Festival de Cannes
MOVIE REVIEW
Strangers by Night (2023)
Longtime readers of this site will know this critic has a serious weakness for the genre of romantic comedy where the couple spend the night walking around a city, talking and getting to know each other as they explore the world instead of each other’s bodies. The previous entry in this genre was the Toronto charmer “Stay the Night,” while “Strangers by Night” is set in Paris. Its couple is older, with less reason to get together than most, but the irresistible pull between them is something the movie does a wonderful job exploring, up to a point.
Continue reading “Before Sunrise” »
MOVIE REVIEW
My Piece of the Pie (2011)
Chantal Thomine-Desmazures/Studiocanal
With “My Piece of the Pie,” Cédric Klapisch seems to want to strike a happy medium between the hyperkinetic, post-E.U. “L’auberge espagnole” and the mature and hence snoozy “Paris.” The result recalls lighter Robert Guédiguian fare (think “Marius and Jeannette”), which entertains without offering anything of substance on its blue-collar protagonist disenfranchised by the global recession.
Continue reading “When the Job’s Away” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Paris (2008)
Mars Distribution
Cédric Klapisch offered the definitive view of the City of Lights in 1996 with “When the Cat’s Away.” Starring mostly unprofessional actors from a deteriorating but ethnically diverse neighborhood, the film charmingly depicted a spirit of community enduring amid the changing times. It was infinitely more authentic than the obviously touristy treatments of the city such as that in “Amélie,” which went as far as digitally erasing graffiti on walls in a desperate attempt to create a romantic ideal that in fact does not exist.
Continue reading “Paris When It Fizzles” »