PARIS JE T'AIME

This week’s movie:
PARIS JE T’AIME

I love this type of project!

It’s difficult not to like at least some of this movie. Composed of 18 short films, averaging 8 minutes each, it’s like a collection of picture postcards from your trip to Paris. Each film is written and directed by a different team of film-makers, and shot in a different section of the city.

These aren’t hacks either. The 18 teams represent some of the best film-making talent from around the world. This includes the likes of

• Gus Van Sant (Finding Forrester, Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho);
• Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer)
• Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries, Central Station)
• Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt)
• Ethan and Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou?)
• Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
• Richard LaGravenese (Freedom Writers, P.S. I Love You)
• Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, Red Eye)
• Isabel Coixet (The Secret Life of Words)
• Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville)
• Emmanuel Benbihy (Bend It Like Beckham, Bride & Prejudice)

And actors too! Some actors even American audiences may recognizable:

• Marianne Faithfull
• Steve Buscemi
• Miranda Richardson
• Juliette Binoche
• Willem Dafoe
• Nick Nolte
• Maggie Gyllenhaal
• Fanny Ardant
• Bob Hoskins
• Elijah Wood
• Emily Mortimer
• Rufus Sewell
• Natalie Portman
• Gérard Depardieu
• Ben Gazzara
• Gena Rowlands

…..and many others.

This movie is like your favorite book of short stories or poems – an anthology. Each one conveys a complete thought – short and concise. The stories may be thought of as independent snapshots of Paris, but they may also intersect in unexpected ways. The overall theme is to show some aspect of love with the city as a backdrop. Each takes place in a different neighborhood. Some are in English, some are in French, some are in Spanish, others are in various other languages, and at least one is in Mime (yes – those mimes!). You can’t go wrong here. If there’s a particular segment that you don’t like, not to worry. It’ll be over and on to the next one in just a few minutes. And if there’s a particular segment that you like so much that you want more – well then – it’s good to want, isn’t it?

If it all sounds too confusing – it’s not. The transition between segments is well delineated with titles. Besides, the film-making styles are so different, the transitions would be well defined even without the titles. The segments also span well defined film genres. Some are dramatic, some are funny, others are romantic, still others are mysterious – or thrilling – or scary – or whimsical. I really think there’s a high probability of finding something you like here.

So now you’re maybe considering renting this film, you may be asking yourself, “With all those film-makers and all that talent, why haven’t I ever heard of this movie?” The answer to that is sadly, someone in an office has decided that you shouldn’t hear about this movie. The truth is that this film was immensely popular in most of the rest of the world - but here in the US, these things are decided by accountants. These are people who predict what you will pay money to go see and weigh that against the cost of advertising. If they don’t advertise, people won’t know to go see it and the guy who own the multiplex cinema in your town isn’t going to show it. This film was released to very few independent theaters, usually only in large cities. The guy who decided that you wouldn’t like PARIS JE T’AIME doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Look at what’s playing at your local cineplex right now. PARIS JE T’AIME is a better film than nearly everything you might find there. Now I wouldn’t suggest that good movie don’t play in your town - some do - but very many of the best films, the most interesting films, never make there. They’ve been excluded by committee. Luckily, PARIS JE T’AIME is now available on video and you can watch it at home.

If you think I’m being cynical, as an exercise, I took a survey of the movies playing at the multiplex in my town. It has 10 screens so it just fits into my top 10 list. These are the movies that accountants have decided that you would like better than PARIS JE T’AIME. In comparison, PARIS JE T’AIME scores an 84% on the tomatometer.

