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8
Beautiful Gesture .
People who know Julien Duvivier's " la bandera " ( 1935 ) will find analogies between the two movies . In both of them , the legion is an escape from law . The approach is different however : in " la bandera " , the hero and his mates are simple , crude people . In Wellmann's work , they are distinguished , " noblesse ...
583,942
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8
The talented Mister Pascal .
Marcel Lherbier , like his colleague Abel Gance , made his most celebrated and acclaimed films in the silent era . Among all his talkies , only " La Nuit Fantastique " can be really looked upon as a classic . " Feu Mathias Pascal " is a curious film , depicting a character whose only wish in life is freedom . First par...
582,804
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8
The heart is a lonely hunter . ( Carson McCullers )
Merlusse is a teacher whose pupils create mayhem in his class . " Merlusse " is a nickname ( coming from the word " merluche " = dried cod ) . He seems harsh and strict , but under an off-putting manner , he hides real affection for his students . It's Christmas's night : some of the boarders have gone , but some have ...
585,555
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8
Heart of gold
Awake deserves better than its average rating . It's a very impressive thriller , very far-fetched , with more implausibilities than you can think of , but who cares ? Who will call " Die Hard 1 , 2 , 3 . . . " realistic ? It is the first time someone has destroyed the hackneyed cliché of the over possessive mother ....
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8
From ignorance to enlightenment .
First scene ( shot in color ) : Cleo visits the fortune-teller : ignorance , confusion . Last scene : Cleo is a responsible woman now , she's ready to cope with a not-so-rose future : enlightenment . Between the scenes , one hour and a half ( the title is a misnomer ) . Historically , it's not the first film whose stor...
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8
Poetic , elegiac , wonderful .
The movie is in the past conditional , because we know the real end of the story and Delmer Daves who had been studying the Indians ways for a long time did not try to fool the audience : " broken arrow " is not a nice " peace and love " movie : there are plenty of death , violence and hatred here , more than in the av...
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9
and ends with brilliant results
Batman was created by Bob Kane in 1939 and in the sixties , a wacky version with gaudy colors was shot . The Batman saga was revived by Tim Burton and it started under auspicious skies with the two following novel chapters : " Batman " ( 1989 ) and " Batman Returns " ( 1992 ) . With the arrival of Joel Schumacher , t...
582,944
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9
Hello stranger !
This film is another definitive proof that the FRench cinema did not begin , as too many people innocently think , with Robert Bresson or the Nouvelle Vague . " Un revenant " has everything : a dream of a cast where Jouvet is of course the stand-out : just hearing him speak is just a joy , his ironical vengeful voice m...
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9
he said that Christine Pascal would make a beautiful film
SPOILERS A divorced man ( Richard Berry ) learns that her daughter's got an incurable illness . They're leaving on the French and Italian roads and they tend to become closer themselves as if they wanted to escape from the terrible truth . Finally they arrive on their second home in the southern France where Berry's wi...
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9
Farewell to the second golden era .
Claude Chabrol started as part of the nouvelle vague , as contemporary of Truffaut and - yuk ! - Godard , but his roots are in the old cinema , that of Clouzot and Duvivier . That's why his best movies hold up very well today . A first golden era included such works as " à double tour " " le beau Serge " and " les cous...
585,498
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9
The most beautiful years of our lives
The first film made up of sketches made by different directors . ( unlike Duvivier's works ) . All deal with the return of prisoners in their native France after WW2 . Of course the quality is uneven , but all are perfectly acceptable , some highly commendable . SEGMENT ONE : The return of Aunt Emma or " Will evil neve...
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9
A face in the crowd
One of the mavericks of the French cinema , Gerard Blain became famous with three great works , two of which ( " Le Beau Serge " " Les Cousins " ) belonged to the Nouvelle Vague whereas the third one was one of the masterpieces of the old one ( " Voici Le Temps Des Assassins " ) . The clues to his future as a director ...
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9
Two masterpieces in a year .
In 1940 , Frank Borzage gave two great movies in a row . In these trouble times , it was a true tour de force to achieve that . " Strange cargo " and " mortal storm " are admirable works , works of redemption , full of compassion for the human race . Hats off to you , M . Borzage , you who are often ignored when they l...
