The realm of 18th century France is a dusty one. Period dramas, especially lofty costume dramas, are so numerous that you can barely toss a powdered wig without hitting one. With Farewell, My Queen (Les Adieux à la Reine), writer/director Benoît Jacquot tears off the wig, pulls down the drapes and sets fire to both. The wonderfully un-stuffy film stars and is told through the eyes of Sidonie Laborde (Léa Seydoux) who acts as a cipher for the manic last few days of Marie Antoinette’s (Diane Kruger) reign in the late 1700s. It’s Laborde’s story, meaning it’s the story of a voyeur who watches from doorjambs as the business of being extravagantly wealthy and powerful becomes not only meaningless, but fatal. The vantage point is a bold angle that comes with its own set of challenges. Instead of following the leader, it makes Versailles an insular cocoon where rumors float down candle-lit hallways on sleepless nights and the people trapped by their own excess are revealed more through reaction than action. Yes, it’s a challenge, but it’s one that Jacquot and company handle with something close to greatness.

A little over a year after jailing and banning their most famous filmmaker from making movies, Iran might win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It would be a first for the nation whose government seems to strongly dislike creativity and freedom of speech, but its entry this year, A Separation, almost seems like a sure thing. Come February, writer/director Asghar Farhadi and Iran might be standing on the winner’s podium. But it’s not a done deal yet. A Separation and 8 other films were announced last week as part of the Oscar shortlist – just one step away from becoming an official nominee. They include a Danish comedy set in Argentina, a masculine drama about the underground world of illegal bovine growth hormones in Belgium, and something marvelous from Wim Wenders. It’s, to say the least, a varied group. Except that almost all of them are dramas from writer/directors.  So, yeah. Subject matter-wise though, it’s a full spectrum. The final 5 will be announced tomorrow morning, but here first are the trailers from each of the 9 shortlisted movies from far off lands (like Canada):

One major misconception about Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colors trilogy is that the films were originally and uniquely conceived as French films, reflecting the color of the nation’s flag through the color scheme of each film and embodying themes which based upon the motto of the French Republic: liberty (Blue), equality (White), and fraternity (Red). But Kieslowski was insistent upon the fact that the stories would have remained the same no matter the national context. The framing of these films through thematics and aesthetics tied to the French flag, the director states, arose as a matter of the trilogy’s source of funding. Thus, the thread which defines the trilogy was a creative accommodation to the circumstances of the film’s production. Kieslowski’s vision for these films, then, was firm, but not rigid – the particular details of this trilogy were not predestined or set in stone. This fact frees the viewer from seeing the themes explored in the Three Colors trilogy as predominately or uniformly based within a national and cultural context. Yes, there are aspects of the brilliant Blue (1993) that are indisputably French, or at least Western European (it’s hard to imagine Americans mourning a contemporary classical composer as a national treasure), but the rather arbitrary circumstances in which the film’s production reflective in the trilogy’s connective framework allows for these themes to permeate well beyond the borders of France itself.

The global recession we currently find ourselves in has many causes, but one of the more obvious ones has to do with the machinations and maneuverings of the men and women who work in the financial market. Movies like the recent Margin Call and Wall Street sequel used this environment for fast paced financial drama (with varying success), but that’s not the only genre the crisis can intrude upon. Perhaps there’s a bit of romance and a few laughs to be found amidst the greed, depression, and suffering too. That was apparently the hope anyway with the new French film, My Piece of the Pie, but the end results are anything but humorous or romantic. They’re not even all that dramatic. Hell, the ending isn’t even an ending.

There is definitely something going on in France. The last decade or so has seen an incredible surge in genre film from the land of Vincent Cassel, with films like Inside, Martyrs, Frontiers and more all making there way to our shores. While Calibre 9 is much more goofy and playful than those more extreme horror films, it’s hard to imagine this film getting made if those films hadn’t come before to pave the way. Calibre 9 is a film about a city planner who finds a gun which is possessed by the soul of a dead hooker. Yes, that’s really what it’s about. Sarah (Nathalie Hauwelle) is the hooker in question, a pretty girl who fell into the life and has been struggling for years to pull herself out. She’s scheduled one last job with an eccentric but high-paying customer, after which she’ll have enough money to leave her pimp, Frank. But when Frank shows up unexpectedly with the customer getting ready in the next room, Sarah’s plans start to circle the drain. A misunderstanding escalates, Frank pulls a gun, and they both end up dead. When the mysterious customer discovers the scene, he gives Sarah the second chance she so badly wanted.

There are pros and cons to making a kick-ass, critically acclaimed film for your debut feature. On the plus side, well, you made a fantastic movie. But then you have to follow it up and prove it wasn’t just a fluke. Just ask Richard Kelly, Kevin Costner, or Rian Johnson what it feels like when that effort fails. And now French directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury have joined that sad walk of shame with the release of their follow-up to the brilliant and brutal thriller, Inside. That film features two women, one pregnant and the other psychotic, battling to the death in the mother-to-be’s home. It’s terrifying, exciting, surprising, and shocking… everything that their follow-up isn’t.

