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That does sound very interesting. Thanks.

therewillbeblus wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 3:28 am L'Heure de la sortie: Another eerie setup that doesn’t pay off but the unsettling vibe especially signifying generational divide is effective if also questionably problematic for the reasons Colin and I got into in the horror thread re: Them. This film more clearly exposes a very real terror in not being able to comprehend a separate cohort of people which is frightening because we are all collectively human so that separatism cracks apart the idea of Lockeian good essence in favor of something itching towards the foundational antisocial drives of Hobbes, but also alienates and dehumanizes the gen z crowd all the same, or at least paints them to be culturally inclined to sociopathic activities and cynicism. This is like if First Reformed took its ideas and diluted them into a simple surface-level misreading, and then threw that nihilistic view onto our youth. Taking adults’ anxiety and placing it onto others is a bit condescending and avoidant of the real content to unwrap here, and is thus disrespectful to all generations as well as the viewer.

Of the previously recommended titles this was the one that sounded most interesting to me, but it's pretty bad in a way that cracked me up pretty hard. The film definitely doesn't take place on earth which is fine, but how it chooses to be silly entertainment isn't successful. The plot is literally beat for beat taken from an old episode of CSI, but told in a very French sort of way to give a sense of where we're at.

Yeah I figured you wouldn’t like it, though I don’t think anyone has actually recommended this movie so much as I posed a YMMV linkage to teaching this generation, though that mileage I feel is destined to range from a shrug to disdain, but maybe someone will surprise me and enjoy it

I should clarify that I went in assuming it was going to be something like The Class, but instead got a television ready The Skulls with kids instead. I honestly would have much preferred a film about him trying to nail his fellow teacher instead. Those scenes were much more interesting than anything to do with the kids.

Yeah I just thought the implications of the kids, their outlooks, and mannerisms were pejorative and troublesome though it was so silly that I just didn’t care enough to be frustrated with it, which would have at least made it more interesting.

I agree. I was actually laughing a bit throughout the experience because of how silly the whole thing is. Just go to the police with the videos and explain what you saw, man.

Forgive me if this is obvious, but I stopped caring while watching enough to figure out

Spoiler

what happened to the original teacher? Was it a red herring to believe the kids psychologically pushed him to kill him self, or was their bleak worldview or some other circumstance the trigger? Not that it really matters..

Not that it really matters is basically my point of view.

One thing that did frustrate me though is

Spoiler

that a film like this has no right showing the actual death of a real person. That's just gross.

I received an email from MyFrenchFilmFestival today to remind me that we can cast votes for films too which will get an Audience Award. Maybe I'm blind, but can anybody figure out how to do this on the site?

Also, looking back on past recipients I'm shocked to see that Caprice came up empty handed its year, not even getting an Audience Award. I'm not holding my breath for Perdrix, though it's hard to think of what will win.. probably Les Confins du monde

Catching up on the titles that aren’t available on back channels (which I will get to in my own sweet time), in the order I liked them:

Les confins du monde (Guillaume Nicloux)
Elliptical study of one French soldier’s quest to find and kill the local leader responsible for a grisly slaughter that took the lives of his brother and sister-in-law in the Indochina front of WWII. While the pacing and ellipses work well for the story being told, I thought what was shown was simply too familiar, despite attempts to insert shocking graphic moments of brutality (including the sadly unforgettable image of a leech engorged inside one unlucky soldier’s urethra, “helpfully” shown on-screen via prosthesis). Gerard Depardieu is on hand to lend gravitas and star power, but his character makes no sense and seems to be someone’s idea of Sounds Deep, Bro. Good score, though.

Les fauves (Vincent Mariette)
Lily-Rose Depp befriends a mysterious horror novelist who is spending his summer vacation convincing campground denizens that a legendary leopard is stalking the grounds. This is regrettably yet another French movie where a ridiculously beautiful teenager throws herself at a grouchy middle-aged schlub who doesn’t want her— I could maybe buy Depp falling for Laurent Lafitte in another context, but I refuse to believe anyone could fall for him with the greasy long hair longhaul trucker look he sports here. I’m sure the Comédie-Française is rethinking their always being credited policy after his work here… Apart from these elements, the film has some style, but it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t really work in conjunction with this material, and the last twenty minutes are a total disaster, including a series of last minute revelations that no one could possibly care about because I don’t know who watching this thought it was a mystery movie.

