I didn't know anything about this film going into it, except that it was a French horror film that had received some good reviews. And that was the perfect way to see this film. I'll try to give away as little as possible, talk only about the filmmaking, and little about the plot. Not that there's a whole lot of plot to talk about. It's pretty much a young couple spending a night at home, when they're attacked for no reason. I haven't seen it yet, but it looks an awful lot like the recent American horror film The Strangers, which I haven't found any connection between the two.

The film is almost the perfect example of good suspense. Nearly the entire film is suspenseful. It starts with a young girl and her mom, broken-down on the side of the road, they hear some weird noises outside their mini-van, you're not quite sure what's going on outside of the van, but it sounds creepy. The photography, the editing and the sound design, draw you into this minimalist situation and it really bugs you out. Soon they're dead, and we're following Clementine, who we'll stay with for the rest of the film.

She goes home to her large country house, has a quiet dinner with her husband and they're off to bed. Not a lot is said between them, but their silence and body language leads us to believe that not everything is okay between them. Which quickly becomes an afterthought when, in the middle of the night, they're attacked by unknown persons. The rest of the film is spent with Clementine and her husband Lucas being chased around by an couple of thugs, who attack them with a variety of household weapons. They're chased through the house, through the attic, through the woods outside the house, then finally through a sewer system. We're never really given a reason why, it's simply happening, which makes it all that much more realistic and sickening to think about. The who is eventually revealed, and it's quite a surprising shock.

Them isn't a perfect horror film, there's not enough character development to make you truly care about Clementine and Lucas, maybe if they'd spent another 5 to 10 minutes letting us get to know them as people, it would helped us get more involved. But if you really just want to be creeped out by some nearly technically perfect suspense scenes; long stretches of silence, puncutated by something horrible, this is a wonderful film. The film has the best keyhole scene ever made, perfect in its execution. It has almost no score, relying on the sound of the attackers chasing these two. There's minimal dialog, once the chase begins, there's little more than screaming. And although the film was shot digitally, it has a gritty, 70's aesthetic to it. This isn't a horror film for those who want something typically Hollywood, this is a film for true horror fans, those that can appreciate something different. - Grade: B (Seen on 7/20/08)

I'd love to spend some time writing in detail about this beautiful film, but there has been enough dissections of this near masterpiece, that mine will only become another small piece of the noise. Instead I'll post a few of my favorite Persepolis clips in hopes that these tastes will be enough to convince anyone, that hasn't seen this film, to seek it out.

I'm always on the lookout for good comedies. At times it feels like I've run out of them. You can't rely on Hollywood to produce a smart, well-made comedy these days. Judd Apatow and his crew are probably the only guys operating with half a brain; otherwise you're stuck with Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler films, which I'm a fan of both, but I never feel fully satisfied after watching one of their films. Below those guys, you're not likely too find much quality. If you're lucky a decent indie-comedy comes out once a year, something like Juno or Little Miss Sunshine. But there's no consistency. This is a long winded way of saying, that I'm in a drought of American comedies from the last 30 years. I thought I'd try some French ones.

I saw The Valet a while back and remembered enjoying it. It felt very much like an old-school Hollywood comedy, so I thought I'd check out some more films from filmmaker Francis Veber. The first one that caught my attention was Le Diner de cons or The Dinner Game. It was the premise that made it sound so promising. A well off guy, Pierre, and his friends organize a dinner where they have a competition to see who can invite the biggest idiot. Something totally original sounding and a plain good idea to start a film with. What kind of morons will be there? Will the guests figure it out? Will they get revenge on their snooty hosts?

The film starts out by introducing us too some of these nincompoops, but the cake is taken, when we meet François Pignon. The guy oozes simpleton; a perfectly round, balding head, a really bad suit and constantly perplexed expression. He works in a tax agency, but his true calling in life is building models of famous items out of matchsticks. Pierre hears about the legendary dunce that is Pignon, through a friend, and invites him to dinner, thinking he has himself a winner.

