Rendez-Vous With French Film Starts Thursday

Thursday is the start of one of my favorite festivals of every year, Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, the annual look at the state of French movies. The fest is always something I try to wade into because I end up discovering  such wondrous things

This year I'm only seeing a fraction of what I'd normally see. Life prevented me from getting to the press screenings so I've only seen about 10 films. I'm working on getting to more if I can slide a few more things around.

One of the best films of the Festival is THE WIZARD OF THE KREMLIN. It's a fictional account of the rise of Vladmir  Putin starring Paul Dano and Jude Law which was directed by Olivier Assayas. It's based on a novel and the film feels like  cinematic one in the best way: it is incredibly meaty and thoughtful. The film is a damning portait of Putin and of political dog and pony shows that put unquailifed and evil people into power in places everywhere in the world (say Washington) and not just Moscow. I would love to say more but the studio asked that keep it short- for now.

Alpha

LOVE ME TENDERis another one to see. Vicky Krieps gives what will be one of the best performances you'll see all year as a woman who divorces and has complications with it because of coming out.. Its a stunner.

NINO has Theodore Pellerine giving an Oscar worthy performance as a man who finds out he has cancer on his birthday. It's not what you expect.

I'm going to try and see COLORS OF TIME, which everyone tells me is possibly the best film at the festival but I don't know if I'll get into the screenings.

Keep reading because reviews will drop soon.

For Tickets and more information go here.