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    Under the Spell of French Cinema Now

    Dennis Harvey
    Oct 25, 2011

    Love permeates SFFS's francophone film series.

  • October 28, 2011

    Under the Spell of French Cinema Now

    Dennis Harvey
    Oct 25, 2011

    Love permeates SFFS's francophone film series.

  • Reviews

    Under the Spell of French Cinema Now

    Dennis Harvey
    Oct 25, 2011

    Love permeates SFFS's francophone film series.

  • August 11, 2011

    High Energy 'Point Blank' Is a Rush

    Dennis Harvey
    Aug 9, 2011

    Thrill ride 'Point Blank' loses nothing in translation—it's a prime example of cinematic globalization.

  • Home

    High Energy 'Point Blank' Is a Rush

    Dennis Harvey
    Aug 9, 2011

    Thrill ride 'Point Blank' loses nothing in translation—it's a prime example of cinematic globalization.

  • Reviews

    High Energy 'Point Blank' Is a Rush

    Dennis Harvey
    Aug 9, 2011

    Thrill ride 'Point Blank' loses nothing in translation—it's a prime example of cinematic globalization.

  • April 7, 2011

    Ozon's 'Trophy Wife' Is a Winner

    Dennis Harvey
    Apr 1, 2011

    Ozon's Deneuve vehicle, filled with comedy and politics, travels well.

  • Home

    Ozon's 'Trophy Wife' Is a Winner

    Dennis Harvey
    Apr 1, 2011

    Ozon's Deneuve vehicle, filled with comedy and politics, travels well.

  • Reviews

    Ozon's 'Trophy Wife' Is a Winner

    Dennis Harvey
    Apr 1, 2011

    Ozon's Deneuve vehicle, filled with comedy and politics, travels well.

  • November 2, 2010

    French Cinema Now Continues

    Nov 2, 2010

    The SFFS fall festival of French cinema continues at Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema. Abbas Kiarostami’s ‘Certified Copy,’ starring Juliet Binoche (in a role that won her a best actress prize at Cannes) closes the festival. More at sffs.org.

  • Festivals

    Marquee Names Light Up French Cinema Now

    Dennis Harvey
    Oct 28, 2010

    The latest finds from France's national cinema play in an SFFS showcase.

  • Home

    Marquee Names Light Up French Cinema Now

    Dennis Harvey
    Oct 28, 2010

    The latest finds from France's national cinema play in an SFFS showcase.

  • October 28, 2010

    Marquee Names Light Up French Cinema Now

    Dennis Harvey
    Oct 28, 2010

    The latest finds from France's national cinema play in an SFFS showcase.

  • October 26, 2010

    French Cinema Now

    Oct 28, 2010

    SFFS’s annual showcase of modern French filmmaking includes some of the country’s most important work from the past year, from Éléonore Faucher's 'Sisters' to Katell Quillévéré's 'Love Like Poison.' Mark Fitoussi's ‘Copacabana,’ starring Isabelle Huppert, opens the festival; it's followed by a reception at the Bubble Lounge, 714 Montgomery Street. All films play at Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema. More at sffs.org.

  • Home

    'Wild Grass' Finds Resnais Still Growing

    Dennis Harvey
    Jul 9, 2010

    Resnais remains elusive and detached, his films beautiful abstracts of intellectual rather than emotional impact.

  • Reviews

    'Wild Grass' Finds Resnais Still Growing

    Dennis Harvey
    Jul 9, 2010

    Resnais remains elusive and detached, his films beautiful abstracts of intellectual rather than emotional impact.

  • Reviews

    SFIFF53: Deft Dussollier In 'Micmacs,' 'Wild Grass'

    Dennis Harvey
    Apr 21, 2010

    How many foreign stars do U.S. moviegoers know? Not many, alas. My favorite living French actor, André Dussollier, appears prominently in two high-profile festival films.

  • Q & A

    Michael House's Translation of Tati at YBCA

    Michael Guillen
    Jan 17, 2010

    Riding the crest of the Tati tsunami hitting our shores is The Magnificent Tati by Michael House, who lived in S.F. for 12 years before moving to Paris.

  • Reviews

    Soulful "35 Shots of Rum" Gently Intoxicating

    Dennis Harvey
    Dec 17, 2009

    Claire Denis proves her unpredictability and versatility as a director with the 2008 release 35 Shots of Rum.

  • Festivals

    French Cinema Now—and then

    Dennis Harvey
    Oct 29, 2009

    Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is being revived as part of San Francisco Film Society’s second annual French Cinema Now festival, which runs the week of October 29 through November 4 at the city’s Clay Theatre.

  • Festivals

    French Cinema Now—and then

    Dennis Harvey
    Oct 29, 2009

    Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is being revived as part of San Francisco Film Society’s second annual French Cinema Now festival, which runs the week of October 29 through November 4 at the city’s Clay Theatre.

  • Reviews

    William Klein's Restless Mind

    Dennis Harvey
    Sep 9, 2009

    The movies of William Klein are suffused with the same impudence, social commentary and aesthetic surprise found in his photos.

  • Reviews

    High Drama in High school in 'The Beautiful Person'

    Max Goldberg
    Sep 4, 2009

    The story of teenagers living like a savage, roaming pack of animals, The Beautiful Person locates a classic in a contemporary setting.

  • Reviews

    An Ample Display of Tilda Swinton's Edge

    Dennis Harvey
    Jul 10, 2009

    Tilda Swinton's edge of riskiness is on ample display in Julia, a new film by French director Erick Zonca.

  • Reviews

    Garrel's 'Frontier of Dawn'

    Dennis Harvey
    May 15, 2009

    Philippe Garrel sticks to his highly-personal aesthetic in Frontier of Dawn.

