, because of a major failure in his professional life, Philippe is getting closer to the bottom of the barrel. Through Philippe's eyes, we get to see how his three close friends and him strive to find happiness at all cost.
More than a month ago, V promised that we'll see in Prozac a "prestigious cast that will know how to convey the audacity and originality of Sophia Borovchyk's and Karina Goma's texts". The leading actors of the series will be Patrice Robitaille, Isabelle Blais, François Létourneau and Louis Morissette.
The story will be centred on Philippe (Patrice Robitaille), a man in his thirties who have always had everything in life. However, because of a major failure in his professional life, Philippe is getting closer to the bottom of the barrel. Through Philippe's eyes, we get to see how his three close friends and him strive to find happiness at all cost.
- 7/2/2010
- by anhkhoido@hotmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
VENICE, Italy -- Laurent Cantet's thoughtful drama "Heading South" examines the time in the 1970s when Haiti was known as a destination for sexual tourists, well-off women of a certain age from North America who spent their money seeking pleasure amongst the carefree local boys on the beautiful beaches.
The screenplay, by Cantet and Robin Campillo, is based on three short stories by Dany Laferriere and draws on the lives of three women who in key scenes address the camera directly. Their candid admissions of what they seek and why, and the realities they are reluctant to confront, make for an absorbing tale that could do well, especially with female audiences fond of "Shirley Valentine" and its ilk.
"Heading South", screened in competition at Venice, is a very different film from that sentimental crowd-pleaser, but the women's motives aren't so far apart. Ellen (Charlotte Rampling), Brenda (Karen Young) and Sue (Louise Portal) each find something in the engaging, attentive and lissome young beach boy Legba (Menothy Cesar) they cannot find at home, even if they must pay for it.
Ellen, who has been holidaying in Haiti for six years, is not bothered by it at all. She's 55, a lecturer on French literature at Wellesley and disgusted by the men of Boston. "I always thought that when I was old I would pay younger men to make love to me," Ellen says, echoing the celebrated words of Francoise Sagan.
Brenda, who is from Georgia, met Legba while on holiday with her husband, Mark. "I threw myself on him. It was my first orgasm. I was 45," she says. That was three years ago. Now Mark is history, and she's back.
Sue, from Montreal, is plump and vivacious. "I feel like a butterfly here -- free, unattached. We all feel different here," she says.
But what the tourists don't know about Legba and life on Haiti under the ruthless dictatorship of "Baby Doc" Duvalier is summed up in one word: everything.
While the whites live in luxury, the Haitians live in desperate poverty and powerless fear. The scrupulously polite and efficient hotel manager Albert (Lys Ambroise) also speaks to the camera, telling of his father and grandfather and their abiding hatred of all white people, especially Americans.
Rampling, whose beauty continues to light up the screen, is wonderful as Ellen in her assuredness and her casual manipulation of others and in the small ways she betrays her insecurity. Young also is particularly good as a woman prepared to throw out everything she knows to make up for lost time. Cesar makes Legba's appeal believable, and Portal and Ambroise add solid support.
As the ugliness of life in the heart of paradise spills over to the spoiled intruders, they react to what they discover in quite different ways. Cantet keeps a lid on a story that he could have easily exploited, but he makes his points about beauty, fulfillment, self-indulgence and delusion with a measured hand.
HEADING SOUTH
Haut et Court, Les Films Seville, France 3 Cinema, StudioCanal
Credits:
Director: Laurent Cantet
Screenwriters: Laurent Cantet & Robin Campillo
Producers: Caroline Benjo, Carole Scotta, Simon Arnal
Director of photography: Pierre Milon
Art director: Franckie Diago
Editor: Robin Campillo
Cast:
Ellen: Charlotte Rampling
Brenda: Karen Young
Sue: Louise Portal
Legba: Menothy Cesar
Albert: Lys Ambroise
Eddy: Jackensen Pierre Olmo Diaz
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 105 mins...
The screenplay, by Cantet and Robin Campillo, is based on three short stories by Dany Laferriere and draws on the lives of three women who in key scenes address the camera directly. Their candid admissions of what they seek and why, and the realities they are reluctant to confront, make for an absorbing tale that could do well, especially with female audiences fond of "Shirley Valentine" and its ilk.
"Heading South", screened in competition at Venice, is a very different film from that sentimental crowd-pleaser, but the women's motives aren't so far apart. Ellen (Charlotte Rampling), Brenda (Karen Young) and Sue (Louise Portal) each find something in the engaging, attentive and lissome young beach boy Legba (Menothy Cesar) they cannot find at home, even if they must pay for it.
