The French are Coming! The French are Coming!

February 13, 2004

With only one wide release, limited releases have picked up the slack. There's an eclectic bunch this week, but four of the six films on the list are French. That's either a strange coincident, or it's the beachhead of a new French invasion of the Cinema.

After the Life - Trilogy 3 - Reviews
The last of this cross-genre trilogy (with On the Run and An Amazing Couple) it also received the best reviews. Although the overall reviews were not high enough to be considered a complete success compared to an interesting cinematic achievement.

Highwaymen - Reviews
This movie opens in far more theatres than most limited releases at 111. However, given the style of film and the lack of reviews, it is likely that it is a case of dumping a wide release, not a limited release looking for a wider audience.

Le Mantale: The Code - Reviews
A French gangster movie that tells the often told tale of a ex-con trying to go straight but being pulled back into his old life. The film is beautifully shot, but the story has been told before and told better.

Monsieur Ibrahim - Reviews
Shortly after making The 13th Warrior Omar Sharif decided to retire from acting because making poor movies for a paycheck was embarrassing. However, he continued to read scripts, just in case. It looks like he found one that was not only good enough to make, but good enough to reinvigorate his love of acting since he is also in Hidalgo.

Robot Stories - Reviews
Four short Science Fiction stories revolving around robots. But they are not your typical Science Fiction stories. These stories have more heart, less explosions. The film earned an impressive amount of awards and is now earning high praise from the critics, including 100% from the Cream of the Crop. This is the film I'm most interesting in seeing on this list. But considering I live in a smallish town in Canada, I'll probably have to wait till it comes out on DVD.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - Reviews
The re-release of the classic French musical from 1964, this film will be making the rounds to promote the upcoming DVD Release.


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Filed under: Monsieur Ibrahim, Highwaymen, Robot Stories, Cavale, Un couple épatant, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, La mentale, Après la vie