Hot Rods to Hell

With a title like Hot Rods to Hell, you might expect a movie involving bad-ass Mad-max type drivers and menacing leather-clad bikers. What you instead get is a group of rich teenagers who, by contemporary standards, look as menacing as your average computer nerd. A great moment of corny nostalgia filled with overacting and laughable moralization, the film centers around a family getting bullied on desert roads by a group of teenagers driving hot rods. What were designed as thrills at the time now sound like jokes and the film is memorable for some great lines such as: a mom talking to her daughter "every woman on earth wants a man"; two teenage kids talking "you think all women are the same?" - "no they have different names". Hot Rods to Hell review

Birdwatchers

Starting with a humor note, poking fun at both tourists - in the movie - and what the audience might expect, Birdwatchers (Birdwatchers review) is quite a singular film mixing social commentary, ethnological study, magic and irony. The film, which aims at sensitizing us to the rights of indigenous from Brazil who are trying to get some of their land back easily win us to their cause but fails when it comes to portrait the characters in this story, whether they're on the good or bad side. While the film makes these indigenous look stubborn, cold-hearted and their crusade somewhat aimless, its portrait of their nemesis isn't deep enough to make us believe he would be inclined to take extreme actions. In addition, the magic aspect of the story tends to undermine the purpose of the film, which is to get a serious reaction from us, when faced with so much injustice.

Transformers the revenge of the nerds

Just kidding, we don't cover commercials for toys. I just wanted to share that for the 2nd time in 3 years, I am revolted that the LA film festival not only shows a Transformers movie but also a Michael Bay film, a filmmaker who is at the total opposite of what cinema and film festivals are about.

Born Without

This documentary, which was screened as part of Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna’s Ambulante festival, focuses on Jose Flores, a handicapped musician and actor who could be seen in Alejandro Jodorowsky's cult Holy Mountain. While the documentary obviously approaches its subject with a social angle, showing us how handicapped people are perceived - and treated - in Mexico, Mr. Flores' life is colorful enough to portrait him as a human being rather than basing this work on hisd his physical appearance. Unfortunately, and despite surprising late revelations, Born Without fails at providing us with enough matter to sustain our interest. The film remains somewhat flat, without real thematic approach, and is never able to transcend its anecdotic format. Born Without review

Andy Warhol Screen Tests with Dean & Britta

What makes the Los Angeles film festival such a unique festival has always been its knack for bringing us events that mix cool music and films. I still remember their punk-rock karaoke years ago when the festival was taking place at the Sunset plaza while other highlights included the Sex Pistol's Steve Jone's Indie 103.1 radio show live from the Ford Amphitheatre.

This year they brought us once again another exciting moment, this time blending art, music and cinema, with the screening of Andy Warhol's screen tests, supported by a live accompaniment by electro-folk duo Dean & Britta. The music of the band, with its Velvet Underground tones, provided a great experience while the screen tests featuring the likes of Lou Reed, Denis Hopper, Nico, Eddie Sedgwick among others were being shown onscreen. 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol Screen Tests review

The Stoning of Soraya M

The Stoning of Soraya M (read The Stoning of Soraya M review) proved to be one of the most powerful and revolting film I have seen in a long time (and no, I'm not saying that to sound like that advertising whore for film posters that Rolling Stone's Peter Travers is).

Set in a remote Iranian village, the film tells the true story of a woman who was stoned to death after being wrongfully accused of cheating by her husband who wanted to get rid of her. Based on the eponymous bestseller, this film avoids the traps of melodrama and makes sure to not be interpreted as a critique of Islam. The Stoning of Soraya M takes on hypocrites using religion as a pretext and denounces a world where women are treated as second-rate citizens. Fueled by a documentary-like realism, this is a rought and uncompromising work, which ending is almost unbearable to watch - be warned that most of the audience had to close its eyes or was crying during the final sequence.

