Ersatz TLS discussion

A space to talk about films: old, new, seen in the cinema, on TV, streamed ...

This week I've seen 2 films at the cinema:
1. Madres Paralelas - Almodovar.
2 women, both single mothers, give birth at the same time. One very young; the other 40ish.
In another strand of the story, the older woman is trying to have a mass grave from the Spanish civil war excavated.
There's an article in The G. today
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022...

2. Un héros - Farhadi.
A young man in prison for debt is out on 2 days' parole. A scheme to pay off his debt and thus be released from prison leads to all sorts of unforeseen circumstances.

I recommend both these.

We watched an oldie last night
Cary Grant , Audrey Hepburn in
Charade
The villains were Kennedy, Coburn, Matthau all hamming it up. Hepburn as beautiful as ever, Grant suave, laconic .
Seen it before of course as I expect most have.

I do enjoy watching films with Cary Grant.
Another oldie, a few days ago, I watched Vertigo on TV - James Stewart and Kim Novak. Although I remembered the basic premise of the film, I was rather surprised to find how much I'd forgotten.

I remember Kim Novak in Picnic with William Holden . She rather disappeared or maybe I just missed her films.

If anyone gets the chance I can recommend Denzil Washington's Macbeth which I went to see Christmas week.

Gpfr wrote: "A space to talk about films: old, new, seen in the cinema, on TV, streamed ...

This week I've seen 2 films at the cinema:
1. Madres Paralelas - Almodovar.
2 women, both single mothers, give birth..."

Thanks very much, both for setting up the thread and these brief reviews.

Could you (and others) please indicate the year of release, as I don't know if these are brand new or re-screenings? Longer reviews would be much appreciated, too! (if you have the time, obs.)

I am a huge fan of Almodovar's - 'Pain and Glory' was one of the last films I saw in the cinema before COVID struck.

CCCubbon wrote: "We watched an oldie last night
Cary Grant , Audrey Hepburn in
Charade
The villains were Kennedy, Coburn, Matthau all hamming it up. Hepburn as beautiful as ever, Grant suave, laconic .
Seen it befo..."

I haven't seen that for a while, but Cary Grant is one of my favourite actors - perhaps 'the' favourite, as he stars in two of my favourite films, both directed by the astonishingly gifted Howard Hawks - 'Bringing up Baby' (with the other Hepburn - Katharine) and Hitchcock's 'North by Northwest' - great fun - one of those rare films we can see again and again.

I've not read a biography, but it seems to me that Grant was no fool, as this comment shows:

"Everybody would like to be Cary Grant", Grant is said to have replied, "So would I."

He was also capable of moral ambiguity - see 'Suspicion' and 'Notorious'.

As an actor - as good as it gets.

Gpfr wrote: "I do enjoy watching films with Cary Grant.
Another oldie, a few days ago, I watched Vertigo on TV - James Stewart and Kim Novak. Although I remembered the basic premise of the film, I was rather s..."

'Vertigo' (1958) is often listed higher than other Hitchcock films in those 'best' lists, but I like it rather less than many others... the premise is creepy, to say the least, and as it's a 'serious' drama as opposed to a comedy thriller I find the whole thing rather overblown.

As a matter of report - the church used as one location is the Mission Dolores in San Francisco... in real life, it is much smaller than it is made to look on the screen!

http://movie-locations.com/movies/v/V...

My favourite film of all time is Singin' in the Rain, I have watched it every Christmas since childhood. On boxing day 2020 I saw it on the big screen for the first time at our local art house. What a treat! The audience actually gave it a standing ovation.. though I guess we were full of Christmas cheer,as wine and mince pies were included in the ticket price.The same cinema shows A Wonderful Life every year too. I love Jimmy Stewart. I would also love to see Casablanca on a big screen.

My favourite film of all time is another Cary Grant,
The Bishop’s Wife
With David Niven and Loretta Young.

That's a good film too

scarletnoir wrote: "Could you (and others) please indicate the year of release..."

Both Madres Paralelas and Un héros were released in 2021.