Ellen, who has been holidaying in Haiti for six years, is not bothered by it at all. She's 55, a lecturer on French literature at Wellesley and disgusted by the men of Boston. "I always thought that when I was old I would pay younger men to make love to me," Ellen says, echoing the celebrated words of Francoise Sagan.
Brenda, who is from Georgia, met Legba while on holiday with her husband, Mark. "I threw myself on him. It was my first orgasm. I was 45," she says. That was three years ago. Now Mark is history, and she's back.
Sue, from Montreal, is plump and vivacious. "I feel like a butterfly here -- free, unattached. We all feel different here," she says.
But what the tourists don't know about Legba and life on Haiti under the ruthless dictatorship of "Baby Doc" Duvalier is summed up in one word: everything.
While the whites live in luxury, the Haitians live in desperate poverty and powerless fear. The scrupulously polite and efficient hotel manager Albert (Lys Ambroise) also speaks to the camera, telling of his father and grandfather and their abiding hatred of all white people, especially Americans.
Rampling, whose beauty continues to light up the screen, is wonderful as Ellen in her assuredness and her casual manipulation of others and in the small ways she betrays her insecurity. Young also is particularly good as a woman prepared to throw out everything she knows to make up for lost time. Cesar makes Legba's appeal believable, and Portal and Ambroise add solid support.
As the ugliness of life in the heart of paradise spills over to the spoiled intruders, they react to what they discover in quite different ways. Cantet keeps a lid on a story that he could have easily exploited, but he makes his points about beauty, fulfillment, self-indulgence and delusion with a measured hand.
HEADING SOUTH
Haut et Court, Les Films Seville, France 3 Cinema, StudioCanal
Credits:
Director: Laurent Cantet
Screenwriters: Laurent Cantet & Robin Campillo
Producers: Caroline Benjo, Carole Scotta, Simon Arnal
Director of photography: Pierre Milon
Art director: Franckie Diago
Editor: Robin Campillo
Cast:
Ellen: Charlotte Rampling
Brenda: Karen Young
Sue: Louise Portal
Legba: Menothy Cesar
Albert: Lys Ambroise
Eddy: Jackensen Pierre Olmo Diaz
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 105 mins...
VENICE -- Laurent Cantet's thoughtful drama "Heading South" examines the time in the '70s when Haiti was known as a destination for sexual tourists, well-off women of a certain age from North America, who spent their money seeking pleasure amongst the carefree local boys on the beautiful beaches.
The screenplay, by Cantet and Robin Campillo, is based on three short stories by Dany Laferriere and draws on the lives of three women who in key scenes address the camera directly. Their candid admissions of what they seek and why, and the realities they are reluctant to confront, make for an absorbing tale that could do well, especially with female audiences fond of "Shirley Valentine" and its ilk.
"Heading South", screened In Competition at the Venice International Film Festival, is a very different film from that sentimental crowd-pleaser but the women's motives aren't so far apart. Ellen (Charlotte Rampling), Brenda (Karen Young) and Sue (Louise Portal) each find something in the engaging, attentive and lissome young beach boy Legba (Menothy Cesar) they cannot find at home, even if they must pay for it.
Ellen, who has been holidaying in Haiti for six years, is not bothered by it at all. She's 55, a lecturer on French literature at Wellesley and disgusted by the men of Boston. "I always thought that when I was old I would pay younger men to make love to me," Ellen says, echoing the celebrated words of Francoise Sagan.
Brenda, who is from Georgia, met Legba while on holiday with her husband Mark. "I threw myself on him. It was my first orgasm. I was 45," she says. That was three years ago. Now Mark is history and she's back.
Sue, from Montreal, is plump and vivacious. "I feel like a butterfly here, free, unattached. We all feel different here," she says.
But what the tourists don't know about Legba and life on Haiti under the ruthless dictatorship of "Baby Doc" Duvalier is summed up in one word: everything.
While the whites live in luxury, the Haitians live in desperate poverty and powerless fear. The scrupulously polite and efficient hotel manager Albert (Lys Ambroise) also speaks to the camera, telling of his father and grandfather and their abiding hatred of all white people, especially Americans.
Rampling, whose beauty continues to light up the screen, is wonderful as Ellen both in her assuredness, her casual manipulation of others, and in the small ways she betrays her insecurity. Young also is particularly good as a woman prepared to throw out everything she knows in order to make up for lost time. Cesar makes Legba's appeal believable, and Portal and Ambroise add solid support.
As the ugliness of life in the heart of paradise spills over to the spoiled intruders, they react to what they discover in quite different ways. Cantet keeps a lid on a story that he could have easily exploited but he makes his points about beauty, fulfillment, self-indulgence and delusion with a measured hand.