The film was followed by a Q&A featuring the director and the lead actress (the beautiful Shohreh Aghdashloo) and the LA film festival can also be credited for bringing a scholar who, among other things, explained that stoning wasn't part of the Koran.

Jimmy Page, Jack White & Coffin Joe

Our coverage of the LA film festival 2009 started with a bang as Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and the White Stripes's Jack White were attending the screening of It Might Get Loud (read the It Might Get Loud review), a documentary focusing on the art of guitar playing of emblematic figures such as Page, White and U2's The Edge (who was busy rehearsing in Spain for the opening of U2's tour). If you're a fan of the 3 guys, which I am, you certainly will enjoy having the opportunity to spend time with these 3 icons and see them jam together. However, watching It Might Get Loud as a critic is a different kind of experience, as this film proved to be highly disapointing. To capture the essence of these musians and the creative process in general, the filmmaker posed himself as a watcher, rather than as a true director, letting his camera roll freely to follow whatever the artists are doing. As a result, It Might Get Loud is devoid of any narrative threat, wandering aimlessly and failing to bring anything of substance to the table. Listening to what Mr White had to say, there would have been several interesting points to explore, if the filmmaker would have dared to challenge the musicians; but by containing himself in the role of a witness, he unfortunatly fails in his endeavor, delivering the work of a fan rather than a real documentary.

The third entry in the Brazilian horror Coffin Joe series, Embodiment of Evil (Embodiment of evil review) brought back the thrills of exploitation cinema, with its crazy mix of sadism and nudity. While I enjoyed it, I must admit some scenes were hard to watch -- horror geeks seemed to find them amusing -- and I wouldn't recommend that film, unless you have a strong stomach or a sadistic propensity.

Cannes Film Festival 2009

Just a quick announcement to let you know that from May 13th to May 24th, Plume Noire will be covering the Cannes film festival 2009 to bring you exclusive reviews of the films presented.

COLCOA 2009 Awards

Top Prize: Eden is West
Special Prize: The First Day of the rest of your life
Audience Award: Welcome
Audience Special Mention: Mesrine
Short film Award: Make Yourself At Home
Short film Special Prize: Skhizein

A Day at the Museum and A French Gigolo

Designed to be a critique of the art world, the ensemble piece A Day At the Museum, turned out to be one of the most excruciating films I've seen in a while. Not only wasn't it funny, but this spoof of a pretentious world suffered from being pretty pompous itself. The film, which is an adaptation of a popular play also suffered from looking like a filmed play, the director here being a stage director, which resulted in creating a constant feeling of stagnation while cinema, contrary to plays is about movement. While some of the scenes only lasted a few brief moments, several scenes aiming at vehiculing a message were stretched, creating a sense of boredom onscreen. Despite an ensemble cast including some of the most popular figures of French cinema, A Day At the Museum not only fails to entertain but ends up being a major failure, like a bad piece of art.

Written and directed by French comedy star Josianne Balasko, A French Gigolo kicked off with a lot of Gallic charm but somewhat lost ground as soon as it started to oscillate between comedy and pathos without really finding itself. By turning abruptedly from comedy to drama, the film lost its welcome light tone, looking for morality and redemption through plot lines that strechted its running time.

A Night with Spies - OSS 117 and Spy(ies)

Friday night was arguably the best night at COLCOA this year with its mix of gangsters and spies.
Mesrine (read the Mesrine review) was screened in its entirety (part 1 and 2 were shown successively) while 2 different kinds of spies movies were featured, each of them being successful in its own genre.

The spy spoof OSS 117 Lost in Rio, which is the follow up of the highly successful OSS 117 proved to be as hilarious as its predecessor, its charming kitsch being this time transposed in the exotic surroundings of the Brazilian city. The writer director, present for a Q&A afterwards, brought a welcome note of sarcasm answering unintinteresting questions from the audience and from that annoying pompous critic from a well known publication.