I don't think I've ever seen The Bishop's Wife -I'll have to keep an eye out for it.
I also love Singing in the Rain, Bringing up Baby and North by North-West.
Some Like it Hot is one of my favourites.
A film I love - not a masterpiece, but a lovely enjoyable watch is Crossing Delancey, 1988, dir. Joan Micklin Silver, with Amy Irving and Peter Riegert. Izzy is a young woman working in a bookstore in New York. Her grandmother would like her to marry a nice Jewish boy and a matchmaker proposes the owner of a pickle shop. Hard to compete with glamorous authors doing readings in the bookshop ...

While we're talking about Cary Grant & Hitchcock, don't forget Notorious - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038787/... - with Grant & Ingrid Bergman.

Lljones wrote: "While we're talking about Cary Grant & Hitchcock, don't forget Notorious - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038787/... - with Grant & Ingrid Bergman."

Another excellent movie where Grant shows his ability to portray moral ambiguity, as opposed to the 'good guy' on display in many (most?) of his other films. Bergman, of course, is brilliant as usual.

scarletnoir wrote: "'Vertigo' is often listed higher than other Hitchcock films in those 'best' lists, but I like it rather less than many others... the premise is creepy, to say the least, and as it's a 'serious' drama as opposed to a comedy thriller I find the whole thing rather overblown."

I'm taking the rather unusual step of 'replying' to myself, but only because we watched 'Vertigo' last night - I hadn't seen it in ages.

It didn't change my view of the film - overblown, silly, minor Hitchcock - but refreshed my memory of the absurd plot. We get an awful lot of Kim Novak staring into the camera, and even the normally excellent James Stewart is prevailed upon to go well OTT on numerous occasions. Tom Helmore is wooden as the husband, and several other turns feel odd, to put it mildly - Henry Jones as the coroner, for example. Barbara Bel Geddes is about the only main actor to escape more or less unscathed from this farrago.

In addition, the special effects from 1958 look dreadfully dated - I LOLed on the three occasions someone fell to their death - hardly the intended reaction - with the first woman falling in a very peculiar head-first position. The final scene with the nun ringing the bell is flat-out hilarious. (OK, maybe I have an odd sense of humour - but only someone of very different sensibilities could take this guff seriously.)

There is an absolutely terrible animated dream sequence halfway through (contrast Dali's excellent work in 'Spellbound'), and the music, though one of the better features overall - it is by Bernard Herrmann, after all - is intrusive at times.

I doubt that I'll ever feel bothered to watch it again - unlike so many of Hitch's movies.

Greenfairy wrote: "My favourite film of all time is Singin' in the Rain, I have watched it every Christmas since childhood. On boxing day 2020 I saw it on the big screen for the first time at our local art house. Wha..."

All good choices - I do have one reservation about Kelly - wonderful dancer though he is, his acting is limited and his 'smile' is chilling - all in the teeth, flashed at the camera. You don't 'feel' he is smiling inside... or I don't, anyway. I do like Kelly a lot in the 1948 version of 'The Three Musketeers', though, where his athleticism is very well used in D'Artagnan's sword fights and escapades.

'Casablanca'(1942), of course, is wonderful and can be viewed countless times... from Bogart and Bergman (again, top notch) all the way down, there isn't a poor performance anywhere from a brilliant cast, with Lorre and Greenstreet suitably slimy... Max Steiner's score adds a great deal, especially in the heart-rending scene at the end when Ilsa leaves on the plane... a scene referenced by Woody Allen in 'Play it again, Sam'.

I quite like the sweet sentiments of 'It's a Wonderful Life'(1946), even though I don't much care for 'miracles' or religion in general... but it's not one I'd care to watch too often.

Gpfr wrote: "I don't think I've ever seen The Bishop's Wife -I'll have to keep an eye out for it.
I also love Singing in the Rain, Bringing up Baby and North by North-West.
Some Like it Hot is one of my favouri..."
It’s usually on around Christmas on iPlayer
…and I have never seen Crossing….

Lljones wrote: "While we're talking about Cary Grant & Hitchcock, don't forget Notorious - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038787/... - with Grant & Ingrid Bergman."