HEADING SOUTH
Haut et Court, Les Films Seville, France 3 Cinema, StudioCanal
Credits:
Director: Laurent Cantet
Screenwriters: Laurent Cantet & Robin Campillo
Producers: Caroline Benjo, Carole Scotta, Simon Arnal
Director of photography: Pierre Milon
Art director: Franckie Diago
Editor: Robin Campillo
Cast:
Ellen: Charlotte Rampling
Brenda: Karen Young
Sue: Louise Portal
Legba: Menothy Cesar
Albert: Lys Ambroise
Eddy: Jackensen Pierre Olmo Diaz
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 105 mins...
The screenplay, by Cantet and Robin Campillo, is based on three short stories by Dany Laferriere and draws on the lives of three women who in key scenes address the camera directly. Their candid admissions of what they seek and why, and the realities they are reluctant to confront, make for an absorbing tale that could do well, especially with female audiences fond of "Shirley Valentine" and its ilk.
"Heading South", screened In Competition at the Venice International Film Festival, is a very different film from that sentimental crowd-pleaser but the women's motives aren't so far apart. Ellen (Charlotte Rampling), Brenda (Karen Young) and Sue (Louise Portal) each find something in the engaging, attentive and lissome young beach boy Legba (Menothy Cesar) they cannot find at home, even if they must pay for it.
Ellen, who has been holidaying in Haiti for six years, is not bothered by it at all. She's 55, a lecturer on French literature at Wellesley and disgusted by the men of Boston. "I always thought that when I was old I would pay younger men to make love to me," Ellen says, echoing the celebrated words of Francoise Sagan.
Brenda, who is from Georgia, met Legba while on holiday with her husband Mark. "I threw myself on him. It was my first orgasm. I was 45," she says. That was three years ago. Now Mark is history and she's back.
Sue, from Montreal, is plump and vivacious. "I feel like a butterfly here, free, unattached. We all feel different here," she says.
But what the tourists don't know about Legba and life on Haiti under the ruthless dictatorship of "Baby Doc" Duvalier is summed up in one word: everything.
While the whites live in luxury, the Haitians live in desperate poverty and powerless fear. The scrupulously polite and efficient hotel manager Albert (Lys Ambroise) also speaks to the camera, telling of his father and grandfather and their abiding hatred of all white people, especially Americans.
Rampling, whose beauty continues to light up the screen, is wonderful as Ellen both in her assuredness, her casual manipulation of others, and in the small ways she betrays her insecurity. Young also is particularly good as a woman prepared to throw out everything she knows in order to make up for lost time. Cesar makes Legba's appeal believable, and Portal and Ambroise add solid support.
As the ugliness of life in the heart of paradise spills over to the spoiled intruders, they react to what they discover in quite different ways. Cantet keeps a lid on a story that he could have easily exploited but he makes his points about beauty, fulfillment, self-indulgence and delusion with a measured hand.
HEADING SOUTH
Haut et Court, Les Films Seville, France 3 Cinema, StudioCanal
Credits:
Director: Laurent Cantet
Screenwriters: Laurent Cantet & Robin Campillo
Producers: Caroline Benjo, Carole Scotta, Simon Arnal
Director of photography: Pierre Milon
Art director: Franckie Diago
Editor: Robin Campillo
Cast:
Ellen: Charlotte Rampling
Brenda: Karen Young
Sue: Louise Portal
Legba: Menothy Cesar
Albert: Lys Ambroise
Eddy: Jackensen Pierre Olmo Diaz
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 105 mins...
Miramax Films turned out to be a step ahead of the game when it acquired U.S. distribution rights to The Barbarian Invasions, one of the films In Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The French-language picture went on to win the screenplay award for writer-director Denys Arcand and the best actress prize for Marie-Josee Croze, who stars as a young junkie. Also starring in the tale of a man who spends his last days making peace with his life are Remy Girard, Stephane Rousseau and Louise Portal. "Denys Arcand is a great filmmaker whose work stood out high above the rest of the films at this year's Cannes Film Festival," Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein said. "The film is full of humanity and shows a fascinating perspective on friendship and family." Produced by Denise Robert and Daniel Louis from Cinemaginaire, Invasions was acquired from Flach Pyramide International. "We are pleased to have been able to acquire such a wonderful film, which the entire acquisitions team loved, from the renowned company FPI," said Agnes Mentre, executive vp acquisitions and co-productions at Miramax. "It is so rare to find a movie that balances emotion and comedy and also contains profound statements about the important subjects of our lives."...
- 5/27/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Yet another in a seemingly endless series of dark coming-of-age films from French Canada, "Not Me" ranks far below the cream of the crop.