The interesting thing about this film, is that these two never make it to that dinner. Pierre throws his back out, so Pignon meets him at his house, thinking that Pierre wants to see photos of his models. Instead he ends up taking care of Pierre, who along with a bad back, is having problems with his wife. Pignon's wife left him not too long before and sees a fellow in need of help. His complete ineptitude in conversing with anyone, brings Pierre even more problems. Crashing down upon him are his nutty-mistress, a scorn friend who can do nothing but laugh at his misfortune, his wife's lover, and another tax agent with a nose for fraud. In one night, his life is destroyed beyond recognition.

The dialog is so brilliantly hilarious, the story built so perfectly, the characters portrayed so beautifully, that you don't care that most of the film takes place in one room. François Pignon is one of cinema's all time great comedy creations, actor Jacques Villeret, embodies a character so hopelessly inept, but so full of compassion, that it's impossible not to love him. Poor Pierre is helpless as Pignon tears his already crumbling life into tiny pieces, but we're shown that he deserves it, and none of it's done maliciously, so it's easy to laugh at his misfortunes. The Dinner Game provided the most gut busting laughs I've had in a long time. Although, I still want to see the film about them making it too that dinner. - Grade: A (Seen on 5/31/08)

After the utter brilliance of The Dinner Game, I couldn't watch another Francis Veber film quick enough. I moved his follow-up film, The Closet, to the top of my queue. This film too has a plot ripe for a Hollywood remake. A pathetic fellow, finds out his company is about to let him go, so he and a friend come up with a scheme to help him keep his job. He's going to "accidentally" come out as a gay man, so they won't be able to fire him in fear of discrimination. This of course leads to all kinds of wackiness with his co-workers treating him differently, most notably by Félix, who isn't quite sure how to treat a gay man.

Strange... I just noticed that the lead character's name in this film is also François Pignon, as well as the lead character in The Valet and some of his other films I haven't seen. So, François, played nicely by well known French actor Daniel Auteuil, while trying to portray someone he's not, learns all kinds of lessons about life, most notably that he wasn't being true to himself in the first place. He's able to gain the respect of his co-workers, his son and his ex-wife by not being such a pushover. But most of the comedy comes in the relationship he's forming with Félix, played by everyone's favorite Frenchman Gérard Depardieu. At first Félix cracks horrible jokes about him, but is soon convinced by another co-worker, that they must become friends, and Félix begins to see François in a whole other, more romantic way.

If I'd seen The Closet, before The Dinner Game, I probably would have enjoyed it much more. The Dinner Game made me laugh by creating the unexpected, while The Closet plays it right on the nose. I knew exactly how most of the scenes were going to play out, which robbed the film of many of its laughs. It's still a decent film, that's worth seeing, well made and acted; but I gave it unfair expectations. - Grade: B (Seen on 6/8/08)

Below is the American trailer for The Closet. I hate these trailers for foreign films, where the narrator does all the talking, trying to disguise the fact that you're looking at a film with subtitles. Oh, the horror!

You might think that a film about man who suffers a stroke and is forced to live out his life, unable to move, even unable to speak, would be depressing. That's what I figured going in to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I knew what it was about, but wanted to see it because it had been getting rave reviews and my wife, a lover of everything French, and I needed a night out together. The film begins with sadness, but after it's over you feel full of life, ready to face the world in a whole new light.

Right from the start, the film puts you into Jean-Dominique Bauby's head, the first scene is filmed completely from his perspective. You wake up in a hospital, you don't quite know what's going on. Your eyes won't focus, doctors and nurses stream in and out of the room, and when you talk to them, they don't hear you. They tell you that you've suffered a stroke, that they're not quite certain of the damage yet. But it is soon quite apparent that it is catastrophic; you have what they call "locked-in syndrome". Information comes in through your senses, but you are unable to communicate with the outside world.

Your eye is going septic, you watch as they sow it shut; an incredible scene. The only thing you can think about is dying. Because what good is life, if you can not travel through it, are only able to see it through one pathetic eye, and unable to tell anyone what you are feeling. What good could possibly come of it? The film does an impeccable job of putting you into Bauby's state-of-mind, gives you a slight feeling for what he must have gone through. You're left feeling hopeless as he is; but then it all begins to lighten up. Bauby meets a beautiful nurse who teaches him how to speak by blinking his eye. It's an incredibly torturous way to communicate, but when it's your only choice, you must make do.