I think this would be my pick as Cary Grant's best film, and maybe Hitchcock's too. Grant is probably my favourite Hollywood star. And Audrey Hepburn might be my favourite Hollywood actress, though unfortunately I don't feel the one film they did together is amongst the best of either performer - not that it's bad, just not the masterpiece I would have hoped for from these two working together.

My favourite Cary Grant quote: one time, when a reporter wired his agent a question, "How old Cary Grant?" , Grant had him reply "Old Cary Grant fine. How you?" (I think I read this in one of David Niven's books.)

Berkley wrote: ""My favourite Cary Grant quote: one time, when a reporter wired his agent a question, "How old Cary Grant?" , Grant had him reply "Old Cary Grant fine. How you?" (I think I read this in one of David Niven's books.).."

Good quote! I hope you also like Grant's comment in #7...

I read Niven's books a long time ago... can't recall any details - just that they were very entertaining.

Boiling Point (2021) dir. Philip Barantini. French title The Chef.

A one-shot film, set in a busy restaurant on the Friday before Christmas. I think here the technique is effective and immersive as we rush from one part of the restaurant to another and different mishaps are juggled. It starts with the chef (excellent Stephen Graham) late for work, juggling work and family phone calls - he forgot to do the orders yesterday so the menu has to be adapted and has missed some event with his child.
He arrives to find the environmental health officer is there and their rating has dropped from 5 to 3.
The stress builds ...
By the end of the film, I rather felt that I'd just spent that time working in the restaurant and needed a cup of tea and a lie-down!
But I thought it very good.

Gpfr wrote: "Boiling Point (2021) dir. Philip Barantini. French title The Chef.

A one-shot film, set in a busy restaurant on the Friday before Christmas. I think here the technique is effective and immersive a..."



On the occasions I have watched "chef" programmes in busy restaurants I think to myself "why would anyone want to put themselves through that"!!

God, I'm jealous. I haven't watched a grown up film in 10 years. I gave to get Netflix or something of the kind. Watching films dubbed into Italian is just depressing and jarring

scarletnoir wrote: "Good quote! I hope you also like Grant's comment in #7...

I read Niven's books a long time ago... can't recall any details - just that they were very entertaining."

yes, that's probably the better quote, really, or expresses something more interesting. Mine was just a cute little joke.

It's been a long time since I read the Niven books but yeah, they were great fun. I'd like to read more Hollywood memoirs or bios some time but Niven set a high bar that might be hard for other books to match.

Paul wrote: "God, I'm jealous. I haven't watched a grown up film in 10 years. I gave to get Netflix or something of the kind. Watching films dubbed into Italian is just depressing and jarring"

The weird thing is how they even dub their own films, or used to - I mean, when they cast non-Italian speakers in Italian films and dubbed them. Do they still do that, I wonder?

Last Italian film I saw at the theatre was Dario Argento's Profundo Rosso (1975), starring English actor David Hemmings, just a few months ago. Excellent horror movie. And I was very happy to see Sergio Leone's "Dollars trilogy" at the theatre for the first time this past summer, having previously seen them only on tv when I was a kid. They really need the big screen to do justice to the epic quality of these films.

Paul wrote: "God, I'm jealous. I haven't watched a grown up film in 10 years. I gave to get Netflix or something of the kind. Watching films dubbed into Italian is just depressing and jarring"

I dislike watching dubbed films, and very much prefer subtitles... something is lost (for me) when we can't hear the voices of the actors and the natural cadence of the 'original' language... We had an example the other day, when trying to watch an English-language film on French TV... one female character was portrayed in French by someone with a high-pitched and annoying voice... we fiddled with the remote and got VO (the original soundtrack) and discovered that she, in fact, had a lovely deep voice... this sort of thing can alter your reaction to a character, apart from the other considerations.

Sometimes, though, subtitling is done badly - If we see a French film in the UK with English subtitles, or an English film with French subtitles, occasionally we see the most egregious errors. It looks to me as if subtitlers work from the film itself, and sometimes mis-hear a word, resulting in some comical or baffling mistakes. (Why don't they read the scripts?)

As my hearing isn't great, I sometimes put on the subtitles in the original language, to help me keep up - even there, errors occur when the subtitlers themselves have misheard the words spoken!
Maybe I'll post an example, next time it happens.

