French films are shit. Porquoi?

there's an awful lot of good Hitchcock imitators tho who don't get the same regard.

I like the Chabrol films I know plenty, but he isn't very auteur-y imo and this might be a reason to not regard him as a "great" whatever that's all about

first of all - he is more than hitch imitator.

2nd - if only "original" directors would be regarded as great - the list will be shortened to a maximum 10 persons.

i like 'le boucher' best -- i haven't seen every last one, obviously, but then i haven't felt compelled to.

Crazy talk, indeed. When Chabrol was "on" as a director - which was most of his career in my opinion and I've watched just about any Chabrol I could get my hands on, legally and illegally - when you felt he was digging his material then the results were some remarkable films. "Nada" or "The Unfaithful Wife" or "La Ceremonie", for example, are the work of a master filmmaker - hence a "great". And much more than a Hitchcock imitator.

horshima mon amoour

not a french film per se, but i just watched Jessica Hausner's Lourdes.

wow, one of the best things ive seen lately.

french film festival this week... what should I see

3 p'tits cochons (3 Little Pigs)
DIRECTED BY Patrick Huard
Québec | 2008 | 124 mn

L'Arnacœur (Heartbreaker)
DIRECTED BY Pascal Chaumeil
France | 2010 | 105 mn

L'armée du crime (The Army of Crime)
DIRECTED BY Robert Guédiguian
France | 2009 | 139 mn

Barbe bleue (Bluebeard)
DIRECTED BY Catherine Breillat
France | 2009 | 139 mn

Un capitalisme sentimental (A Sentimental Capitalism)
DIRECTED BY Olivier Asselin
Québec | 2008 | 92 mn

Les doigts croches (Sticky Fingers)
DIRECTED BY Ken Scott
Québec | 2009 | 108 mn

Gainsbourg, vie héroïque (Gainsbourg)
DIRECTED BY Joan Sfar
France | 2010 | 135 mn

Les herbes folles (Wild Grass)
DIRECTED BY Alain Resnais
France | 2009 | 104 mn

Hitler à Hollywood (Hitler in Hollywood)
DIRECTED BY Frédéric Sojcher
France- Belgium | 2010 | 95 mn

Un homme qui crie (A screaming Man)
DIRECTED BY Mahamat Saleh Haroun
France - Belgium - Chad | 2010 | 80 mn

Il a suffi que Maman s'en aille (When Mother went away)
DIRECTED BY René Féret
France | 2007 | 90 mn

Illégal
DIRECTED BY Olivier Masset-Depasse
France - Belgium - Luxemburg | 2010 | 95 mn

Liberté (Korkoro)
DIRECTED BY Tony Gatlif
France | 2010 | 111 mn

Maman est chez le coiffeur (Mommy's at the Hairdresser)
DIRECTED BY Léa Pool
Québec| 2008 | 97 mn

Orpailleur (Galimpeiro)
DIRECTED BY Marc Barrat
France | 2010 | 90 mn

Le petit Nicolas (Little Nicolas)
DIRECTED BY Laurent Tirard
France | 2010 | 90 mn

Potiche
DIRECTED BY François Ozon
France | 2010 | 110 mn

La rafle (The Round-up)
DIRECTED BY Rose Bosch
France | 2010 | 115 mn

I'm thinking the breillat maybe?

c'mon where are the cinemaphiliacs

L'Arnacœur - great pun btw.

idgi

L'arnaqueur could translate to something like 'con artist' or rip-off artist but they spelled with coeur 'heart' instead. I'm at pains to think of something equivalent in English. 'Griefter' is stretching it a little but maybe it works w/a comedy French accent.

ty

I thought Wild Grass was fine but waaaaaay overrated. The Resnais before it (Private Fears...) was much better.

I loved the Gainsbourg biopic so - that.

Lumiere are doing a mini-Chabrol fest. I'm no fan however This Man Must Die looks promising

Anyone seen Two in the Wave. Probably wait for BBC4 to broadcast that one.

I just finished watching it about two minutes ago. Worth watching on BBC4, but there's nothing in it that you probably don't already know if you're interested in it. The footage and misc. ephemera is great.

Seraphine is pretty good, even if it can't resist the artists-are-nuts trope. Moreau's addled wandering in the last ten minutes reminded me of Isabelle Adjani's in The Story of Adele H.

This year's "French Cultures Fest" brings a set of 5 recent hit comedies to our MFA this weekend. The first night brought these two highly entertaining (but non-life changing) films:

The French Kissers-A pre-high school sex comedy, with plenty of good-natured scatological humor & such. One thing that impressed me--particularly after years of Hollywood takes on same--was how ugly all of the kids were. They're all pizza & braced-faced dorks--you know, like real kids that age. Emmanuelle Devos & Irene Jacob play the grown-ups (the latter--in a move that shows we're all getting old--appears as a MILF).