We have to hand it to the folks at Indominia — for a newish on the scene distro, they are picking a wicked slate of titles. So much of what we’ve seen from them has been interesting. That, and we’ll support anyone who imports as much international cinema as they do. The Pack, which hits VOD today (9/27), is right along those lines. It’s a French horror film about a gal named Charlotte, who picks up a hitchhiker on a road trip she’s taking alone. As 100+ years of cinema have taught us, this is a bad idea. When we meet Charlotte in this clip, she’s been captured by a woman named La Spack, played by the always excellent Yolande Moreau. This hard-nosed old dame is the leader of a mysterious pack and they’ve got plans for young Charlotte. We’ll let you watch the clip from this Franck Richard directed film and you’ll see what’s in store for her.

Being middle class in a first world country is a tough racket. You just can’t ever get where you want to be. You know, buying the things you want, taking the vacations to placed you’d like to see, driving fancy cars and eating fine foods. For the middle class, there’s always an eye to something better — and in most stories like this, there’s little appreciation for what one has until it all comes crashing down. Such is the tale of Borderline, a French dark comedy about a family that looks a little too far to the sky when opportunity comes their way, only to have it all come back to haunt them.

It shouldn’t have to be this way, but the summer movie-going season is generally known far more for big, bombastic spectacles than for smart, affecting character-based films. That’s not a knock on blockbusters as there were actually quite a few good ones in theaters the past few months, but it’s more an unfortunate commentary on how the smaller films are often lost in the shuffle of May to July if they’re even released at all. But August is the month where explosions and CGI slowly give way to dialogue and character, and it’s here where an intimate look at life, death, and defying expectations just might find the audience it deserves. Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) has had enough. She’s only eleven years old, but she’s already had her fill of life’s absurdities thanks to a family that annoys far more than they enrich. Her mother (Anne Brochet) is happily celebrating ten years of therapy (and the subsequent stream of anti-depressants), her father (Wladimir Yordanoff) moves seamlessly between being flustered and disinterested, and her older sister (Sarah Lepicard) is doing her best to make her little sister’s life miserable. The building’s concierge/janitor, Renée Michel (Josiane Balasko), is a frumpy-looking woman who has very little patience for the bullshit emanating from her wealthy tenants. She’s a tool to them and nothing more, and while they most likely wouldn’t be able to pick her out of a lineup she’s actually harboring a rich interior life that she shares with no one. She finds [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Welcome back to Junkfood Cinema, the weekly feature with that certain je ne sais quoi. No, wait, je sais afterall! That quoi is the nostril singing aroma of fried foods and stale Funyuns. If that’s what you smell too, then you’re in the right place. With the eyes of the film world on France for the annual wine festival armpit hair growing festival Nazi joke festival Cannes Film Festival, we here at Junkfood Cinema decided to set our sights on that classy nation as well. And by “we” I mean I, and by “decided” I mean your regular host, the Duke of Salisbury, is passed out on the floor again. He says it’s another diabetic coma, but I know he’s just faking it. Besides, we all know that diabetes is just a lie the vegans made up to keep us away from things that taste good. As always, I’ve selected a film of somewhat dubious quality but high entertainment value. I’ll begin by smashing it to bits and then taking the bits and smashing those into smithereens, but then I’ll pick up the broken pieces and lovingly put it back together with wood glue and duct tape. As if that weren’t enough, I’ll provide you with a delicious snack to stuff in your gaping maw, satisfying your cravings for bloodshed and trans-fatty hydrogenated oils. Anyway, France! They love food almost as much as we do, and, thanks in large part to guys like Jean-Pierre Melville and Luc Besson, they love [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Yesterday the Twittersphere (a place where topics are only discussed in rational proportions) was abuzz with the news that Terrence Malick’s long-awaited magnum opus Tree of Life was booed at its Cannes premiere. While the reaction to Malick’s latest will no doubt continue to be at least as divisive and polarized as his previous work has been, for many Malick fans the news of the boos only perpetuated more interest in the film, and for many Malick non-fans the boos signaled an affirmation of what they’ve long-seen as lacking in his work. (Just to clarify, there was also reported applause, counter-applause, and counter-booing at the screening.) Booing at Cannes has a long history, and can even be considered a tradition. It seems that every year some title is booed, and such a event often only creates more buzz around the film. There’s no formula for what happens to a booed film at Cannes: sometimes history proves that the booed film was ahead of its time, sometimes booing either precedes negative critical reactions that follow or reflect the film’s divisiveness during its commercial release. Booed films often win awards. If there is one aspect connecting almost all booed films at Cannes, it’s that the films are challenging. I mean challenging as a descriptor that gives no indication of quality (much like I consider the term “slow”), but films that receive boos at the festival challenge their audiences or the parameters of the medium in one way or another, for better or [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