That's the power of The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. That it makes you appreciate life, even from the perspective of someone who is almost completely unable to do so. He makes new friends, connects with his family and father in a way that he couldn't before, and learns more about who he is than anyone could probably imagine. If you're stuck in your head 24/7, than you fill your life with memories, good and bad; relive your childhood, correct mistakes, and become a better person. He has so much wanting to get out, that he decides to write an auto-biography, which he must do one slow letter at a time.

Director Julian Schnabel has crafted a true masterpiece out of real-life; gorgeously photographed, full of wonderful sights and sounds, and completely heart-warming, without ever being preachy or schmaltzy. I haven't seen a lot of them, but I imagine this will remain my favorite foreign film of 2007. It was a crime, that it was denied a slot in the Academy Awards Best Foreign Language; in all honesty it should have been up for Best Picture over the cutesy Juno. (But they needed at least one popular film in there.) Do yourself a favor and see this film when it's released on DVD, you'll be glad you did. - Grade: A

I wanted to watch the sequel to this film: Russian Dolls, but felt I should refresh myself with the original first. I originally saw it at the Seattle Film Festival about five years ago and really enjoyed it. As a film, but more so by living vicariously through the main character Xavier; spending a year in a European country, initially learning about and then living fully immersed in another culture is something I'd love to do. Xavier moves from France to Spain as a student, the film does a wonderful job of giving you an idea of what it’s like to move into Madrid as an outsider; the complication of the language differences, the confusion of the city’s design, the trouble in finding a place to live.

When he does find an apartment, it’s a total European hodge-podge; including a British girl, a Spanish girl, a German guy, a Dutch guy, an Italian guy and now a Frenchman. They bond in their love of foreign cultures, appreciating each others differences. Xavier begins to love the city, he quickly grows accustom to its differences. They show this comfortableness through his relationship with another French girl that he met when he first moved to the city, who he lived with for the first month. She’s barely traveled out of her comfort zone, doesn’t enjoy the difference in culture; but he shows her how to enjoy the city.

Things get complicated when they sleep together, she's married and he has a girlfriend, played by Amelie’s Audrey Tatou; the only recognizable face to the average American viewer. She remained in France and things are getting very strained between them. Besides his romantic troubles, there isn’t a ton of story to the film, it’s more of a glimpse into Xavier’s year in Spain, and the relationships he develops with the colorful characters that surround him; most of who are developed fairly nicely; so that you get a sense for their view of the world and that you feel a loss when he’s done with school, and has to move away from these strangers who’ve become great friends.

L’ Auberge Espanol isn’t for everyone, I think that you have to have an interest in traveling and/or appreciation for good filmmaking to really enjoy the film. There’s a beginning and an end, but not a lot happens in between, at least plot-wise, it’s more internal character development. If you don’t connect with Xavier and his friends you’ll quickly get bored. Me, I’m looking forward to another visit with the sequel Russian Dolls.

Amelie is one of my favorite all time films, so when I saw the trailer for Love Me If You Dare a couple years later, it looked like an Amelie clone, a whimsical French romantic-comedy, shot in an overly colorful style. But I'd heard good things about the film, so my wife and I went and saw it anyways, we were pleasantly surprising when the film became so dark, that it took it's own path, that the films really have nothing beyond the colorful look, a narrator and being French in common.

Young Julian's mother is dying, she gives him a carousel tin, that soon becomes the catalyst for a lifetime of trouble. It begins when he meets a girl Sophie, who is being teased by the other students, while she's picking her books off the street, he hands her the tin, so he can sneak inside the bus and set in in motion while the rest of the kids are still inside. Soon after this his mother dies, he has no direction to go, Sophie and the tin are all that remain, and a dangerous lifetime of games of dare begins.

As long as one of them holds the tin, the other has to do whatever they want. The games are fairly innocent at first, ruining a table full of food at a wedding, sometimes they're just funny; but as they grow older, their games get worse and worse; until people are getting seriously hurt. For their own stupid selfish reasons they don't end up in a relationship together, although they are obviously in love, but the game rules their life. When Sophie dares Julian to leave her alone for 10 years, it seems like death to him, without the game, his life means nothing.