Berkley wrote: "I was very happy to see Sergio Leone's "Dollars trilogy" at the theatre for the first time this past summer, having previously seen them only on tv when I was a kid. They really need the big screen to do justice to the epic quality of these films."

Too true - I hope you have also seen 'Once Upon a Time in the West' - an absolutely classic western. Leone was also responsible for my favourite gangster film - 'Once Upon a Time in America' - far superior to Coppola's 'Godfather' movies IMHO, though it gets less attention... it was Leone's favourite of his own films, I think.

Leone's composer Ennio Morricone played a big part in creating the atmosphere for the films, and indeed wrote the music first so that Leone could then edit the scenes to match:

By this stage in their collaboration (1965), Mr Morricone was writing the music in advance of filming. Leone would edit the footage to fit the music and not, as was conventionally the case, the other way around. While making “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966), Leone would play the music on set for the actors to help them get into character.

https://www.economist.com/prospero/20...

The idea of writing the music first was not new - it was famously used by Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Prokoviev:

According to Eisenstein, he and Prokofiev would always “bargain” for a long time before it was decided who should be first to make the next decisive audiovisual step. This would be a choice between the composer having to write the music having seen the relevant section of unedited film, or to compose it once Eisenstein had already edited it.
https://offscreen.com/view/eisenstein...

I daresay there are other examples, but these are the ones I know about - must write about seeing Alexander Nevsky for the first time, one day!

Paul wrote: "God, I'm jealous. I haven't watched a grown up film in 10 years. I gave to get Netflix or something of the kind. Watching films dubbed into Italian is just depressing and jarring"

I don't know if you got to watch the tv series Gomorrah, which of course had English subtitles here. I later found out that when it screened in Italy they had to put subtitles in because the general Italian population couldn't understand the Neapolitan dialect/accents!

scarletnoir wrote: "Leone's composer Ennio Morricone played a big part in creating the atmosphere for the films, and indeed wrote the music first so that Leone could then edit the scenes to match:"


Morricone's scores for those films were iconic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjq6e...

giveusaclue wrote: "Morricone's scores for those films were iconic.."

Absolutely - the films would not have worked nearly so well if they'd been lumbered with some hack of a composer.

Firstly, thanks for opening this thread GP.

I really enjoy the chance to discuss films, like Boiling Point, which I also saw last week. I found it stressful just to watch. Enjoyed it, but not as much as you I think.
My interest is chiefly in new stuff, world cinema, horror but good drama also. Reflects my reading, which is no surprise..

My own favourites from 2021...


The French Dispatch - I'm a big Anderson fan and loved this. Looking forward indeed to seeing it a second time - there is a lot to take in.

C'mon C’mon - I couldnt quite decide, but certainly in my top 3 of last year. Wonderful.

A Cop Movie - really cleverly done 'documentary' on police corruption in Mexico City, though not quite a documentary..

Titane - highly acclaimed by many horror aficionados, but less so by me...

Last Night In Soho - in my top 3 of the year, great soundtrack and superb images of 60s Soho

Identifying Features - Mexican film about a mother retracing the steps of her son who has gone missing after illegally crossing to the US

Quo Vadis Aida - story a UN translator during the Srebrenica massacre - essential cinema, tremendously well done

Dear Comrades - another piece of historical fiction based on fact - and again, essential cinema - and, another strong performance from a woman in a situation seemingly dominated by men

The Power Of The Dog - as great as Cumberbatch's performance was, I think Smit-McPhee was excellent. I love the scene when he minces his way through the jeering and farting cowboys.

Andy wrote: "Firstly, thanks for opening this thread GP.

I really enjoy the chance to discuss films, like Boiling Point, which I also saw last week. I found it stressful just to watch. Enjoyed it, but not as ..."

