Widely hailed as one of the best films of 2009, the latest from the renowned director of Beau travail, Claire Denis’ sublime 35 Shots of Rum is the moving story of a father and daughter whose close-knit, tender relationship is disrupted by a handsome young suitor. Sumptuously filmed and featuring an evocative score by Tindersticks, 35 Shots of Rum casts a lovely spell unlike any other movie you’ve seen. –Cinema Guild
A provocative director whose films offer richly textured, contemplative examinations of cross-cultural tensions and alienation, Claire Denis is one of French cinema’s most distinctive and humanistic storytellers. A prolific filmmaker who is more concerned with the drive of her characters rather than the plot that weaves them together, she has been dubbed by one critic as one of the only current French directors who “has been able to reconcile the lyricism of French cinema with the impulse to capture the often harsh face of contemporary France.”
Born in Paris on April 21, 1948, Denis, the daughter of a civil servant, was raised in a series of African countries until she was 14, when her family returned to France. She learned about filmmaking as an assistant to a number of notable directors, including Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire), Jim Jarmusch (Down by Law), and Costa-Gavras (Hanna K.). She made her directorial and screenwriting debut in 1988 with Chocolat, a lush exploration… read more
While the palette, the rhythm of editing and spareness of conception are all beautiful, the film would work better for me if the father-daughter bond was not laid on with a trowel (the first return from work with all that secret smiling I find rather overdone)...
The Constellation record label provides an intoxicating hint at its upcoming 5 disc boxset of music by Tindersticks (and, presumably, the solo
At its essence, White Material is an exploded chamber drama. A Haneke-style family unit (complete with a brutally bored son) holed up mentally
City of Lights, City of Angels, Los Angeles' festival of new French films, is on through the weekend and Anna Karina will be there on
The fourth roundup of year-end and decade-end lists and awards was updated through Sunday morning (previously: 1, 2, 3). Now, a new week
Above: Todd Solondz's new film, Life in Wartime. White Material (Claire Denis, France) As with a lot of still-young, experimental filmmakers
Crime And Punishment In Toronto: In a triumph for moviegoers everywhere...okay, in a triumph for film festival attendees everywhere...okay
"Most of us at Reverse Shot are enamored of Claire Denis, so it was only a matter of time before we devoted a symposium to her, for
An interview with the French director of 35 rhums.
Ozu’s Late Spring has been on my mind again lately after seeing Claire Denis’s sublime reimagining 35 rhums…
Above: Marie Bunel and Gérard Depardieu in Claude Chabrol's Bellamy. The uncomfortable irony with the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Rendez
Last year i attended a Screening/Q&A of Sofia Coppola’s latest film ‘Somewhere’ (a movie i included on my TOP 10 movies of 2010). After the movie I asked Sofia if some of her motivation for making… read review
Due to what I feel is a lack of foreign film reviews, I wrote this one and plan on focusing more on them. It’s ironic considering it’s one of my favorite genre of films, Since it seems any film with… read review
That rare joy of going to see a film about which you know nothing, and finding yourself transported to a place you never imagined you’d visit…
Denis’ film takes place in a world of Parisian… read review
There are no clean breaks. Life is messy and wonderful all at once as we grow older each day, striving for that little bit of excitement and longing to continue on. We all have dreams and aspirations… read review