1. In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (tomatometer: 3% - not a typo, that’s three percent) “Another lame copy of every crappy sword-and-sorcery epic ever made. ……badly written and edited.”
2. First Sunday (tomatometer: 16%) A pair of bumbling petty criminals ………. “A cringe-inducing, cinematic tribute to the Golden Age of Minstrelsy!”
3. One Missed Call (2008) (tomatometer: zero%) An English language remake of a bad Asian horror flick of the same name. “As annoying as a busy signal.”
4. The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (tomatometer: 74%) A cutesy family film that kids will love – but not much here for adults.
5. National Treasure: Book of Secrets (tomatometer: 33%) Like National Treasure I, but not as good – and that’s saying a lot. “This just might be the silliest movie ever to feature three Academy Award winners.”
6. P.S. I Love You (tomatometer: 21%) Romantic comedy ……at least in theory. “This is a movie that will leave you stunned and stupefied from beginning to end, if you don’t head for the exits first.” “A low point in the tear-stained history of sappy, shallow chick drivel.”
7. Charlie Wilson’s War (tomatometer: 82%) True-ish story of the CIA covert war in Afghanistan. I haven’t seen it yet – but you can’t go wrong with Tom Hanks.
8. Alvin and the Chipmunks (tomatometer: 24%) This is too easy. “Arguably the most irritating novelty act in record history gets a CGI-updating…and the result is pretty annoying itself.”
9. I Am Legend (tomatometer: 67%) “Good performance by Will Smith, but it’s basically a rehash of 28 Days Later.”
10. The Bucket List (tomatometer: 40%) Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die. “…….further proof that even our most critically lauded thespians are eminently capable of churning out garbage.”

You know what I think? I think we should hire some new accountants.

PARIS JE T’AIME
Enjoy.

view trailer

BEST OF 2007

****** Best of 2007 ******

This is the third year for my “Best Of” year-end review. It’s been a pretty good year for films – a good crop this year. Counting them up, I saw a total of 180 films in 2007. There’s usually more – I must be slacking off. A lot of people ask me where I get the time to watch so many movies. It’s easy, really. All you need to do is replace watching crap on TV with movies. There’s lots of good stuff on DVD and ON-DEMAND and even on VHS if you’re still living in the 80’s.

Like I said, it was a good year for movies and it was difficult to choose between the best – but I’ll make a stab at it. If I wait until a week from now and think about it some more, my list might be a little different. So here goes.

FISRT: the disclaimers.

• These are not necessarily movies that came out in 2007; they are just movies that I saw in 2007.
• I am not saying that these are the absolute best movies; they are just ones that I liked the best.
• If you see a movie here that I didn’t feature on my site, it’s probably in my “waiting to be recommended” list.
• I haven’t seen every movie - so if I don’t mention your favorite movie in this list, it probably just means that I haven’t seen it yet……………………………. or that I hated it!.
• I realize that every other critic does a TOP-10 list, but really, 5 is hard enough, so I quit at 5. Plus some special prizes - just like in Cannes (I’ve never actually been to Cannes, but I’d like to. People, please send money so that I can afford to go to Cannes this year.).
• For the most part, I’m avoiding the wide release movies. Everybody already knows about these. So, if you loved Pirates of the Caribbean, and wonder why it’s not on my list – that’s why.
• The order of the films is not very significant. The “goodness” level of all these movies is very close. The movies below were ranked by awarding “Frank Points” to each one. After the rating process, The Frank Points were tallied up and the films placed in the proper order. The criteria for which Frank Points are awarded, is confidential and is only known to Frank - sorry.
• That’s it!

SECOND: the movies.

1. CHILDREN OF MEN: (English) The world is slowly dying from despair when women everywhere can no longer bear children. Hope arrives in the form of a young woman who is about to give birth to the first child in more than 18 years. Fast paced and suspenseful storytelling will keep you on the edge of your seat. This film has a lot to say about the nature of the human psyche, while at the same time, entertaining you.
2. ONCE: (English) Totally emotionally satisfying love story about the magic of making music. It’s sweet, has a great soundtrack and was the audience favorite at the Sundance Film Festival last year. It didn’t get the promotion it deserved and didn’t play in the multiplexes, but now out on video, is enjoying a word of mouth campaign.
3. THE LIVES OF OTHERS: (German) Tense, gripping Cold War drama about an East German surveillance expert who slowly realizes he’s spying on a loyal popular writer for all the wrong reasons. Both men are called to question their ideals. Won the Oscar for best foreign language film.
4. PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER: (English) Gorgeously filmed story of a man born (Paris: 17-18 century) with a highly acute sense of smell , but with no scent of his own creates the greatest perfumes in France. The story takes a dark turn as he searches for the ultimate scent.
5. PAN’S LABYRINTH: (Spanish) During WWII, a young girl escapes the brutality of fascist Spain by escaping into an eerie fantasy world. The contrasts and parallels between that world and real one form the basis of the film. Very violent but also beautiful and fascinating. Won the Oscar for art direction.

