| FRANCE |
| BON VOYAGE |
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France’s submission for the Best Foreign
Film Oscar is an antic farce set against Germany’s tragic
1940 invasion, an event which informs the action but does
little to interrupt the romantic entanglements of all the
characters—an assortment of socialites, government ministers,
journalists, students and spies, who, as Paris falls, scramble
southward. The story begins with the “accidental”
death of a lover, an event Viviane (Isabelle Adjani) tries
to conceal from the police and her friends, including a high-ranking
politician (Gérard Depardieu). She is helped by Frédéric
(Grégori Dérangère), a young admirer
and writer trying to help a young student (Virginie Ledoyen)
who is desperately trying to help a professor keep bottles
of heavy water from falling into the hands of the Germans.
At the Splendide Hôtel in Bordeaux, they meet a dizzying
array of characters, each with their own intrigues to tell.
Rappeneau meticulously fashions a world as cinematically complex
as his characters’ complications, evoking a sense of
time and place as real as it is artificial. (114 mins.) Print
courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. Sponsored by Southpark
Seafood Grill.
Filmography: Zazie dans le metro (60, screenplay), That Man
From Rio (64, screenplay), Lacombe Lucien (74, screenplay),
Cyrano de Bergerac (90), Horseman on the Roof (95).
SHOWTIMES: 2/21, 8:30pm
and 2/23, 6pm GU. |
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| LOVE ME IF YOU DARE |
Yann Samuell |
Working the highly stylized, lovingly comic
side of the street, Yann Samuell’s first feature is
a fantastical love story. Eight-year-old Sophie is the girl
on the bus that everyone teases. Julien is the little boy
that comes to her rescue. He too is an outcast of sorts, struggling
to cope with the loss of his dying mother. Together, they
invent an outrageous game of “Dare” to keep their
spirits alive. With the amoral poetic genius typical of children,
their game of trickster pranks becomes a glorious mutual addiction.
It binds them together as it tears them apart. As their feelings
for each other grow through childhood into adulthood, each
must decide if they are willing to finally acknowledge their
love for each other. But can they ever stop playing the game?
Weird, wild and funny, Love Me if You Dare recalls the vivid,
colorful worlds of Amélie, Ma Vie en Rose and Trainspotting,
while at the same time creating characters and atmosphere
all its own. (93 Mins.) Print courtesy of Paramount Classics.
Sponsored by American Airlines.
First Feature.
SHOWTIMES: 2/14, 9pm GU and
2/15, 2pm WH. |
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| MONSIEUR IBRAHIM |
François Dupeyron |
Adapting Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s novel,
Dupeyron beautifully depicts Paris in the early 1960s as a
place filled with the vibrant promise of social change. Omar
Sharif delivers one of his most charming roles as an elderly
Arab shopkeeper who befriends an adolescent Jewish boy in
the red light district during the ’60s. Momo, is bored
in school, neglected by his depressed father, abandoned by
his mother and brother, and badly in need of support and guidance.
After Monsieur Ibrahim takes Momo under his wing, circumstances
find the two in a shiny new convertible, taking an emotional,
scenic journey across Europe to the old man’s Turkish
home. There he teaches Momo about poetry, piety, meditation,
the Koran, and how to appreciate simple beauty. Featuring
superb performances, gorgeous cinematography, and a cameo
by Isabelle Adjani, Monsieur Ibrahim is both a poignant coming-of-age
story, and a timely reflection on friendship and belonging
in an age of international tensions. Sponsored by American
Airlines.
Selected Filmography: A Beating Heart (91),
The Machine (94), What’s Life (99),The Officer’s
Ward (01).
SHOWTIMES: 2/27, 6:30pm GU and
2/28, 4:30pm WH. |
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| SINCE OTAR LEFT |
Julie Bertuccelli |
A former assistant director to Bertrand Tavernier,
Otar Iosseliani, and Krzysztof Kieslowski, takes an outsider’s
look at her own country, the Georgian Republic. Eka lives
on the morsels of communication she gets from her beloved
son, Otar, who long ago left Tibilisi for Paris and is apparently
thriving. Eka is cared for by her daughter, Marina, who resents
her mother’s obsession with Otar and therefore works
for her all the harder, and Marina’s daughter Ada, who
is suffocating in the consequent vacuum. Otar’s mythic
status (all future plans are predicated around his return
and past events dated by his departure) and his phone calls
and letters treated as an oracle. Catastrophe comes when a
friend brings word of his sudden death. Fearing for the grandmother’s
health, his sister and niece decide to hide this disastrous
news from her. They write letters, as if from Otar, inventing
a happy life for him. A tale of genuine tenderness and lying
for love provides that provides a subtle portrayal of the
transition from Stalinism to the modern west. Best Film, Critics
Week, Cannes Film Festival and this year’s Georgian
submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (102 mins.) Print
courtesy of Zeitgeist Films.
First Feature.
SHOWTIMES: 2/19, 7pm WH and
2/21, 3:15pm GU. |
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