The Killer & Rivals

Centered on the intriguing relationship between a man and the killer who has been sent to kill him, Jacques Maillot’s The Killer (The Killer review) was the revelation of the night, this minimalist psychological piece slowly enveloping the audience in its noir atmosphere. Built on the confrontation of two brothers, a cop and a con, and supported by French stars Guillaume Canet & François Cluzet, Rivals is quite entertaining but collapses once you realize how poorly drafted are these characters, their implausible personas being used as a gimmick to trigger an expected dramatic conclusion.

Welcome to the Land of Shti and COL COA

The 12^th edition of COL COA opened with the gala presentation of Welcome to the Land of Shti. The event kicked off with the usual cocktail party featuring fine French food and lots of champagne, allowing festival-goers and celebrities to mingle around the food tables and the bars (American actor Robert Foster proved to be a lot of fun despite the fact I cut him in the line at the bar and several French filmmakers including Florent-Emilio Siri, Cédric Klapisch & Claude Lelouch were also available to chat).

Following the usual laborious speeches by some “French officials”, Welcome to the Land of Shti (Welcome to the land of Shti review) was presented to a room that was conquered in advance, thanks to the hype surrounding its French box office record. While the film was certainly fun and provided some great laughs (especially if you’re from the South of France like yours truly), there is certainly nothing to cheer about here, as this charming but cheesy little movie is far from being a good representative of what French cinema is.

COL COA 2008

Check out our COL COA 2008 film selection for the 12th edition of Los Angeles French film festival COL COA
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