THIRD: The extras.

TIED FOR 6^th PLACE: (no particular order)
LA BELLE NOISEUSE: (French) Enthralling story about what it takes to capture the soul of a person on canvas.

PARIS JE T’AIME: (French & English) A collection of 5-10 minute short films, about the city of Paris and love. Each film is by a different film-maker, and with different actors, and takes place in a different neighborhood of the city. Fun to watch.

BLACK BOOK: (Dutch & German) There were several WWII movies this year, but none were as much fun nor as exciting as this guilty pleasure. As a plus: it’s a true story.

LITTLE CHILDREN: (English) Well written and acted drama about married couples whose lives intersect on the playgrounds and streets of their small town in unexpected ways.

HALF NELSON: (English) Acting tour-de-force about a good young teacher in an inner city school who is addicted to drugs.

VOLVER: (Spanish) After her death, a woman returns to her home town to resolve the difficulties with her daughters she couldn’t during life. Great performance by Penelope Cruz.

FUNNIEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR:
BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN: Offensive and funny. Often you can’t watch but again, you can’t look away.

Runner up: HOT FUZZ: The guys that brought you Shaun of the Dead are at it again. They are cops in a small town trying to uncover a cover up.

FAMILY MOVIE OF THE YEAR
RATATOUILLE: It seems these days that Pixar can do no wrong. Yet, even among their hits, this one’s a home run. A rat in Paris, dreams of becoming a chef.

Runner up: HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE: A young girl, cursed by a witch and turned into an old crone, finds refuge in Howl’s castle, which, by the way, walks around on four legs. Another masterpiece from Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki.

DARK MOVIE OF THE YEAR
TIDELAND: Holy crap! This movie is so dark (and I’m not referring to the lighting) that you often actually fear for the young actress playing the lead role. It’s a great movie, but definitely not for everyone.

Runner up: CRASH (1996): Not the 2004 Oscar winner! This is the 1996 David Cronenberg film about a group of people who seek sensual fulfillment through crashing their automobiles. I did say this was the “dark” category.

SCI-FI/FANTASY MOVIE OF THE YEAR
THE HOST: (Korean) A good old-fashioned monster movie like you thought they didn’t make any more. The slickest, coolest, funnest creature feature in many a year.

Runner up: 28 DAYS LATER I know practically everybody has seen this film, but I didn’t get around to it until this past year. This somewhat different take on the zombie genre has spawn many a copycat, including I Am Legend (now in theaters).

STRANGEST DAMN MOVIE OF THE YEAR
INLAND EMPIRE: Strange in the conventional sense, but business as usual in the David Lynch sense. An actress (Laura Dern) takes a wrong turn and is drawn into a nightmarish Dystopian world.

Runner up: WEEK END: (French) A couple take a weekend drive into the countryside and into the twilight zone of endless traffic jams and pile-ups in this off-beat surreal comedy.

OVER-THE-TOP MOVIE OF THE YEAR;
PLANET TERROR: This movie is just jam-packed chock full of goofy insane action. There isn’t a single frame not filled with something outrageous to look at.

Runner up: ATTACK THE GAS STATION: (Korean) Slick action comedy about a group of bored street youths who rob a gas station. The next night, because they’re bored and can’t think of anything else to do, they decide to rob it again. This one’s a classic.

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
THE UP DOCUMENTARIES: Perhaps the greatest social experiment ever captured on film. A group of 7 year old schoolchildren are interviewed about a wide range of personal and social issues. Every 7 years the same group is re-interviewed. The progression of views and of the stages of life are spotlighted.

Runner up: INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS: Is it a mockumentary? It’s not clear even after viewing. This film chronicles film-maker and documentarian, Werner Herzog, who travels to Scotland to film a documentary about the legend of the Loch Ness Monster. Tongue-in-cheek humor abounds.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR
THE NUMBER 23: I really really wanted to like this movie. It wasn’t the worst film of the year, I just expected much more. Silly me.

WORST MOVIE OF THE YEAR:
GRAY MATTERS: You’ve probably never heard of this movie. That’s okay! I saw it and it looked like just the sort fun romantic comedy I was looking for. It was truly wretched. Too bad – I really like Heather Graham.