The film is beautifully made, gorgeously photographed; full of fun and memorable scenes. Both the leads, Guillaume Canet as Julien and Marion Cotillard as Sophie, have a wonderful chemistry together, and pull you into this dark fantasy. Written & Directed by first time feature filmmaker Yann Samuell has created a wonderfully dark romantic-comedy. I've always appreciated romantic-comedies that have a dark side, because while love can be the most wonderful thing in the world, it can also be the most painful, nothing can create more torment within one's soul. So light and airy romantic films never stick with me. This film the most messed-up ending for a romantic-comedy ever, they go to sickening lengths for their love.

I didn't know anything about Edith Piaf before watching this film; sure I'd heard a few of her classic songs, but I had no clue who the woman behind them was. It isn't the easiest film to sit through; it's French, nearly two-and-a-half-hours long, and an extremely depressing story. But I'm very glad to have seen it.

Even though it's long and sad, the film is consistently entertaining. Edith lived a very short, but extremely full life. While still very young, her father drops her off to live at a whorehouse, where she is taken in by a young prostitute who always wanted a child of her own. It's from her and her house-mates that Edith learns how to sing. Her father comes back a few years later and rips her from this home she's learned to love. He's a street performer and soon she's in on the act, using her young, but already wonderful voice to make money.

As a young lady she's still living off the money she makes singing on the streets. Before Gérard Depardieu's character notices her talents and has her sing in his club. From there she's given lessons on how to sing and perform properly, and in not much time she's a national sensation. She was one of the first Diva's. As soon as she has a little money and fame, she's horribly demanding of everyone around her.

What keeps the standard bio-pic storyline fresh; her rise-to-fame, drug use, fights and lovers; is the editing. The film is constantly jumping back and forth in her time-line, from her youth, till her untimely death; yet it is a cohesive and satisfying story.

But what really makes the film worthwhile is Marion Cotillard's powerhouse performance; rightfully nominated for an Oscar. She plays everything from her all-out craziness to her girlishly in love note perfect; she also does maybe the best lip-sync work ever. You really believe it's her belting out these songs; Edith's voice is so unique that they made the right choice in keeping it in the film.

La Vie En Rose is a beautiful and extremely well crafted film. Do yourself a favor and see it.

The idea behind this film is wonderful; give twenty of the world's best directors free reign to make a short film about Paris and see what happens. Each director gets a section of the city to tell a love-story that takes place there. None of the films are connected in any way, there's no narrator, we simply move from tale to tale.

There are some really wonderful short films here. My favorite is a toss up between the Coen Brothers (no surprise) and Tom Tykwer. The Coen's tell the story of a slightly lost American in Paris, played by the always wonderful Steve Buscemi. He's minding his own business in the Paris Underground, when he catches the eye of a couple making out across the tracks. The boyfriend starts to yell derogatory things at him in French, which he can't understand, and before he knows it the girlfriend is sitting next to him, offering him a kiss. There's also a hilarious little bit about a boy who's shooting spit-balls at him.

Tom Tykwer's (Run Lola Run) is about a blind kid who falls in love with Natalie Portman. We see their entire relationship play out in a matter of minutes through a variety of still-shots, it's a beautifully shot and edited film. Alexander Payne's (Election, Sideways) was also a favorite, his is about a middle-age American woman, who has always wanted to visit Paris, and is now finally getting to and is falling in love with the city itself; told very much in his wonderful comic style.

There being twenty films, there was bound to be some mediocre and bad ones. Gérard Depardieu's turned out to be particularly boring, a French couple sitting around in a coffee shop talking. There was another one starring Bob Hoskins, I'm not sure of the director of the short, that I couldn't get into. But each film is only around five minutes and you're moving on to Gus Van Sant doing his thing, Wes Craven telling a weird little love story in a cemetery, and there's one tale that is way out there, Vincenzo Natali (Cube) has Elijah Wood falling in love with a vampire.