I also loved The French Dispatch - for me there's always a lot to enjoy in his films. I remember when I saw The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou in a cinema here in France, the people around were sitting in stony silence while I was giggling. The only one of his films I haven't seen is Isle of Dogs.
The only other of the films you mention that I've seen is The Power of the Dog - but I saw it on Netflix not in the cinema, which is a shame with those landscapes. I agree about Kodi Smit-McPhee, he was really good. People pour scorn on the idea of Cumberbatch playing a rough cowboy, but of course his character's origins are quite different.

scarletnoir wrote: "Berkley wrote: "I was very happy to see Sergio Leone's "Dollars trilogy" at the theatre for the first time this past summer, having previously seen them only on tv when I was a kid. They really nee..."

Didn't know that about Eisenstein and Prokofiev, fascinating. I'll have to keep it in mind next time I'm watching any of their collaborations.

Yes, the Morricone score is even better than I remembered. The bit in particular that got me this time around was "The Trio" (found under that title if you search youtube), which is the music to the big 3-way showdown at the end of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I was listening to it obsessively for about a month after seeing the film.

Once Upon a Tme in the West was my favourite Leone western, but I haven't seen it for a long time and never at the theatre. I hope they bring it around some time.

Once Upon a Time in America I have not seen but recently bought the dvd of what I hope is the "director's cut" or as near to it as they could cobble together. Apparently it is much superior to the severely edited theatrical release.

On sub-titles, I caught what I thought was a nice bit of creative translation in the subititles for the recent Bruno Dumont film, France: I forget what theoriginal French phrase was but something like "très gentil" or "toujours gentil", and the sub-title had it as "Always a kind word,", which isn't of course a literal translation but I thought was the perfect choice in the context of the scene and the characters conversing.

I thought France was excellent, BTW. It stars Léa Seydoux as a popular tv journalist of that name and is a satire about the medium but also perhaps about France itself as a society, though from what I've read Dumont hasn't admitted that or talked about the idea.

Over the years I've seen lots of mistakes in subtitles (though I'm not denying it's not an easy task). Sometimes it's really basic things like a number.

One example was in Ira Sach's film 40 Shades of Blue. A young Russian woman is living with a much older country-music producer. His estranged son has come back on the occasion of his father's getting an award. The 2 young people are talking. He says to her:
"I don't know how he doesn't get to you" -subtitle: "Je ne sais pas pourquoi tu ne lui parles pas."
"It"s been like that since I was 11 years old". - "ça dure depuis 11 ans."
The words are a little approximate - the film dates from 2005.
By the way, has anyone else seen that film? I haven't yet found another person who has.

Another funny example, I don't remember in what, was people going out to dinner:
"Let's go Dutch" - "Allons dans un restaurant néerlandais."
I imagined the bafflement of the audience as the couple went to a pizzeria or to eat burgers.

Berkley wrote: "Once Upon a Time in America I have not seen but recently bought the dvd of what I hope is the "director's cut" or as near to it as they could cobble together. Apparently it is much superior to the severely edited theatrical release."

Really? You surprise me - the runtime is 3h 49min! God knows how long this 'director's cut' is... I think there may have been one or two loose threads in the version I saw (in the cinema, fortunately), though I'm pretty sure the ambiguity of the ending was entirely deliberate... and brilliant.

Gpfr wrote: ""Let's go Dutch" - "Allons dans un restaurant néerlandais."
I imagined the bafflement of the audience as the couple went to a pizzeria or to eat burgers.

Hahaha! That's brilliant!

Not seen the other film, but you're right - the translation is way off.

scarletnoir wrote: "Really? You surprise me - the runtime is 3h 49min! God knows how long this 'director's cut' is... I think there may have been one or two loose threads in the version I saw (in the cinema, fortunately), though I'm pretty sure the ambiguity of the ending was entirely deliberate... and brilliant."

Sorry, I had that slightly garbled. The "severely edited theatrical release" I mentioned was the American version, which wiki says was only 139 minutes long and apparently not only cut out large swathes but also rearranged the scenes in a different order to supposedly make the film more acceptable to American viewers.

Leone's European cut was the 229 minute one you refer to and the "director's cut" dvd is 251 minutes so it seems they didn't find all that much extra footage. In fact I suspect it isn't really accurate to call it a director's cut since I don't think Leone put it together himself. He wanted it to be two movies and when forced to make it a single film the version he came up with was 269 minutes.

(I took all this from wikipedia, BTW, so apologies for any inaccuracies) .

