I started the day with the screening of Antoine De Caune's Twice A Upon a Time, a bitter romantic comedy starring Charlotte Rampling & Jean Rochefort. Seeing a love story between senior citizens is pretty rare, at least here in an industry only focusing on youth faces, but writer/director Antoine De Caune (below, on the left, with his brand new cowboy boots) created an entertaining and amusing work, mostly thanks to great dialogues and a strong cast. The screening was followed by a Q&A with the director and producer of the film.
A pretty intense and sharp thriller, Eric Barbier's The Snake did however suffer from a lack of originality, looking too much like an American film -- this is an example of a new trend in French cinema -- and TV -- where French filmmakers try to emulate their Hollywood counterparts.
But the most disappointing moment was undoubtedly Paris, je t'aime. How can you screw up a project with such a beautiful setting? It's easy, just gather a group of filmmakers whose vision is reduced to the touristic cliche of the American in Paris, instead of hiring filmmakers who live in Paris and know the real city of lights. Not that there wasn't some great moments. The Coen brothers and Alexander Payne actually found the right contrast between the American Parisian experience and real Parisians. The short about the mimes was another highlight, but most of the time, Paris, je t'aime was a waste of resources and talents, with even some ridiculous moments such as Vincenzo Natali's Sin City-like vampire sequence (I've been saying for years that this director should have been locked in his cube) as well as the short with Nathalie Portman and her blind boyfriend. Even local master, Olivier Assayas couldn't breath life into the project. The screening was followed by a Q&A with directors Wes Craven and Oliver Assayas.
No comments:
Post a Comment