I'm a little biased, because Paris is my wife and I's favorite city in the world, so we just enjoyed seeing the beautiful photography of the entire city. But was also very cool to see all these director's one after another. You really get a sense for how much a director influences a film, as each short has it's own style, rhythm and pace. I can see going back and watching some of these shorts over and over, and never bothering with some others again. But overall Paris, je t'aime an incredible artistic experiment, I'd love to see another 20 directors get a stab at it.

I've been a big Luc Besson fan since I saw The Professional in the theater over 10 years ago. Which is the best action film this side of Die Hard, incredible action scenes mixed with a beautiful story and characters you fall in love with. When The Fifth Element came out a few years later, he was cemented as one of my all time favorites. He's been pretty hit-and-miss since then, my wife and I are the only ones I know of that enjoyed The Messenger; his kid's flick Arthur and the Incredibles has a few good moments, but a lot of bad ones as well. In that time he's also become the Jerry Bruckheimer of French films, constantly producing high-quality action films.

I was excited to see the trailer for Angel-A, it looked like Besson was getting back to his roots; low-key action-drama, with two-characters in Paris, filmed in startling black & white. The film came and went pretty quickly in theaters, never playing anywhere near us, and I'd read nothing but bad or mediocre reviews for it. But when it came out on DVD I had to see it immediately, simply for Besson.

Jamel Debbouze, the one armed guy from Amelie, (and he really only has one arm,) plays the lead character of Andre. When we meet him, he's being threatened by some low-level thugs, he's got a problem, he owes a lot of money to a really bad guy. This is a fairly typical beginning for an action film, but after that it goes where no film I've ever seen before. And isn't that the important thing? Something original, most movies I feel like I've seen it all before; when something truly different comes along, most people don't enjoy it.

Andre has a few days to get the money together, with no prospect of getting out of the country and no way to come up with the money, he decides to commit suicide. He says a quick prayer before he jumps off of one of Paris' many beautiful bridges; suddenly a beautiful girl appears on the bridge next to him. She leaps into the water, and his mission turns from suicide to rescue. He drags this beautiful, bleached-blond, long-legged creature from the water. They instantly hit it off in a quirky, bickering sort-of-way. He asks her what a beautiful girl like her could possibly be so sad about? And before he knows it, she's offered to follow him around, doing whatever he wants.

But from the start, she's in control and is soon fixing his life in surprising ways; she digs up loads of money and more importantly the respect he feels he deserves. They fall in love in an unconventional way; with powers way-beyond-their-control ready to tear them apart. It's fairly obvious who this girl is, and she comes right out and tells Andre' about halfway through the film, but I'll play devil's advocate and not give it away.

Now Angel-A is nowhere near the perfection that The Professional aka Leon is. But it's a film well worth seeing, if you're into Luc Besson films or ones that are outside of the norm. It's a gorgeous film, you really couldn't do much better than Besson's B&W photography of Paris. The two leads are very charismatic, and have a great chemistry together. Rie Rasmussen, who I'm guessing is usually a model, is an Amazonian vision as Angel-A. The film gets a little cheesy towards the end, but that's my only minor complaint. Otherwise it's a very fun, cool ride.

My wife and I saw the trailer for the French film The Valet and thought it looked pretty funny. The set-up is so Hollywoodish that I'm sure they've already got a remake in the works.

An extremely rich man is having an affair with a supermodel. When his wife sees a picture of them together in the tabloids, he insists that the guy in the background is the one dating her. Background guy is a lonely valet, who was just rejected by the love of his life. For some cash he agrees to pretend to date the supermodel, going so far as to letting her move in with him. And the wackiness ensues.

The Valet is a quick and brainless watch, even for those who might hate subtitles. The French women are beautiful, there are cool cars, and Paris provides the background, so there's always something to look at. It's pretty standard romantic-comedy fair; all kinds of lies going on about who really said what and who's really with who, people constantly running into the people they don't want to see at the wrong time, and so forth. It certainly doesn't try to break any new ground, but it provides some laughs.

Mostly it made me want to see directer Francis Verber's film The Dinner Game, which I heard good things about, and sounds a little more edgy and thoughtful than this one.