Berkley wrote: "He wanted it to be two movies and when forced to make it a single film the version he came up with was 269 minutes."

Thanks for that - the long form film is brilliant - I suspect the narrative would have been incomprehensible in a shorter form, especially if some 'genius' rearranged the sequences!

scarletnoir wrote: "Berkley wrote: "He wanted it to be two movies and when forced to make it a single film the version he came up with was 269 minutes."

Thanks for that - the long form film is brilliant - I suspect the narrative would have been incomprehensible in a shorter form, especially if some 'genius' rearranged the sequences!"

Yes, the arrogance of the people who make decisions like this is beyond belief - or would be if we didn't hear so many similar stories. The dvd has an enthusiastic blurb from Martin Scorsese on the back, if that means anything. I'll likely try to watch it next month, so we'll see.

Gpfr wrote: "Andy wrote: "Firstly, thanks for opening this thread GP.

I really enjoy the chance to discuss films, like Boiling Point, which I also saw last week. I found it stressful just to watch. Enjoyed it..."

We have something else in common GP with Wes Anderson. The Life Aquatic is a great favourite. I can't guess the amount of times I have played that last scene as they walk back to the ship with Queen Bitch playing.

To @MK and @Robert re. noir, Robert Muller, 'The Maltese Falcon' etc. ...

I had a look at Muller's intro. to 'Falcon' - after the opening film clips, he says: "I'm Eddie Muller - known in some parts of this dirty bird as the czar of Noir..." Really? We get about two minutes of this sort of puffery and guff before he gets on with it... Muller's delivery to camera is wooden (to put it mildly) - perhaps he's better with a live audience? He'd never have made it as an actor - or even a teacher.

As for his comments - based on only this example, Muller seems more interested in noir and its history than in cinema... in my own case, I'm interested in cinema, with film noir as a sub-set of that. So we start with different perspectives, and (I guess) views about what is important. Despite the delivery, he did have some interesting things to say about those issues - who would have thought that Peter Lorre could be cast as a romantic lead? The mind boggles! So, as he's not commenting on the films as films, I don't think his book would satisfy me.

As for 'The Maltese Falcon' - I now know that Huston wrote the screenplay as well as directed... it may well be that his strengths lay more in that direction. David Thompson wrote his obituary for the Guardian - far more gracious than his comment in the 'Biographical Dictionary of Film' - but then, it's rare for obituaries not to be kinder to the dead than to the living. Thompson says this about his film-making:

As a director, he was a front-end expert. He loved the writing, finding locations and casting. The shooting he sometimes regarded as an opportunity to see the world - there were stories that during The African Queen he was away too much hunting game... When it came to the editing, Huston liked to leave the job to experts. He was certainly not one of those directors - on the Kubrick model - likely to spend an intense year in post-production caressing and shading a masterpiece.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006...

So it doesn't sound as if the actual film-making interested Huston that much - and it shows. 'Falcon' is a very enjoyable film - don't go thinking that I hate it - but it benefits most from the script and wonderful cast, and far less from the cinematic skills which would have turned it into a masterpiece, if directed by Hawks.

(The best film of Huston's that I've seen is 'The African Queen' - maybe because someone else was directing while he was away shooting big game? I liked 'Key Largo' when I saw it years ago... don't know if it stands up.)

giveusaclue wrote: "Paul wrote: "God, I'm jealous. I haven't watched a grown up film in 10 years. I gave to get Netflix or something of the kind. Watching films dubbed into Italian is just depressing and jarring"

I d..."

I've seen Gomorrah. What I best remember are the shots of hands: hands passing money.

scarletnoir wrote: "To @MK and @Robert re. noir, Robert Muller, 'The Maltese Falcon' etc. ...

I had a look at Muller's intro. to 'Falcon' - after the opening film clips, he says: "I'm Eddie Muller - known in some par..."

When Huston worked on the script of The Maltese Falcon, he had his secretary buy-- and cut up-- two copies of the book, and paste the pages into a notebook. He then worked his way through the book, condensing dialogue, and crossing out scenes that wouldn't make good cinema.
Eddie Muller has been busy encouraging interest in film noir, and setting up festival showings in different cities in the US, for years.

giveusaclue wrote: "If anyone gets the chance I can recommend Denzil Washington's Macbeth which I went to see Christmas week."