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9
They're my pals .
Never the timing for a movie had been so disastrous . Released in those " glorious " eighties when the success stories and the triumphalist heroes were the golden rule , " Ironweed " stood no chance at all . Two tramps did not fit well in the movie landscape of those " feel good " times . And two tramps played by two m...
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9
Anouilh and Grémillon .
Immediate background : Jean Anouilh who wrote the screenplay was to direct the movie but he fell sick and had to give up . He chose Jean Grémillon , one of the great directors of the golden age of the FRench cinema ( 1935-1945 ) to do the job and he was right . Jean Grémillon gathered a splendid cast including Paul Ber...
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9
I'm glad you couldn't .
Spiral Staircase was the horror masterpiece Robert Siodmak had always threatened to make . In 1939 , " Pièges " his last French movie and his finest - remade by Douglas Sirk as " lured " introduced the unusual places , the eerie atmosphere ( Von Stroheim's house ) . In 1944 , " Phantom Lady " from the great William I...
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9
an apparently trivial story transcended in a stylish treatment
One of these days , I'm going to cut you into little pieces ( Pink Floyd , One of These Days , Meddle , 1971 ) . I have often written in some reviews on this site that I wasn't a big fan of Quentin Tarantino , a cinema-going filmmaker with a mind-boggling culture . It's true that I have never been very taken with " P...
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9
Unsurpassed Sorpasso
I've seen Dino Risi's road movie several time and with the same pleasure . The Gassman / Trintignant team superbly works : if they made a remake ( God preserve us ) it would be very difficult to find back the rapport they had . All along the road ( I say it again it's a road movie , and it is to be ranked among the bes...
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246,578
9
Donny and the bunny man
Donnie Darko is a brainy but depressed teenager . Between a familial cocoon on the verge of splitting up and a conformist high school , he's suffocating . His only real friend is a giant rabbit named Frank . The latter orders him to commit acts of violence and predicts him the end of the world in 28 days , 06 hours , 4...
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9
Incredible indeed .
Along with " invasion of the body snatchers " ( 1956 ) " forbidden planet " ( 1956 ) and " the fly " ( 1958 ) , the best movie sci-fi offered in the fifties . Richard Matheson's remarkable novel was adapted by himself , thus the movie is an accurate rendition . Differences are kept to the minimum , and are probably due...
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9
Full moon fever .
Among the three Wyler-Davis ' collaborations ( the others being " little foxes " and " Jezebel " ) " the letter " is their triumph . The repugnance that most of the French critics feel for the great Wyler is one of their major flaws ( coming from " les cahiers du cinema " and the stupidity of the nouvelle vague ravings...
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9
When the legend is more beautiful than History . . . .
. . . let's film the legend . That's the story of " Citizen Kane " ' Liberty Valance " and countless other heroes alive or half-dead , buried in the ground or imaginary . After all , Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were two shabby seedy little gangsters , their photographs show that thy were not a beautiful couple , not...
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9
Robert Enrico's second masterpiece .
. . . the first one being the unsurpassed " Au Coeur De La Vie " Released when the nouvelle vague was à la mode and when critics did not care for the others ( = who were not part of the Godard clique ) , " les adventurers " has stood the test of time remarkably well , so well that ( God preserve us ) some producers cou...
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9
another Ken Loach winner
Joe ( Peter Mullan ) is a guy who has seen it all before . A former alcoholic , he kicked his habit . Now he is unemployed but is paradoxically very active since he trains a little football team and interests himself in young Liam who has a brush with the local underground for a story of unpaid drugs with his young spo...
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9
The crowning of Wyler's career
In the sunny , too sunny country , very nasty things happen . A young man goes chasing butterflies which he kills and adds to his collection . But there's more . . . William Wyler , unfairly deemed " academic " , gave with " the collector " his most sustained piece of work in the sixties . With the impressive exception...
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9
energetic youth
Basically , Cédric Klapisch's second long feature movie had known a genesis like " Duel " ( 1971 ) by Steven Spielberg . It was to be shot for the television and broadcast on the Franco-German channel : Arte . But it was eventually exploited in the French theaters . This film , partly autobiographic brings out a deep n...