A couple days after the highly disappointing and messy Secrets of State, Spy(ies) proved that French cinema can deliver smart and sharp movies about spies, without losing its soul to provide some entertainment. Focusing on highly flawed characters, the film was an effective psychological thriller supported by a strong cast.

Secrets of State

Somewhat aiming at being a spy movie with a French touch, Secrets of State leaves you with the feeling that you just watched a - post-Syriana - Hollywood movie set in France, rather than a French movie, which is mostly due to the fact that co-writer/director Phillippe Haim seems to be working hard at channeling Tony Scott and, to some extent, his brother Ridley.

By editing and shooting his film like an edgy and flashy piece of filmmaking, the writer greatly undermines his screenwriting's attempt at constructing a serious tale about the war between intelligence services and terrorists. While his film is captivating at times, whether it's during a couple action sequences or when it comes to describing in details how this world works, the central message he's delivering here is so heavy handed that it looses its impact once it becomes redundant: did we really need 3 references to understand that secret agents are prostitutes working for their country? Probably not, especially after watching Paul Verhoeven's Black Book.

COLCOA Opening Night Gala

COLCOA kicked off with a gala filled with the usual fine food, drinks and guests, from filmmaker Costa-Gavras to actresses/directors Josianne Balasko & Zabou Breitman.

The film opening the festival, Someone I loved, which was directed by Ms. Breitman and starred Daniel Auteuil was more problematic. Not only is this a minor - though entertaining - film that does not have the caliber to open a film festival - Mesrine (Mesrine review) or even OSS 117 would have been better choices - but its abrupt changes in tones, from pathos to a cliched romance, made it look like a work that is constantly questionning its own identity and purpose.

Mesrine review

The Mesrine review has just been added to our COLCOA page - make sure to check it out as it's one of our festival picks!
The two Mesrine films (Death Instinct & Public Enemy #1) will be playing on Friday.

COL COA 2009

The COL COA French film festival is coming, from April 20th to April 26th. As usual we will bring you some exclusive reviews of the films presented. In the meantime, here are our first recommendations for COL COA 2009

2009 Razzies - Nominations

This is this time of the year again and the Razzie Awards are coming soon. To check out the nominations visit 2009 Razzies ...

AFI Fest 2008 Awards

The AFI Fest 2008 Awards have been announced. Check our AFI Fest 2008 page for award results ...

Plastic City & The Brothers Bloom

I must admit it was hard to find agreement about the two films we saw on Saturday at AFI Fest. While I highly enjoyed Plastic City (see video comments here), a gorgeous-looking and pretentious Hong Kong gangster film set in Sao Paulo, my fellow writer Anji hated it. However she did enjoy the con men comedy The Brothers Bloom (see video comments here - read the Brothers Bloom review) more than I did, as I found it wasn't more than a TV movie.

The Wrestler

Darren Aronofski's The Wrestler (see video comments here - read the Wrestler review) is a small film about a washed-up wrestler who comes to question the purpose of his life, following a heart attack. The film has a realistic feel while being drenched in irony. While it's not a masterpiece, this is a highly enjoyable film, which will mostly be remembered by the raw performances from its two lead actors, Mickey Rourke & Marisa Tomei.

The Gomorrah Class

Sunday was pretty satisfying, movie-wise. The day started with The Class (read the Class review), the film that won the Golden Palm at the Cannes film festival this year. I must admit, I was expecting some over-hyped heavy-handed patchouli message-driven picture but was left astonished by the multiple layers offered here, including a subtle commentary, which questions the - somewhat outdated - foundations of the French education system (check out my video comments here).

The following feature, Gomorrah (read the Gomorra review), proved to be as intense, giving us a realistic look at the mafia. While much has been said about how it de-glamorizes the mafia myth, which was already done with humor in the Sopranos, more important was its focus on the use of kids for all the dirty jobs, which makes it close from films such as City of God.