Omar Sy stars in the French film Samba.
Since I cited my five favourite modern French Films in this space a couple of years back, my eyes have been a little more open to the joys of French cinema, which I now devour with more eagerness than ever before.
Also since that blog entry, the relentlessly productive French film industry has generated a considerable number of surprising, bold and captivating films that demand attention.
Read more:
• Superchondriac: The French connection
• Movie review: Samba
• Director Eric Lartigau on The Bélier Family
To celebrate the release this week of Samba, I am going to name five recent (or in a couple of cases, upcoming) French films that everyone should see. Either to get a tantalising taste of what French cinema has to offer, or simply to maintain New Zealand's relatively high appetite (compared to Australia, at least) for French movies.
Released in New Zealand theatres this week, Samba is co-directors Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache's follow-up to their massively popular sleeper hit The Intouchables, which broke box office records for French movies all around the world. The success of The Intouchables turned lead actor Omar Sy into a French superstar and a burgeoning Hollywood player - he was in X-Men: Days of Future Past and co-stars in the impending Jurassic World. He also stars in Samba, as the title character, an immigrant from Senegal whose fate becomes intertwined with a case worker played by Charlotte Gainsbourg (Nymphomaniac) and another immigrant played by Tahar Rahim, star of A Prophet and The Past. Even if Samba can't live up to the once-in-a-lifetime joys of The Intouchables, fans of the earlier film should definitely seek it out - it projects a similarly positive outlook and is a great showcase for Sy's plentiful charms.
Disappointingly absent from the recent French Film Festival, this wonderful coming-of-age drama feels particularly relevant to a New Zealand audience. In a stunning, star-making debut performance, Karidja Touré plays Marieme, a troubled teenager from the Paris projects whose sense of self transforms when she falls in with three other girls her own age. I'm not in the best position to assess the authenticity of the film's portrayal of these girls and where they come from, but it felt more real than any other teenager-centric film I think I've ever seen. Fingers crossed for a DVD release.
Three years ago I wrote about Fred Cavayé's fantastic thriller Point Blank, which exemplified how genre films from France and other European countries were now better than the American and English films that inspired them. Cavayé continues that trend with his latest film, which stars the leads from his two previous movies - Point Blank's Gilles Lellouche and Vincent Lindon (Anything For Her). The awesomely hangdog Lindon plays a disgraced ex-cop who charges back into action when his estranged son witnesses a gang murder. There's more to the story than first appears, and Lellouche and Lindon both give stellar performances which tap into some timeless notions about duty and honour. Mea culpa shames the Taken sequels with its casual awesomeness. Coming to DVD in New Zealand later this year.
Actress-turned-film critic-turned-director Mia Hansen-Løve's latest film follows the life of a young Parisian music lover whose career as a DJ coincides with the rise of French House music in the '90s and early 2000s. Loosely based on the life of Mia's brother Sven, Eden isn't interested in telling a traditional showbiz success story, but rather exploring a group of friends all doing something they love. It's Linklater-esque. A lot of effort has been put into presenting a de-romanticised idea of nightclub life, which sets the film apart from pretty much every other movie concerned with the topic. Daft Punk show up as background characters, sans helmets, but they are played by actors. Available on DVD.
Fabrice Luchini is a superstar in France, but not terribly well-known elsewhere. He should be. A master of deadpan rage, he's like Larry David mixed with Timothy Spall, but French. This recent comedy is a particularly accessible example of Luchini's genius, and should be seen by anyone who enjoys the comedy of subtle brinksmanship. Luchini stars as Serge, a retired actor who is visited in his idyllic seaside home by Gautheir (Lambert Wilson - The Matrix Reloaded, Catwoman), a handsome and successful actor who stars in a shallow TV drama. Having worked together before, Gauthier wants to collaborate with Serge on a new vanity production of iconic French playwright Molière's work The Misanthrope. Serge agrees, but as the men begin to rehearse, their egos take centre stage and an escalating series of mind games eventuates. It's darkly hilarious, and oddly affecting. Available on DVD.
• Seen any of these? What contemporary French films do you love? Comment below!
- nzherald.co.nz