Heartbreaker-Romain Duris plays a con man hired to break up Vanessa Paradis' wedding. I'm imagining there's a screenwriter somewhere in Cali busily adapting this as a Bradley Cooper/Anne Hathaway vehicle with even more gratuitous 80s pop culture references (this film ropes in both Dirty Dancing and Wham!).

Saturday brings Potiche & OSS 117: Lost In Rio. Anybody seen the latter? The trailer ran before both movies tonight and it likes kinda like a less doofy Austin Powers. That might not be a good thing.

i really hate this thread title

Lost in Rio not as good as Cairo: Nest of Spies iirc.

Heartbreaker just reminds me that there must be loads of bad French comedies that relentlessly ape Hollywood conventions that are released every year that I never see or hear about. I didn't hate it though.

'Lost in Rio' better than 'Cairo', IMO although of course if you've seen the first the novelty has worn off somehow.

Saw both parts of Mesrine today. Superb, altough pt.1 (Killer Instinct) is a bit better (tighter and less meandering) than pt.2 (Public Enemy #1). Worth a look by fans of Carlos and The Baader Meinhof Complex.

I saw Conte d'Automne today. And it was all I could do to stay awake.

i wouldnt rave about coco chanel

i really hate this thread title

― Ask Nult What Your Country Can Do For You (Local Garda), Saturday, March 26, 2011 9:30 AM (4 weeks ago

Alain Resnais season at the bfi -- can't wait to watch je t'aime, je t'aime. The only ones his 60s films I haven't seen. Hope I'll get to see the short films.

For once I have aready watched quite a lot bar his work in the 70s -- Stavisky, anyone?

La guerre est finie is probably my favorite by him

i really hate this thread title

― Ask Nult What Your Country Can Do For You (Local Garda), Saturday, March 26, 2011 9:30 AM (4 weeks ago

― corey, maandag 25 april 2011 13:16 (2 months ago) Bookmark

Seriously, every time this thread title pops up... ugh

Title could do with a little spell-check.

It significantly contributes to its ugliness, I agree.

Alain Resnais season at the bfi -- can't wait to watch je t'aime, je t'aime. The only ones his 60s films I haven't seen.

Finally got to see that one @ a retro last year...fantastic, and probably the most subtly devastating film he did during the era.

Great! I am missing the men's singles final at Wimbledom tomorrow to watch this. Didn't make a single less than great film in that era so expectations are high.

People can ask the mod for a change of thread title -- doesn't bother me (partly cuz I've met Pete and know it was all tongue in cheek) but if it gets people to stop going on about it.

I rescreened Annie Hall last night and realized: je t'aime, je t'aime + Annie Hall= Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind

BTW, I saw you mentioned Stavisky--it was another one I caught during that retro. A biopic, it's pretty straight-forward film for Resnais, done in that 70s interpretation of the 30s style (think The Conformist or The Sting). Stephen Sondheim composed the score.

Stavisky has a couple of weird magical moments, like when they are visiting the house where Stavisky's dad has committed suicide (iirc)
soundtrack is pretty good though, lush.

Cool! Not sure I'll make to that actually...will try.

'je t'aime je t'aime' is one of his best. And one of the best SF films of all time by that stage, although thee isn't much competition w/the likes of '2001' about.

Really unbalanced season -- Marienbad is good but they are really going for how 'iconic' it is with the number of screenings. Say that as I missed Stavisky.

Mariebad must look gorgeous on the screen tho'. Only seen it on DVD.

Try and see some docs. Maybe one of the later, more straight ones like 'No Smoking'

Stavisky is OK but nothing special really.
I am generally not sold on Blu-Rays but the BR edition of Marienbad is pretty damn tempting.

Saw 'Night and Fog' along with severlal docs yesterday.

In terms of filming the tracking shots of camps, libraries or chemical factories all kinda morph into one thing, man-made, to be filmed by Alain Resnais. There is a measure of control (?) right there.

Cayrol's delivery on 'Night and Fog' is as clinical as the mix of images (colour, B&W and photographs), which really sounds right. Never actor-y (could I watch 'The World at War' after this?), the music is never too for effects and never too distant. Everyone is jumping through hoops and corners to do this thing thought. The partially blank 'who is responsible?' at the end is realy powerful (cf. The Chapman dolls being flogged at the moment).

Raul Ruiz has died.

urgggh. I guess I will go see Mysteries of Lisbon Sunday.

Yeah, I want to see that too.

can we finally change this thread title?

aw damn. i only just saw my first :(. everything i've heard about mysteries has been unrestrainedly positive.

One of the greats. I'm deeply saddened by this. RIP, you beautiful, ungraspable rapscallion!

A great filmmaker. One of my favorites of all time. So saddened by this news.

Damn. Les Trois Couronnes du Matelot is a classic.

have u guys seen - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_in_Paris

i thought it was p cool

Going to see Vivre Ensemble on Saturday, one of two films Anna Karina directed.

omg i didn't know she made films! Please report back