AF French Film Festival 2021 – ‘Love Affair(s)’ (Les choses qu’on dit, les choses qu’on fait)

“Love affairs are usually strewn with obstacles and incidents” After a terrible break up, struggling novelist Maxime (Niels Schneider) takes a trip out the country to visit his cousin François (Vincent Macaigne) and his new wife Daphné (Camélia Jordana) and maybe come up with a fresh idea about what to write about. Over the course …

AF French Film Festival 2021 Review – ‘Black Box’ (Boîte noire)

‘Black Box’ thrillingly takes us deep inside the world of black box analyzing. Like a mysterious puzzle straight out of The Da Vinci Code, this grounded aerospace thriller doesn’t hold back when it comes to revealing the truth behind whistleblowing, corporate conspiracies and how far people are willing to go to cover/uncover the truth. When …

Netflix Review – ‘The Misadventures of Hedi and Cokeman’

The Misadventures of Hedi and Cokeman is a French Harold & Kumar-like film that is unbearably loud and annoying. The unfunny comedy follows unlikeable characters Hedi (Hedi Bouchenafa) and Cokeman (Nassim Lyes), two low-life drug dealers with a friendship as dysfunctional as their own characters, who spend most of their time scamming snobby city kids …

Review – ‘Beginning’

Dea Kulumbegashvili’s Beginning is a debut of serenity, seclusion, and stillness – where the sinister bubbles below the surface. To say that we are invited into the world of Jehovah’s Witness Yana (Ia Sukhitashvili), would be untrue. The fixed camera and long shots throughout create a sense of intrusion into a life we are not …

Review – ‘Two of Us

Fresh from scoring a Golden Globes-nomination for Best Motion Picture – International Feature, ‘Two of Us’ (otherwise known as ‘Deux’) has won a series of international awards while cruising the festival circuit. This delicate love story is Filippo Meneghetti’s feature debut, and tells the story of Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier). These two …

FIFF2020 Review – ‘Un Triomphe’

In Emmanuel Courcol’s sophomore feature, the French director tells the story of an actor past his prime, who’s asked to give drama lessons to prisoners, but sees potential to go bigger and bolder and attempts to stage “Waiting for Godot.” Based on a true event, ‘The Big Hit’ (aka ‘Un Triomphe’) is set for a …

FIFF2020 Review – ‘La Troisième Guerre’

In Giovanni Aloi’s feature directorial debut ‘The Third War’ aka ‘La Troisième Guerre’, which was most recently nominated for the Venice Horizons Award at Venice Film Festival, the fresh out of basic training, Leo lands his first assignment: a surveillance operation that sees him roaming the streets of Paris with nothing to do but remain …

FIFF2020 Review – ‘Miss’

The 35th edition of Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur has begun, and of course we couldn’t miss it for the world. Presenting a wide range of French spoken features and short films, the festival celebrates cinéma as we know it. Our first film is the French/Belgian co-production ‘Miss’. When the graceful 9-year-old Alex …

TIFF20 Review – ‘Spring Blossom’

First love hurts. Especially when it consumes and overtakes your day dreams, just like Suzanne’s in ‘Spring Blossom’. First time writer, director and actress Suzanne Lindon directs herself in her feature debut, in which she plays a 16-year-old school girl who’s bored with people of her age. Obsessed with a man, they find the answers …

Review – ‘Les Misérables’

“Remember this, my friends, there are no such things as bad plants or bad men. There are only bad cultivators.” VICTOR HUGOLes Misérables A cop from the provinces moves to Paris to join the Anti-Crime Brigade of Montfermeil, discovering an underworld where the tensions between the different groups mark the rhythm. Over the course of …