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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.
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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.
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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.
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'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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