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9
A second look at " la rupture " .
La rupture might be the best Chabrol . I've recently seen it and I think it has improved a lot with time , more than any other movie of the Chabrol 1967-1973 heyday , even more , in several respects , than " le boucher " or " que la bête meure " . Completely overlooked , there is a lot of Chabrol fans that don't even...
584,293
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9
Hymns to the silence
It's considered polite to write that the silent era was Gance's time and that his talkies are mediocre stuff . Do you need FF Coppola to give them a chance ? Do you ? Gance was a pioneer even when he made talkies . Actually his post-silent career was a constant drift back and forth between adventure ( " La Fin du Monde...
583,377
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9
between heaven and hell
I haven't watched the first version supposedly mixed of " Charlie and the Chocolate Factory " ( 1971 ) dismissed by Roald Dahl and so I will eschew any comparison with this long-anticipated cover directed by Tim Burton . I watched it a few days ago and the first thing that comes to mind about it is that Tim Burton's ve...
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9
Good short
The director is none other than my cousin . And he also acts in this excellent short . It's based on an old French song " le p'tit Bal Perdu " which was a hit in the fifties . The scenery depicts a big field where we can see a quite big table and several chairs . Men and women sit down and stand up to the rhythm of mus...
584,126
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9
An all-time sci-fi classic .
Taking some liberties with Pierre Boulle's book , the movie remains faithful to its spirit , to its Voltaire-like irony . It's interesting if you saw the movie to read the book and compare the two endings : desperate at the end of the movie , it's actually tinged with humor in Boulle's words ( Men inspired by wisdom ? ...
582,977
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9
Ah Le Petit Vin Blanc !
Seven years before his first feature-length film " Jenny " , Carné already displayed the populisme , the command of the picture and the brilliance which would mark his golden era ( 1936-1946 ) . With hindsight , it is pity that , for lack of money , he could not make his final film , " Mouche " from Guy de Maupassant ,...
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9
a new tandem fifteen years later . . .
I would like to be filmed by you . These tender words pronounced by Johnny Hallyday were the catalyst for Patrice Leconte to work with him and led to the creation of " l'Homme Du Train " . Very simply , it's Leconte's best film since his wondrous " la Fille Sur Le Pont " ( 1999 ) . One can say that this wish from the...
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9
Nothing's OK ! Never was , never will !
One of the best prison movies ever made . Jules Dassin's direction is so strong , so precise , so mind-boggling it packs a real wallop . Hume Cronyn gives a subdued but extremely scary portrayal of a sadistic brute . Always in a suave voice , always saying " I want to help you " , there's only one way for him : the har...
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9
Atmosphere , atmosphere . . .
Hotel du Nord is the only Carné movie from the 1936-1946 era which has dialogs not written by Jacques Prévert , but by Henri Jeanson . Janson was much more interested in the Jouvet / Arletty couple than in the pair of lovers , Annabella / Aumont . The latter is rather bland , and their story recalls oddly the Edith P...
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9
Nuns story .
As time goes by , Powell and Pressburger's movies become more and more important and crucial in the evolution of the seventh art . The first time I ' d seen " black narcissus " I had missed the whole point : this is the kind of film you've got to see several times . Five nuns are leaving their Calcutta convent for a mi...
584,833
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9
guten Tag Meisterwerk !
With " Goodbye Lenin ! " ( 2003 ) , German cinema is very well and by showing that it can deliver a true gem from time to time , it still reserves us good surprises . Besides , the commercial triumph of the film abroad was precisely a surprise . True , it filled with enthusiasm about 6 million of German spectators whic...
584,960
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9
Absolute film noir .
The substantive " Manèges " in French has three meanings : a merry-go-round , a ring ( where you practice horse-riding ) , and ploys . The last two meanings can be applied to Allégret's movie . It does take place in a ring and hateful people are making ploys . Bernard Blier owns the ring , he's a naïve meek man , not t...