As director/writer/producer Luc Besson has been responsible for a seemingly endless number of slick action films filled with gunplay, heroics, and a clear disregard for the laws of physics. He’s made action stars out of children and women (The Professional and La Femme Nikita), street gymnasts (District 13), and cabbies (Taxi). Hell, he even turned comic actor Jason Statham into a convincing action lead with The Transporter. Recently he’s found a new niche with lead actors approaching their sixth decade of life. Taken saw Liam Neeson demonstrating his very specific set of skills against some baddies, and now Jean Reno is shooting his way throughout the beautiful city of Marseilles in a bloody tale of revenge and family business gone awry. Charley Mattei (Reno) is a happily married father of two who once upon a time was also a mobster. He quit the business to focus on the joys of family, but it seems his past family, the ones that carry guns and horse heads in the trunks of their cars, didn’t like the way he said goodbye. They ambush him one morning and leave him for dead with twenty-two bullets lodged in his blood-drenched body. But they made two mistakes… they killed his dog. And they didn’t kill him.

Ah, the romantic comedy. Is there any genre more undone by the generic machinations of heartless hacks and unfunny “stars” in lead roles? The ingredients should be simple… two people fall for each other and face obstacles on the way to hopefully being together. Whether they get there or not is irrelevant. Make the romance heartfelt and believable and the laughs genuine and frequent and you’ll have a solid romantic comedy. Notting Hill, When Harry Met Sally, My Best Friend’s Wedding… when it works they’re more than just great examples of the genre. They’re great movies period. Heartbreaker works.

Africa, more than any other continent, seems destined to be represented cinematically as a place filled with danger, strife, uncertainty, and upheaval. If the wild life or harsh conditions don’t get you a citizenry motivated by fear, religion, or anger most certainly will. But surely there’s joy to be found somewhere within its borders? Some pockets of happiness and smiles? Some village where something as trivial as a Coke bottle can lead to a tale of humor, warmth, and slapstick? No? Nothing? Fine. Let’s take a look at Claire Denis’ bleak, violent, and challenging film White Material instead.

We all know the dirty little truth about stereotypes is that they usually have some basis in reality. A minor basis to be sure and they’re most often incorrectly applied as generalizations, but come on people, I’ve ridden in cars driven by Asian females and it is terrifying. One such stereotype that I’ve only heard second hand is about the rudeness of the French. But for all the friends and acquaintances who’ve sworn to its veracity my years of watching French films haven’t born it out to be true. (Because cinema represents reality obviously.) Until now. It’s rare to find a movie that dares to make one of its two leads a complete and total prick, but The Dinner Game does just that. And the fact that for all of his arsehole-ishness the guy still manages to be likable? A feat only those well-versed in rudeness could accomplish. Every Wednesday a gaggle of dicks invite one guest each to a very special dinner. The invitees are chosen based on a simple criteria… how stupid they look and act. The friends basically spend the evening letting their guests make fools of themselves and compete to see whose idiot is the most entertaining. Pierre Brochant thinks he hit the mother-load when he comes across a man named Francois Pignon. He makes matchstick models of bridges and other man-made objects and as an added bonus he’s short, balding, and desperate to please others. Ideal idiot material. Brochant is giddy at the thought of [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

The first two rounds of competition were a great warm up, but the competition gets ugly now as the wins come harder. No contest in that round exemplifies that more than the battle between the French representative and the USA rep. Amelie defeated District 9 in a surprise victory, and it goes into its round against The Dark Knight with momentum and the status as a fanboy killer. It will still have an uphill battle, because the US representative is (unlike the real World Cup) picked to win it all.

Here were are in the first match of Round Two. The Elite Eight is at stake with every pairing, and this might prove to be a tough one. District 9 defeated Sin Nombre in Round One, and Amelie blew Whisky out of the water, but now they face off against each other. Two heavy-weights in a bare-knuckle brawl for supremacy, and we’re not even to the finals yet.

The second match up of Round One finds underdog Uruguay up against powerhouse France. It was going to be an uphill battle for the 2004 film Whisky, but going up against the Oscar-nominated, extremely well known Amelie might see it exiting the tournament in the first round unless there’s a massive upset.

Like those old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercials where the chocolate and peanut-butter are accidentally combined, Mutants sees someone dropping their dramatic love story in my zombie horror…

I’ve always been a sucker for good romantic comedies. The problem these days is that for every Love Actually or Notting Hill there are ten Ugly Truths or Bride Wars. The balance between the romance and the comedy needs to not only be believable, but that balance needs to be just right. Which brings us to a French film that pretty much gets it all right.