  • Reviews

    Chantal Akerman's Everyday, and More, at SFMOMA

    Glen Helfand
    Feb 13, 2009

    With films that focus a patient eye on common human conditions, Belgian-born auteur Chantal Akerman is a formalist with heart–and global interests.

  • Reviews

    Essay Films at the Pacific Film Archive

    David Winks Gray
    Jan 30, 2009

    The PFA's series of "essay films," a collection of diverse work, offers the viewer an opportunity to adapt to the peculiar tone of these films.

  • Festivals

    SFFS's Inaugural French Cinema Now

    Max Goldberg
    Oct 7, 2008

    The SFFS has added a Gallic counterpart to its long-running New Italian Cinema series.

  • Festivals

    SFFS's Inaugural French Cinema Now

    Max Goldberg
    Oct 7, 2008

    The SFFS has added a Gallic counterpart to its long-running New Italian Cinema series.

  • Reviews

    Chris Marker Comes Home, At Last

    Michael Fox
    Sep 1, 2008

    I confess that for a long while I had the misperception, based on almost no exposure to his work, that French essayist Chris Marker made dense, dry films steeped in political theory and inaccessible to anyone but a narrow strata of irrelevant European intellectuals.

  • Reviews

    Jacques Nolot and 'Before I Forget'

    Dennis Harvey
    Jul 31, 2008

    Dyspeptic rather than tragic, Jacques Nolot's Before I Forget may be the best gay feel-bad movie ever.

  • Reviews

    New Rohmer on SFFS Screen

    Max Goldberg
    Jun 24, 2008

    Eric Rohmer's latest "moral tale," The Romance of Astrea and Cèladon, filled with evanescent beauty, plays as part of SFFS Screen.

  • Reviews

    Review: 'Love Songs'

    Dennis Harvey
    Jun 3, 2008

    'Love Songs', a truly gay musical utterly devoid of camp, causes critic Dennis Harvey to reassess France's take on the genre.

  • Reviews

    Review: "Boarding Gate"

    Dennis Harvey
    Apr 8, 2008

    Boarding Gate is raw, silly, bloody, funny, carnal, intricate, coarse and self-conscious. It all suggests Olivier Assayas has a lot more surprises in him yet.

  • Festivals

    SF Int'l announces its 51st program and year-round screen

    Susan Gerhard
    Apr 1, 2008

    The SFIFF announced its 2008 program and the June 13 launch of its year-round programming on one screen at the Sundance Kabuki

  • Reviews

    Paradjanov and Godard on DVD

    Michael Fox
    Jan 29, 2008

    Michael Fox reviews the release of a Sergei Paradjanov DVD boxed set and the arrival of a Jean-Luc Godard box spotlighting his underrated mid-'80s work.

  • Reviews

    Review: "Diva"

    Dennis Harvey
    Dec 4, 2007

    How does Jean-Jacques Beineix's breakthrough hold up a quarter-century later, duly remastered and freshly subtitle-translated?

  • Reviews

    Laurent Tirard on "Moliere"

    Erica Abeel/indieWIRE
    Aug 3, 2007

    Tirard takes an ingenious tack in conjuring the creative evolution of France's master of satiric comedy.

  • Reviews

    Laurent Tirard on "Moliere"

    Erica Abeel/indieWIRE
    Aug 3, 2007

    Tirard takes an ingenious tack in conjuring the creative evolution of France's master of satiric comedy.

  • Reviews

    "Private Property;" "One to Another"

    Dennis Harvey and Michael Koresky/indieWIRE
    Jul 31, 2007

    A non-rich family is torn apart by money matters, and young actors lie atop, next to, and around each other with youthful, sexual abandon.

  • Reviews

    Reviews: "La Vie en Rose;" "Crazy Love"

    Steve Ramos
    Jun 5, 2007

    Despite the best efforts of method actors, methodical directors, and talented costume designers, biopics can usually be relied upon to disappoint.

  • Reviews

    Reviews: "Bamako" and "Angel-A"

    Robert Avila
    May 29, 2007

    A masterful stroke by writer-director Abderrahmane Sissako; Luc Besson returns to American theaters after a nearly decade-long absence.

  • Reviews

    A "Flanders" Reader

    Michael Guillen
    May 6, 2007

    As Bruno Dumont's Flanders navigates festival waters, it's been leaving behind a noticeable wake.

  • Reviews

    Reviews: 'Comedy of Power'

    Robert Avila
    Apr 17, 2007

    in Claude Chabrol's latest film, Isabelle Huppert plays a judge plunging headlong into a dangerous investigation of french corruption and gender dynamics.

  • Reviews

    Reviews: "Police Beat"; "The Page Turner"

    Dennis Harvey
    Apr 3, 2007

    It's taken over two years for Police Beat to go from one of the most praised films at Sundance to a theatre near you.

  • Reviews

    "Absolute Wilson"; "Army of Shadows"

    Robert Avila
    Jan 9, 2007

    A documentary provides an in-depth description of Robert Wilson's life and art. Melville's spy story on a Resistance cell in Nazi-occupied French challenges our idea of heroism.

  • Reviews

    A "Backstage" Breakdown

    Dennis Harvey
    Jan 4, 2007

    Teenager Lucie's (Islid Le Besco) encounter with her idol, the pop diva Lauren Waks (Emmanuelle Seigner), turns into a twisted and creepy psychological relationship.

  • Reviews

    Army of Shadows and France's Soul

    Michael Fox
    Jun 29, 2006

    Jean-Pierre Melville's remarkable 1969 nail biter is on a different plane than contemporary spy thrillers.


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