585,447
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9
fools in the snow
When it was released in 1996 , " Fargo " met public and especially critical acclaim and collected several rewards . But I think that if the Prize for the Best Directing at the Cannes festival was absolutely justified , on the other hand , Frances McDormand didn't deserve her Oscar in 1997 . William H . Macy should have...
582,751
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9
Alan J . Pakula's peak
Along with " Klute " ( 1971 ) and " the Parallax View " ( 1974 ) , " All the President's Men " represents the pinnacle of Alan J . Pakula's career in the seventies . The definitive proof that not only was political film his forte in the seventies but also that this decade was his heyday . Then the slump began in the ei...
584,937
1,219,578
58,997
9
Do not miss Bunny Lake !
Simply , " Bunny Lake " does more for me than such gems as Preminger's " Laura " " Where the sidewalk ends " or " Angel Face " . First the cast and credits : another Saul Bass's tour de force . A hand which is tearing pages out of . . . what ? It seems to indicate that the most important things happened before the film...
584,669
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9
the old laughing lady
Etienne Chatiliez can keep a cool head ! After the commercial and critical success of " Life is a long quiet river " ( 1988 ) , there must have been an immense pressure on him to make a second movie . Two years later , he resurfaced with a new feature-length film , " Tatie Danielle " . At first sight , this film seems ...
582,890
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9
49th parallel
It would be absurd to dismiss " forty-ninth parallel " as a propaganda movie . At the time a whole lot of movies were like that . Names ? William Wyler's " Mrs Minniver " ( 1942 ) , Fritz Lang's " man hunt " ( 1941 ) and " hangmen also die " ( 1943 ) , Alfred Hitchcock's " foreign correspondent " ( 1940 ) and " lifeboa...
583,932
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9
A short story turned into a two-hour movie .
Daphné Du Maurier's work is a short story , which characters are not those depicted in the movie . But Hitchcock did not betray the writer . His ending is as open as that of Du Maurier . It's one of the very rare Hitch movie that does not feature the de rigueur happy end , although some other finals are dark ( see " sh...
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9
We all stand together
Our daily bread is some kind of follow-up to " The Crowd " ( 1928 ) . Not only there is not work in the city anymore on account of the economy , but city is evil , as temptress Sally shows . I love the way King Vidor tackled the subject : the society's rejects's plight after the Depression . He never loses his sense ...
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9
You're your own worst enemy . . . .
Even if you're your own worst enemySick of yourselfSick of your everyday lotYou cannot spend your whole lifeThrowing yourself into the water . That's the song Mouloudji sings in the film , and it comes back as a sinister leitmotiv of a bleak distraught work , one of Sacha Guitry's best , perhaps his best , period . T...
583,338
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9
Romantic Duvivier
In a world as black as Duvivier's , " Marianne de ma jeunesse " seems like an anomaly . This movie was looked upon , for a while , as the film equivalent of Alain-Fournier's " le grand Meaulnes " , but as so many movies of the fifties , it was overshadowed by the impending coming for the nouvelle vague . Hindsight disp...
583,576
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9
Between the two mountains
Except for Dita Parlo ( " La Grande Illusion " " Au Bonheur des Dames " " L'Atalante " ) all the cast has sunk into oblivion . The film itself was restored in 1995 to excellent results . The pictures are splendid , depicting mountains landscapes and cloudy skies and colorful villages with an exceptional talent . This i...
583,161
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9
macadam cowboy
A young dishwasher from Texas , Joe Buck ( Jon Voight ) decides to climb the social ladder in New York where he thinks that thanks to his charm and his handsome appearance , he'll have no trouble seducing rich women . Alas ! He comes up against disappointments and disillusions . As he becomes penniless , he's bent on p...
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9
Greed
This is an excellent adaptation of Zola's much-debated novel about the peasants , the 15th volume in the Rougon-Macquart saga . A lot of people thought when the book was published , that Zola gave to the world a too pessimistic vision of the people from the country , that he showed them as beasts . It's a far cry from ...
584,732
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9
the adventures of the Bride , round 2
Here comes the Bride again in what was one of the most-anticipated films of 2004 which like its elder brother " Kill Bill : Vol . 1 " ( 2003 ) generated much hype . So far , she killed two important enemies ( and many more into the bargain ) and so erased two names on her list . There are still three left including Bil...
