Foreign Films are, by far, my favorite type of films. Even in their simplicity and handling of even the simplest of storylines, they often still prove more cerebral than most American fare. The only real problem I tend to run into when trying to see one, is convincing someone to go with me. Next week, Cal State University (Los Angeles) will be offering a mini festival of a few films that I'm quite interested in seeing.
With each preview below, is a review by The New York Times film, Critic, A.O. Scott. Since, I've never seen any of the films, I thought you, like myself, would enjoy a quick synopsis of each one.
With each preview below, is a review by The New York Times film, Critic, A.O. Scott. Since, I've never seen any of the films, I thought you, like myself, would enjoy a quick synopsis of each one.
La Belle Personne (The Beautiful Person)
Friday, January 14, 2011 - 2:00pm (FREE)
Friday, January 14, 2011 - 2:00pm (FREE)
“La Princesse de Clèves,” Madame de Lafayette’s 1678 novel of forbidden passions among the aristocracy, long a staple of high school French classes, has been adapted, loosely but conscientiously, into “La Belle Personne,” a film about present-day French high school students. The translation of classic works of literature into movies rooted in the idioms of modern adolescence is perhaps surprisingly a fairly common practice. Shakespeare begot “10 Things I Hate About You” (based on “The Taming of the Shrew”) and Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo and Juliet,” for instance, just as Jane Austen’s “Emma” inspired “Clueless.” Like those films “La Belle Personne,” directed by Christophe Honoré (who wrote the script with Gilles Taurand), combines an earnest respect for literature with a romantic, pop sensibility, though its mood is more fretful than playful. — A. O. Scott, The New York Times
Luckman Fine Arts Complex
5151 State University Drive
Los Angeles, Ca 90032
323-343-6600
http://www.luckmanarts.org/cinema
5151 State University Drive
Los Angeles, Ca 90032
323-343-6600
http://www.luckmanarts.org/cinema
Indigenes (Days of Glory)
Friday, January 14, 2011 - 2:00pm (FREE)
Friday, January 14, 2011 - 2:00pm (FREE)
"Days of Glory,” the English title of Rachid Bouchareb’s film — called “Indigènes,” or natives, in French — has a rousing, somewhat generic war-movie ring. And Mr. Bouchareb, a French director of Algerian descent who has made four previous features, sticks close to the conventions of the genre as he follows a small group of World War II infantrymen from North Africa through Italy and across France into Alsace. His combat sequences are filmed with exquisite precision and edited with admirable economy, and the quieter moments that allow the characters of the men to emerge find a perfect balance between dramatic impact and psychological authenticity. In many ways “Days of Glory,” Algeria’s official Oscar submission for best foreign language film, fits comfortably into a proud and apparently inexhaustible cinematic tradition. It is a chronicle of courage and sacrifice, of danger and solidarity, of heroism and futility, told with power, grace and feeling and brought alive by first-rate acting. A damn good war movie. What makes “Days of Glory” something more — something close to a great movie — is that it finds a new and politically urgent story to tell in the well-trodden (and beautifully photographed) soil of wartime Europe. — A. O. Scott, The New York Times
La Danse: The Paris Ballet
Saturday, January 15, 2011 - 2:00pm (FREE)
Saturday, January 15, 2011 - 2:00pm (FREE)
In “La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet,” his 36th documentary in more than 40 years, Frederick Wiseman takes his camera into the stately and elegant Palais Garnier in Paris, observing rehearsals, staff meetings and, finally, performances of seven dances, including classics like “The Nutcracker” and spiky new work by younger choreographers. To say that the film, sumptuous in its length and graceful in its rhythm, is a feast for ballet lovers is to state the obvious and also to sell Mr. Wiseman’s achievement a bit short. Yes, this is one of the finest dance films ever made, but there’s more to it than that. — A. O. Scott, The New York Times
Le Chant Des Mariees (The Wedding Song)
Saturday, January 15, 2011 - 2:00pm (FREE)
Saturday, January 15, 2011 - 2:00pm (FREE)
“The Wedding Song,” a seductively fluid and tactile drama from the writer and director Karin Albou, explores love and identity through the prism of the female body and the rights of its owner. — Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times
La Fille du Rer (The Girl On The Train)
Saturday, January 15, 2011 - 7:00pm (FREE)
Saturday, January 15, 2011 - 7:00pm (FREE)
André Téchiné’s seductive drama “The Girl on the Train” opens with an extended traveling shot inside a tunnel. The camera appears to be perched at the front of the train, so that it looks as if we’re hurtling through the dark toward the nearing light, an apt description of what happens to the title character and, to an extent, the viewer. The film can be described as a character study or a fictionalized slice of terribly real life. Mostly, though, it is an inquiry into the mysteries of other people. — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Luckman Fine Arts Complex
5151 State University Drive
Los Angeles, Ca 90032
323-343-6600
http://www.luckmanarts.org/cinema
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