It's a wildly pretentious and numbingly tedious portrait of a boy who's determined, after witnessing his parents partaking in some mildly kinky sex play, to remain a child forever. This first feature by Pierre Gang has inexplicably been chosen by Canada as its best bet for a best foreign-language film Oscar nod.
Screened recently at the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, the picture is set in Quebec, circa 1967, coinciding with Montreal's Expo and Canada's centennial. It is seen through the eyes of young Rene (Richard Moffatt), a somewhat strange, ultra-serious 11-year-old who is permanently traumatized after confusing his parent's carnal interlude for an act of violence. Of course, it doesn't help matters when his dad is discovered the next morning lying dead in bed of an apparent heart attack.
Equating sex with death, Rene refuses to grow up, remaining a pre-adolescent as the rest of his family matures and his waitress mother (Louise Portal) goes through several different hair colors. When she hooks up with a new boyfriend, the swaggering Roch (Patrice Godin), the possessive Rene begins to drop hints that his mother should put Roch out of the picture in the same manner he believes she took care of his drunken father.
Ultimately, and remarkably without therapy, Rene gets over his little hang-up, and, armed with the knowledge that sex can be a beautiful thing, he relinquishes childhood and embraces manhood a mere nine years off schedule.
While Gang's script and direction is as pompous as the synopsis would imply, his cast, particularly newcomer Moffatt and veteran Quebec film star Portal, is faultless, delivering grounded, committed performances.
Impressive also are the technical contributions, beginning with the usual fine cinematography from frequent Altman collaborator Pierre Mignot and backed by terrific period touches from art director Francois Laplante ("Le Confessional") and costume designer Suzanne Harel ("Joshua Then and Now") who lend the late 1960s setting a remarkable palpability.
It's a shame their fine work couldn't have been attached to a better film.
NOT ME (Sous-sol)
Malofilm International
Director-screenwriter Pierre Gang
Producer Roger Frappier
Director of photography Pierre Mignot
Production designer Francois Laplante
Editor Florence Moureaux
Costume designer Suzanne Harel
Music Anne Bourne, Ken Myrh
Color/stereo
Cast:
Reine Louise Portal
Francoise Isabelle Pasco
Roch Patrice Godin
Raymond Daniel Gadouas
Rene Richard Moffatt
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
It's a wildly pretentious and numbingly tedious portrait of a boy who's determined, after witnessing his parents partaking in some mildly kinky sex play, to remain a child forever. This first feature by Pierre Gang has inexplicably been chosen by Canada as its best bet for a best foreign-language film Oscar nod.
Screened recently at the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, the picture is set in Quebec, circa 1967, coinciding with Montreal's Expo and Canada's centennial. It is seen through the eyes of young Rene (Richard Moffatt), a somewhat strange, ultra-serious 11-year-old who is permanently traumatized after confusing his parent's carnal interlude for an act of violence. Of course, it doesn't help matters when his dad is discovered the next morning lying dead in bed of an apparent heart attack.
Equating sex with death, Rene refuses to grow up, remaining a pre-adolescent as the rest of his family matures and his waitress mother (Louise Portal) goes through several different hair colors. When she hooks up with a new boyfriend, the swaggering Roch (Patrice Godin), the possessive Rene begins to drop hints that his mother should put Roch out of the picture in the same manner he believes she took care of his drunken father.
Ultimately, and remarkably without therapy, Rene gets over his little hang-up, and, armed with the knowledge that sex can be a beautiful thing, he relinquishes childhood and embraces manhood a mere nine years off schedule.
While Gang's script and direction is as pompous as the synopsis would imply, his cast, particularly newcomer Moffatt and veteran Quebec film star Portal, is faultless, delivering grounded, committed performances.
Impressive also are the technical contributions, beginning with the usual fine cinematography from frequent Altman collaborator Pierre Mignot and backed by terrific period touches from art director Francois Laplante ("Le Confessional") and costume designer Suzanne Harel ("Joshua Then and Now") who lend the late 1960s setting a remarkable palpability.
It's a shame their fine work couldn't have been attached to a better film.
NOT ME (Sous-sol)
Malofilm International
Director-screenwriter Pierre Gang
Producer Roger Frappier
Director of photography Pierre Mignot
Production designer Francois Laplante
Editor Florence Moureaux
Costume designer Suzanne Harel
Music Anne Bourne, Ken Myrh
Color/stereo
Cast:
Reine Louise Portal
Francoise Isabelle Pasco
Roch Patrice Godin
Raymond Daniel Gadouas
Rene Richard Moffatt
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/11/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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