583,705
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9
Mock - western in true color .
Once upon a time , there were great parts for women . . . . Can this be called western ? The form looks like a western , but the content is a thousand miles away from Ford , Daves , Mann . Only Walsh and his psychopathologic heroes ( " pursued " ) can vaguely be Ray's predecessor . This is a gaudy extravaganza , in whi...
584,821
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9
All this and France too . . . . .
Anatole Litvak certainly loved France . He made films in that country during the previous decade , some of which were remarkable . He ended his career in Victor Hugo's land but his latter efforts were not really exciting . Even when he was in Hollywood , he never forgot it as this " all this and Heaven too " , " Act of...
585,082
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9
Crawling in the snow
Another silent movie by Borzage and another winner , with or without a lucky star ! Frank Borzage is the poet of compassion , of simple happiness , of the bright side of the human soul . Borzage's heroes ( " seventh heaven " " street angel " " little man what now ? " ) have got to fight against a hostile world . They h...
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And me I have Nick . . . . .
Except for the stunning but a bit implausible end , " kiss of death " is close to perfect . Hathaway was anything by sentimental ( except maybe in his romantic dream " Peter Ibetson " and his " kiss of death " is a film noir extraordinaire . The story is partly told by Nattie's voice over , a voice who tells us in the ...
585,122
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9
The granddaddy of " a perfect world " . . .
. . . . and " Gloria " ( 1980 ) and " Leon " as well . . . Charles Crichton , whose career spans the second half of the century ( " a fish named Wanda " ! ) , is definitely a director to upgrade . " Hunted " is a small gem , a suspenseful sensitive story which casts Bogarde as an unlucky murderer on the lam and young J...
584,361
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Nouveau riche
In spite of a very poor rating , this film is really a killer ! By far Jean Dreville's most important film as well as one of the best Charles Vanel's performances . First intended for Raimu , it seems that Vanel was finally a better choice and anyway if you give this movie a chance , he's gonna blow your mind . Lord ! ...
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run , run , run ( the Velvet Underground ) . . .
The story takes place in Berlin . Manni , one of the two main characters of the movie is in dire straits . Indeed , he works for a dealer and has forgotten a substantial amount of money in the subway ( 100 000 marks ! ) . If he hasn't given this amount to his boss before midday , he is dead . So you can imagine his sta...
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. . . . and I love animals ( Def Leppard ) .
Frédéric Rossif specialized in two types of documentary : the historic documentary : " mourir à Madrid " ( 1963 ) and the second one concerns animals . Here , " la fête sauvage " ranks in the second quoted type . It's obvious that Rossif takes pleasure in filming animals . His documentary articulates and focuses on sev...
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when the cat's away , Chloé learns more about herself . . .
1996 was the year during which Cédric Klapisch definitely imposed his talent in the landscape of French cinema thanks to two feature movies : " un air de famille " and " chacun cherche son chat " . The ones who have been enthralled by these two flicks won't contradict me . Written day-to-day on account of the evolution...
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Learning by doing .
Dedicated to Mrs Montessori ( Italy ) , Mr . Claparède ( Switzerland ) , Mr Bekulé ( Tchecoslovakia ) , Mr Décroly ( Belgium ) and to Mr Freinet ( France ) . The latter's wife contributed to the screenplay , and Monsieur Pascal is none other than Célestin Freinet . Celestin Freinet who was wounded in WW1 , and thus cou...
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The ogre .
Que la bête meure belongs to Chabrol's golden era . This is one of his most brilliant achievements , and , nevertheless , he would do even better with the next one " le boucher " , with , again , Jean Yanne , an actor , who , before , was featured in generally mediocre commercial movies . In his two films with Chabro...
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9
an excellent film
Although this film that is a remake of the Julien Duvivier's film " Panique " ( released in 1948 ) only lasts about one hour and twenty minutes , there is so much to say about it . Among the qualities that this film shows , the most important is its main actor . Indeed , Michel Blanc performs brilliantly this weird cha...
