BEING MARIA (2024) Rendezvous with French Cinema 2025

This is a look at actress Maria Schneider before, during and after the making of THE LAST TANGO IN PARIS.

I'm not certain what I'm supposed to think about this film. The film is focused on the troubled life of Schneider during an infamous period in her life, and it seems to wallow in the unahappiness of her life. I know the shooting of the film was unpleasant, but this film seems skewed to make sure we feel that. The film doesn't feel like it's being a fair apprasial of her life. Things seem to be too cut and dried, the complexity of her life is reduced to bullet points. 

The film might have worked better had the filmmaking been better. Looking and feeling like the wrong sort of low budget film the film never feels real. Yes, the cast is fine, including Matt Dillion who frequently nails being Marlon Brando, the script works against them (see the bullet point reference above)

I don't know if I can recommend it this film, it's just not what it should have been.

PLANET B (2024) Rendezvous WIth French Cinema 2025

Ten years in the future a bunch of activists disappear and are transported  to a far off wold called Planet B

Feeling a film made by people who really don't understand either science fiction or political films PLANET B is full of over used science fiction and dystopian world political views. It's a film that is operating in a world that raises more questions than it answers. It is a film that feels like any number of other better films.

I'm not really going to talk about this film much owing to the fact that when we got to the denouncement, which, I kind of suspected early I simply screamed at the screen. It was a scream that was repeated when one character stated out loud what what was going on well after we knew.

While not a bad film, the truth is this should have been a B scifi film without pretensions and running a half an hour shorter.

A miss.

WINTER IN SOKCHO (2024) Rendezvous With French CInema 2025

A young woman's life is upset when a French man comes to the small town of Sokcho, forcing her to deal with her life and the unanswered question left by the French father she never met.

Watching this sweet little drama I was wondering what this sweet little drama was doing in Rendezvous with French Cinema since it didn't have the big bells and whistles that many other films have. And then I smacked myself in the head when I realized that it was in the festival because if it wasn't showcased, it's lovely nature was going to get lost.

This is a small scale gem that you need to search out. It's a small drama about life and those times when we have to sort out where we came from and where we are going. There are no grand operatic revelations, just realistic ruminations that will make the film hit very close to home.

The reason that the film works is that writer director Koya Kamura keeps the film focused on the characters. This is a film where the cast (Bella Kim and Roschdy Zem) carry the weight and make the film something special. There is nothing overly dramatic or showy, just life as lived, and as a result we remain fully connected.

Trust me you want to see it. You want to see it because not only will it entertain but it will become a film you carry around with you. It's been several weeks since I saw the film and I find I am still thinking about it.

That's a rave folks.

GHOST TRAIL (2024) Rendezvous With French Film 2025

Amir is a former literature professor from Syria. His wife and dauhter were killed in the bombing and he was thrown into prison and tortured. He was tossed into the desert and left for dead. He survived and drifted to France. While he is openly living as a refugee, he is actually part of a secret network attempting to find the torturer who scarred him physically and emotionally.

This film is a mix of a political thriller and a look at the damage done by torture. Its a film that quietly grabs you by the throat and drags you kickin and screaming. There is nothing certain in the quest, we only know that whatever happens it will be painful.

This is a film with a great deal to say. It's a film that drops us into the evil that men do to each other and shows us what that does to the victims and the society that results from it. It's a world of pain and sorrow. Its a film where we can no loner be who we once were.

I was moved. Perhaps it wasn't to tears but the film's insistance on being more than a thriller lifted it up and made it something special.

Recommended

Meeting With Pol Pot (2024) Rendezvous With French Cinema 2025

Based on journalist Elizabeth Becker’s memoirs about her trip to Cambodia with two other journalists to interview Pol Pot, MEETING WITH POL POT is a fictionalized account of what happened and how it went sideways.

Director Rithy Panh continues his examination of what happened in his country a half century ago. Here we have a look at how efforts to see what was really going on the country was blocked by the leaders of the country. Panh uses what ever he needs, dolls and archival footage, in order to to make us feel and understand the madness that was running rampant.  At times it's a real kick in the pants.

Unfortunately Panh doesn't always blend the emotion and the intellectual sides together. Part of the problem is that other than what happens to the three journalists, there isn't anything really new here. We've been here before, particularly in Panh's own films so some of the pauses where nothing happens or we go on the well controlled trips through the country feel a bit like filler. It's not fatal but it it prevents the film from being as compelling as it should have been. 

