In Meteors, Hubert Charuel and co-writer Claude Le Pape deliver one of the most emotionally potent and visually singular films to emerge from this year’s Cannes Un Certain Regard. What begins as a gritty portrait of dead-end lives in France’s rural east evolves – unexpectedly, heartbreakingly – into a tender story about male friendship, addiction,…
Tag: french cinema
75th Berlin International Film Festival: In Conversation with Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys, Directors of “We Believe You”
At this year’s Berlinale, We Believe You made an impact with its unflinching portrayal of the intersection between the legal system and the emotional toll of a custody battle involving abuse allegations. Directed with precision and sensitivity, the film explores the labyrinth of judicial procedures while centering on Alice, a mother fighting to protect her…
International Film Festival Rotterdam: “Archipel” Review
The French noun for archipelago – an extensive collection of islands, Archipel is a murmuring and drifting exploration of the Saint Lawrence River that runs from The Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Directed by Félix Dufour-Laperrière, Archipel blends the real with the dreamed as it weaves history together with imagination in the form of…
70th Berlin International Film Festival: Jumbo Review
Machines have feelings just like us, or at least that’s what Zoé Wittock’s debut feature film Jumbo would have you believe. Centred on the love affair between Jeanne (A Portrait of a Lady on Fire’s Noémie Merlant) and a theme park ride she’s named Jumbo, this erotic drama, which is based on a ‘true’ story,…
75th Venice Film Festival: L’enkas Review
For a large number of former prisoners, getting out of jail is the first step of a long and complex journey of starting anew. One might expect that being released from prison should be closely associated with a newfound sense of freedom, but is it? Ulysse (Sandor Funtek: Blue is the Warmest Colour, A Wedding),…
Luc Besson’s Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets
The Fifth Element (1997) has been both loved and bashed by critics for the past 20 years; some have even ruled it the best summer blockbuster ever made. However, not many people know that Luc Besson’s creation was partially inspired by a series of French space opera comic books called Valérian and Laureline; the connection…
Untouchable Review
Untouchable, the new French comedy to hit our screens, is a beautiful homage to French cinema. Directed and written by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, the film, which is based on a true story, tells the tale of the unlikely friendship between tetraplegic aristocrat Phillipe and Driss, a young man from the ghetto, who becomes…
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