583,893
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or the portrait of a young man , victim of his naivety
When this movie was released in 1974 , it created a huge scandal and strong controversies because it was the first movie about the second world war to introduce a collaborator and not a resistant as a main character . Louis Malle was surely affected by these controversies and he decided to escape into the dream and ima...
583,348
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Before the flood .
That was the beginning of the era when André Cayatte was championing all the good causes . Coming after " justice est faite " ( about euthanasia ) and " nous sommes tous des assassins " ( about the death penalty , a subject which was unusual at the time ) , " avant le déluge " showed the youth's anguish after WW2 , whe...
585,243
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Patrice Leconte leads with brio a " tandem " of two terrific actors
A movie released in 1987 , " Tandem " represents a turning point in Patrice Leconte's work . Indeed , from this film , this brilliant director gives up comedy to shot more dramatic movies which will enable him to assert a more personal and more original style . Thus , " Tandem " is the first of a quite long series of m...
583,369
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50,766
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Le parchemin du diable . . .
I urge the users who saw " night of the demon " to try and find " la Main du Diable " ( 1942 ) by Maurice Tourneur , Jack's ( or Jacques ) ' s own father . Inspired by a Gerard de Nerval's short story and written by Jean - Paul Le Chanois , the script revolves around the same idea : a hand which was supposed to make pe...
583,186
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50,762
9
What I did , I can swear . . .
. . . no beast could have done it ! ( Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , Guillaumet's words , in " les Camarades " ) This famous sentence was on my mind all along the movie , which I had never heard of before and which was a big surprise for me . Once again , thanks to my good IMDb pal , Oystein , who provided me with one fine...
585,460
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witty , funny , no vulgarity : all that a good comedy can ( and must ) be
The movie " Cuisines et Dépendances " ( 1993 ) had revealed Jean Pierre Bacri / Agnès Jaoui's original talent . Here , " un air de famille " ( 1996 ) which is once again an adaptation of a play written by the duo constitutes a kind of extension and especially a clear improvement for them . This movie made by Cédric Kla...
584,382
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69,762
9
Badlands , you gotta live it everyday . . .
It's really a shame that Terrence Malick didn't have the brilliant career he deserved at Hollywood . Shot with a nearly shoestring budget , " Badlands " remains one of the most dazzling debut movies of all time . Malick's legend based on his ( long ) absence has helped it to become a cult-movie . Inspired by a tragic s...
584,776
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9
Fritz Lang's holiday homework part two .
The second part of " der Tiger von Eschnapur " begins with a de rigueur summary . Although it's the same movie divided into two for business concern , " das Indische Grabmal " surpasses its predecessor and makes it sometimes look like a trailer . All promises are fulfilled ; Everything Lang threatened to achieve in " d...
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52,918
9
Exponential melodrama
The greatness in this movie essentially lies in the two black characters . The scene at school when the young daughter is ashamed of her mother is unforgettable . As for Juanita Moore's funeral , it might be the most moving final a movie can have : a cast of thousands , Mahalia Jackson , and the prodigal daughter who c...
583,655
1,219,578
33,523
9
Exciting French whodunit thriller .
It's a Georges Lacombe ' s movie , but actually , it marks the birth of a giant of the French cinema : Henri-George Clouzot . Here credited " Georges Clouzot " , he wrote the dialogue , and his wicked sarcastic humor occasionally surfaces . From Belgian Stanislas-André Steeman ' s detective story " six hommes morts " (...
582,974
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9
Bravery and cowardice
Henri Calef's movie is thoroughly remarkable , one of the best films dealing with WW2 ever . Based on a true story . 1944 : A train full of petrol ( gasoline ) has stopped in the station of Amiens . The German army , still occupying France , fears sabotage . So they decide to take 50 hostages : if the resistant fighter...
583,299
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50,746
9
Räder müssen rollen für den Sieg .
Nachts . . . is the third movie of Siomak's " fourth " career ; a career that began in his native Germany ( " Menschen am Sonntag " ) continued in France ( " Mollenard Capitaine Corsaire " ) reached peaks of film noir in America ( " the killers " ) and , back in Germany , brought more remarkable works such as " Die R...
583,427
1,219,578
55,093
9
If you knew your geography . . .