Le vent tourne (Bettina Oberli)
Melanie Thierry and Pierre Deladonchamps put on an organic, homegrown, wind-powered revival of Petit paysan and any random handful of infidelity dramas in this embarrassing collection of cliches that dared me to turn it off with every passing dull reiteration of a note already sounded better elsewhere. At one point Deladonchamps, in reference to the wind turbine he and Thierry have installed on their farm and which she has sabotaged in order to entice her lover back to fix it, says something like, “You wouldn’t do that, destroy something we built together,” to give you some idea of this film’s subtlety.

Pretty much my thoughts exactly on all three, though Le vent tourne earned points despite the cliches for turning the most obnoxious and banal of film ideas and presentations into an attempt at Malick intimacy sans voiceover which left it open as a reflective tool of emotion rather than only a contrived film, but I won’t argue that this attempt at audience elicitation isn’t littered with eye rolling familiarity and painfully drawn out meaningless scenes. It really wasn’t very good but I got something out of it, even if that something was more personal interest of camera use to poke in certain places rather than anything to do with the story. I absolutely hated Les fauves and I think Les confins du monde is close to being a very good film but still unsure what to make of it honestly, though I think it’ll probably win the prize.

Still better than Nicloux's last film if just for have 80 minutes less Depardieu nudity.

Maybe the Gaspard Ulliel nudity was his way of making amends!

Watch the animated feature that none of us can access win the top prize (Worth noting that the other blocked title, Jessica Forever, is now up with subs on back channels)

...and just like that, Les hirondelles de Kaboul has popped up on back channels haha

Turns out winners were announced a few days ago. The jury picked L'heure de la sortie

I could see Brady Corbet identifying with that one’s mood even if it’s empty next to his own work

therewillbeblus wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:14 am I loathed Pile poil so I’m glad we’re at least on the same page there

This won the live action short Cesar, vom. But your fave Sacs won the animated short Cesar too

Surely this is the straw to break the credibility of the Cesar's back

domino harvey wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:41 pm
Watch the animated feature that none of us can access win the top prize

I was close: Kabul and Une soeur, two of the three films blocked to US viewers, won the audience awards!

Une soeur would have easily been my pick, hopefully more people can seek it out soon

Note that these fifty films are all shorts

Posts for Perdrix have been split off here

domino harvey wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:21 am

therewillbeblus wrote: Sat Jan 18, 2020 5:49 am I went through a good portion of the live-action shorts, and while very few really wowed me (some were downright awful: I turned off Le Discours d'acceptation glorieux de Nicolas Chauvin pretty quickly despite its amusing concept. Perhaps I'll return to it if others here who give it a chance recommend it)

I really enjoyed Le Discours d'acceptation glorieux de Nicolas Chauvin, and I'm assuming you turned it off before the film crystallizes why we're seeing a frat bro reenact a French historical figure (whose very name is the first clue as to the point of all this). I thought it had some good film-making instincts and played fast and loose with its concept in a way that felt more puckish than un-tethered. It is also very, very offensive by design, so even if you can meet the film on its level, you may not care to! But I laughed a lot, especially at dumb throwaway lines like "According to a Wikipedia article I wrote" or Chauvin randomly thanking "Les intouchables, le film" in an acceptance speech. I give it a hearty recommendation! Also, huge LOLs @ Amazon giving this an "All Ages" rating: sure, all ages if you were getting dragged along to a VFW circa 1965, maybe-- I think every racial or sexist French slur I know makes an appearance in this thing!

Alexis Manenti is having a great year. After this and winning the Cesar for Les Miserables, he's been invited to join the AMPAS (though from the screenwriters' branch, along with the other two credited writers for LM-- the only French actor invited by the acting branch this year was Adele Haenel)

This year’s lineup announced, includes Enorme from Cahiers Top 10. Will run Jan 15 - Feb 15 and likely will be free again if you have Amazon Prime

EDIT Here’s the lineup as a Letterboxd list