Here are two delightful French releases: one a romantic comedy that takes quite a different look at relationships, and the other, a comic buddy-movie with social undertones. UN PEU, BEAUCOUP, AVEUGLEMENT *** (vo French) The talented, attractive Clovis Cornillac is back, this time in a film by and with him, with a surprising twist on a budding romance. […]
The Farewell Party ; A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
THE FAREWELL PARTY (Fin de partie) ***1/2 (vo Hebrew) Here’s an upscale Israeli senior home with a group of old friends, now in the twilight of their lives. They share leisure moments, meals, sports and care for and know each other intimately. So when one of them is suffering from an incurable illness, the group hesitantly agrees to […]
Voyage en Chine; Big Hero 6 ; Child 44
VOYAGE EN CHINE ***1/2 (vo French and Mandarin) This tender tale of a French mother who goes to China to find the body of her dead son is a revelation due to Yolande Moreau’s delicate portrayal. But also for the minimalist technique of Hungarian director Zoltan Mayer, as he takes us on this journey through both urban and […]
The Water Diviner / La promesse d’une vie; Tehran Taxi
THE WATER DIVINER/ LA PROMESSE D’UNE VIE *** In 1919, four years after the infamous battle of Gallipoli, an Australian father goes to Turkey to retrieve the bodies of his missing sons. Russell Crowe has taken up quite a task for his directorial debut – a story of contrasting cultures, family ties and love against a […]
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT **** (vo Farsi) Thrilling, tender and tongue-in-cheek, this B-movie is simply a work of art. Even if you’re not into vampire movies, this sumptuous black-and-white tale will pull you into its dark, mysterious world of lonely people living in a ghost town named Bad City. A sort of Sin City […]
Cinderella
CINDERELLA ***1/2 “Always have courage and be kind”. What better advice could be given to a loved one, especially from a parent to a child? That is the delicate thread that winds through this latest version of the classic fairytale Cinderella, directed by the multi-talented Kenneth Branagh (the man who brought Shakespeare to the masses) […]
Selma; Still Alice
SELMA **** This is such a fine, true, important film – both for U.S. history and in honor of a great leader – that it should have walked away with best film, best actor, best direction and editing. It should have taken all the awards it deserved, and did not get. Except for only one, the inspiring hymn […]
Art, Sex and literature – literary encounters at the 2015 Crans-Montana M4
At this year’s M4 Rencontres Littéraires at Crans-Montana, French-speaking writers, historians, actors, Sorbonne professors, filmmakers and critics along with the curator of the Musée D’Orsay in Paris, met at the Hotel Royal in Crans-Montana this year to discuss art, sex and literature. After last year’s edition on the writing of the self, the literary meeting […]
Payot’s best sellers of the week
Americanah is a novel by Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Published by Fourth Estate, it tells the story of two young Nigerian lovers forced to leave Nigeria to start separate new lives in America and England. They return to Nigeria years later and are drawn back together. Americanah was selected as one of the 10 […]
Payot’s best sellers of the week
International best-selling author, Jo Nesbo’s latest novel The Son (published by Vintage) is a fast-paced stand-alone novel that tells the corruption-ridden story of wrongly imprisoned Sonny Loftus and his quest for revenge against Oslo’s organised criminal bosses. Rank Title Author Published By Genre 1 The Son Nesbo, Jo Vintage Fiction Paperback 2 The Long Haul. […]