. . . You would know that , in Chicago , there are no sailors but gangsters . That's what the mother tells her daughter who became friend with an American ! This is one of the funniest lines of a wonderful movie . There's a tight connection between " Lola " and Demy's following movie " les parapluies de Cherbourg " : -...
582,947
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35,415
9
It takes a tux . .
It's a dream come true : my favourite French director , Julien Duvivier , directing American stars I've always admired . And it is a film made up of sketches , a field where Duvivier bows to no one , in his native country . He had already made " UN Carnet de Bal " and its remake " Lydia " but the American audience neve...
585,238
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49,569
9
eye for an eye , tooth for a tooth
With hindsight , André Cayatte's golden hour was the 1948-1957 years , this decade which begins with " les Amants de Verone " ( which does not belong to his " legal " era , although in a way it does : aren't the final scenes some kind of trial ) and ends with this film , one of his strongest and one of his harshest . E...
583,233
1,219,578
64,106
9
Chabrol's triumph
Chabrol's triumph and also Stephane Audran's finest performance ; only " le festin de Babette " will give her a part as strong as this one . She plays a luminous radiant beaming schoolteacher , teaching her pupils spelling with a little help from Honore de Balzac and dance with " le menuet du Bourgeois Gentilhomme " , ...
584,813
1,219,578
36,341
9
In a word : mind-boggling
This is by far my favorite Val Lewton's production . How can a film be so disturbing , so scary , without any real special effect , without any hackneyed trick and with a shoestring budget . It's impossible to watch " the seventh victim " and not to think of other films yet to come . And what films ! " Psycho " : the s...
585,408
1,219,578
144,201
9
Leconte est Bon once again
A trustworthy value of contemporary French cinema ( in 1996 , the French Minister for Arts and the director of the national center of the cinematography hailed him as a French worthy ambassador ) , Patrice Leconte can brag himself to rank among a handful of French filmmakers whose popularity is continual in France and ...
583,525
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37,976
9
Déjà Vu
Once upon a time there was a land where they made movies where a good story to tell , beautiful pictures and wonderful actors were the only things that counted . Some day - must be the early sixties I can't remember - a wicked fairy came and said : " Listen to my magic spellListen carefully , listen well You old lousy ...
585,015
1,219,578
77,025
9
You can forgive . . .
. . . but you must not forget . Chomsky's " Holocaust " stands as the best mini-series ever made in my book . The performances are uniformly good , from Meryl Streep to Joseph Bottoms and from James Wood to David Warner . All have to be praised . The actors were so involved Michael Moriarty ( who portrays Erik Dorf ) s...
583,234
1,219,578
53,459
9
French thrills
Fantasy and horror movies have never been French director's forte . But , and this is crucial , there are exceptions : George Franju's " les yeux sans visages " is among them . First of all , Boileau-Narcejac's screenplay ( a couple of years after " les diaboliques " and " vertigo " ) is first-rate , but it's fair to n...
585,562
1,219,578
100,112
9
hairdresser on fire
SPOILERS . Patrice Leconte can keep a cool head . After only one year from his last film ( the cold and dark " Monsieur Hire " ) , he made a film that is another type but it's as successful as the previous one . A little boy called Antoine discovers sensuality thanks to his hairdresser , mrs Schaeffer . He decides that...
584,287
1,219,578
117,571
9
Wes Craven's magnum opus
With " Scream " , Wes Craven who before this had left a chain of horror flicks gave to the horror genre one of its proudest kingpins and a valuable reference which gave a new lease of life to the slasher genre which thrived in the eighties . But also a film which involuntarily became an accursed one since it prompted m...
585,281
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253,470
9
A trick of a truck
This movie was too ahead if its time for its own good ; the political movie was trendy in the seventies in Frence but these flicks were spectacular , Manichaean , with lots of events-of-May-68 thrown in for good measure . The cops and the politicians were the villains , the young gents ( they were often students , jour...
584,829
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9
In cold blood
René Allio was certainly one of the most overlooked French directors . " Moi Pierre Rivière " is his towering achievement but do not miss his earlier works such as " La Vieille Dame Indigne " , based on a Brecht short story . " Moi Pierre Rivière " could be subtitled " anatomy of a murder " . It's a true story which ha...