I was just gearing up to see it earlier this month when the theatres were all shut down due to the latest Covid wave. They're supposed to open again next week, so I hope it'll still be playing. I'm very curious about it: I like the Coens' filmwork but it isn't immediately apparent to me how their style will accomodate itself to something like this, or vica versa.

I did manage to see one movie in early January, France, starring Léa Seydoux, which I talked about a little in passing in another post. I was really impressed with it and will be looking out for more of director Bruno Dumont's work.

Robert wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Eddie Muller has been busy encouraging interest in film noir, and setting up festival showings in different cities in the US, for years."

I don't doubt his interest or commitment... I wasn't taken by his style to camera (he's no David Attenborough) or his opening sentences, which seemed fairly obviously boastful... maybe that's just us Brits, not used to seeing people blow their own trumpet - until Boris, anyway.

For Maigret fans, I saw a trailer for a new film with Gérard Depardieu as Maigret. It said it's based on a book, but the film's title is just Maigret, so I don't know which one.

A political film for my 2nd cinema outing of the week: Les Promesses, dir. Thomas Kruithof (2021), a French film released this week here in Paris. Marvellous Isabelle Huppert is the mayor of one of the suburbs of Paris and Reda Kateb is her right-hand man.
The local elections are coming up, Clémence doesn't intend to run for re-election, but there's one last thing she wants to achieve. As part of the Grand Paris project, there's money being allocated to renovate run down housing estates and in her town there's one such in terrible condition. The owners of the flats haven't been paying their 'charges' in protest and flats are being bought up by 'marchands de sommeil' who cram them with immigrants and don't pay their 'charges' anyway. ('charges' = the expenses involved in running a co-owned building: cleaning, electricity in communal parts etc.)
In order to have a chance of getting some of the money which is on the point of being allocated, the inhabitants of the blocks have to pay.
The film is quite gripping, well-acted, the characters aren't black and white.

Reda Kateb is an excellent actor , films and TV. He was in one of the early seasons of Engrenages (Spiral) where he played a horrible character - I found it quite disconcerting because I knew him as someone really nice and yet I was convinced by his nastiness on screen. I was in charge of a language programme for 'intermittents du spectacle' (the specific French system of unemployment benefits for people in show business) and Reda was in English classes.

Gpfr wrote: "For Maigret fans, I saw a trailer for a new film with Gérard Depardieu as Maigret. It said it's based on a book, but the film's title is just Maigret, so I don't know which one.

A political film f..."
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10545696...

Gpfr wrote: "For Maigret fans, I saw a trailer for a new film with Gérard Depardieu as Maigret. It said it's based on a book, but the film's title is just Maigret, so I don't know which one."

Thanks for the early notice - I am a huge Maigret fan, and will post a review of one of the books soon...

FWIW, my take on Maigret actors is as follows:

best in French: Bruno Cremer
not bad: Jean Gabin
worst: Jean Richard (a terrible choice!)

best in English: Rupert Davies
worst: Rowan Atkinson (what were they thinking?)
could have, but didn't: Michael Gambon - good for physical type, but let down by terrible scripts which portrayed Maigret as a 'hail fellow, well met' type - not the bougon, maussade character we know and love. Far too garrulous.

Gpfr wrote: "Reda Kateb is an excellent actor , films and TV. He was in one of the early seasons of Engrenages (Spiral) where he played a horrible character - I found it quite disconcerting because I knew him as someone really nice and yet I was convinced by his nastiness on screen."

A credit to his acting skills, obviously... I am amused when, occasionally, small actors who bring real intensity to their performances grab much bigger guys by the throat and bang them against the wall, terrifying them... think Ben Kingsley (Sexy Beast), Martin Compston (Line of Duty) or Andrew Scott (Sherlock)... I often think it would be great to see Compston and Scott have an 'intensity-off' scene...

Conversely, there are big guys who don't look as if they could fight their way out of a paper bag - that nice man Roger Moore (James Bond), for example.