I liked this film a great deal but I wanted to love it, particularly because I love the directors earlier films. This film felt like a revisit to the well. Perhaps if this was a bit closer to what actually happened I might have liked it more (there is real mystery involved).

My Reservations aside, this is still worth a look, especially if you don't know what happened in Cambodia when the whole country went mad.

Visiting Hours (2024) Rendezvous With French Cinema 2025

VISITING HOURS was made to give Isabelle Huppert a role where she can show her softer and less dramatic side. It's a film where the great actress goes small and we are left to wonder why she doesn't do this more regularly.

The film is the story of two women who connect because their husbands' are in prison. When Hafsia Herzi is told that she can't see husband despite traveling a great distance, Huppert steps in and arranges that she can see him the next day. She then puts Herzi up for the night. A friendship forms as the two women find something in each other they need.

While the film is largely straight forward, there are some dramatic turns, and while some of them are a bit contrived, the two women always keep it real. The pair tether each other in all sorts of ways that make this a frequently magical film.

And I need to state that the two women are excellent. Sure Huppert is always great, but Herzi is her equal and I find that I am going to have to track down her other films. (come for Huppert and stay for Herzi)

This is a wonderful film you need to search out.

Go see Souleymane's Story (2024) at Redezvous With French Cinema 2025 this weekend

Abou Sangare will rock you as Souleymane, a young man looking for refugee status in France. The film follows Souleymane as he tries to prepare for his asylum interview.

I’m going to keep my thoughts about this film brief. Not because the film is bad but rather because this is a film where you need to see it from start to finish to truly understand what you are seeing and to be punched in the face by everything that happens.  It’s a film where  everything is in the finale, and you have to take the trip there to understand why I’m saying that.

The reason this film works as gloriously as it does is the performance of Sangare in the title role. Giving a performance that improves on a second viewing, it’s morphs from just this regular guy into a man drowning and fighting for his life. It’s a film where the we watch our focal point, Souleymane, go through his paces and have life smack him around until he breaks. The final scenes hit me so hard that I had to go back and rewatch the film because where he ends seems light years from where he started.

This is kick ass character study that lifts it’s plot line of a refugee looking for asylum frame work and makes it into something more. Sure we have seen similar tales before but with very rare exception have we ever been this close to experiencing the emotional roller coaster that refugees experience. It’s a film that grabs us and makes clear what how they feel.

All hail Abou Sangare who gives us not only a great performance but also connects us to a large part of humanity. May the awards gods shine down on him.

See this film

When Fall Is Coming (2024) Rendezvous With French Cinema 2025

An older woman is kept separate from he grandson after an accidental incident with mushrooms. Becoming lost and untethered she drifts through life until she hires the son of a friend, just out of prison, to help her.

When you see this film leave your expectations at the door. What ever you think you know what the film is, it isn’t that. I’ve read several pieces on the film and while the details in them are correct none of them can fully explain what it is like to see this absolute gem of a film. In all seriousness this film is just a wonderful tale that is uniquely its own thing.

Actually what this film is is everything that American films are not. This film drifts in and out of story in ways that are never telegraphed or clearly worked out. It moves like life bringing together turns in unexpected ways.  People have interesting sides and secrets and none of them are big to do they just are.

Why do I love film festivals so much? Because I get to discover films like WHEN FALL… which broaden my ideas about what cinema  and storytelling are. Sure the film echoes a novel in construction but the truth is it does things that no novel could do. This is pure cinema in the most moving and human way.

I loved this film a great deal

Highly recommended

Go See HOLY COW (2024) at Rendezvous With French Cinema 2025 this weekend

HOLY COW is the story of Totone, an 18 year old young man who loves to party. When his father dies he tries to curb his wild ways so that he can care for his young sister.

This is a sweet coming of age film that is closer to reality than any other coming of age film I’ve seen. Life is messy. Relationships are messy. There are sex and beer and stuff. If it wasn’t for more adult elements this would be a great family film simply because what we see is feels closer to life.

To be honest I need to see HOLY COW a second time to really see the film for what it is. I say this because the write up for the film at Cannes gave me the impression that the film was going to be a bit more narrowly focused. Instead the film is bit more wide ranging and covers a lot of territory.

It’s that wide ranging nature that kind of hurts the film slightly. The problem is that the film juggles a large number of plot and thematic threads at the same time while trying to focus on the romantic thread a bit too much. If the film were another fifteen or twenty minutes longer things would have been a bit smoother. As it stands now this is a good little film, which you’ll want to see continue. (A sequel? Yes please)