583,203
1,219,578
20,768
9
The intruder
This is the next to last work by Murnau and , like most of his movies , it should not be missed . Using the same actors as Frank Borzage in " The River " , he tells us a story which could still happen today . The sexually repressed boy , under an over possessive dad's - looking sometimes like a patriarch from the Bible...
583,138
1,219,578
16,232
9
From the silent era to the coming of the Nouvelle Vague . . . . .
. . . which was so hard on him , Duvivier reigned over the French cinema during 40 years . He made films in America , in England , in Italy , in Germany . Which director of the New Wavelet can say the same ? In Lille today , Duvivier's native town , there ' s no Duvivier street , no Duvivier school , no Duvivier hospit...
582,580
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61,996
9
Mouchette got a raw deal
Sixteen years after having successfully exploited Georges Bernanos ' universe for his " Journal d'Un Curé De Campagne " ( 1951 ) , Robert Bresson appropriates once again another book by the French writer : " Mouchette " for a very personal , stylish rendering and a canonical film about stolen childhood . The filmmaker ...
584,177
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109,707
9
Tim Burton's best film ?
With this film , Tim Burton planned to tell us the life of the worst director in the world ever . His name was Ed Wood and he lived in the fifties . We learn that Ed Wood loves wearing angora pullovers and women clothes . He also loves being dressed up as a woman and above all he's fond of the actor Bela Lugosi and his...
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9
Outliving your child . . .
. . . . is the worst thing that can happen to you . That's what Nanni Moretti tells in a story full of restrained emotion and a great sense of propriety . The perfect family : a shrink , his attractive wife who's got a good job , two children with good prospects . Some cracks in the mirror , hardly noticeable : the psy...
585,163
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29,394
9
A pearl on Guitry's crown
Do you know who the granddaddy of the Monty Python was ? Sacha Guitry is a serious contender . " Les Perles de la couronne " was his biggest commercial success and it's still much fun to watch it today . It was the first of the " historical " movies of the artist : " Si Paris m'était Conté " " Si Versailles m'était Con...
585,463
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9
Exile on main street .
Prologue : let's put it straight . Betsy Blair is miscast . Is this because she played Borgnine's so called ugly girl in the Oscar-winning " Marty " ( 1955 ) ? Perhaps so , but her beaming face , her luminous smile , her intense longing for happiness are anything but unattractive . She's not Ava Gardner , by a long sho...
582,786
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9
Every Beatles fan should own this !
Four DVD and it features all that made the Beatles the only historical force in the world of rock . It does not pass over in silence the less glorious moments ( for example the Philippine episode or the doomed let it be sessions ) . Some will complain because Lennon's comments had not the " Threetles " ' hindsight , bu...
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9
shoestring budget , great results .
No stars , hardly 80 minutes , black and white , special effects kept to the minimum : and however , one of the most striking sci-fi movie you can think of . Don Siegel would make some of the modern directors blush , these directors who cannot do anything if there's not a ton of make-up and special effects to help them...
584,808
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20,530
9
human imagination is free , man is not . . .
Luis Bunuel : " I had a dream in which a cloud cut the moon and a shaving knife wounded an eye " Salvador Dali : " Well , me , I had a dream in which I saw a hand full of ants . . . What if we made a film with this as a starting point ? It's from this conversation between Bunuel and Dali that the genesis of " un Chien ...
583,000
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92,563
9
Parker's peak , Rourke's finest performance .
I do not go much for that Parker kind of stuff ( " Midnight express " , albeit technically breathtaking was a little racist , " Shoot the moon " was a big bore , and you've got to be into Pink Floyd to appreciate such a work as " the wall " ) " Angel Heart " is a different matter , because it deals with the horror and ...
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9
Then came Tavernier !
And with him , the French cinema regained all that he had lost with the nouvelle vague : magnificent cinematography ( I urge everybody to see this film in a movie theater ) , elaborate screenplays , Clouzot's Renoir's and Duvivier's bite , all that made once the French cinema great . " Le juge et l'assassin " is his so...