Love permeates SFFS's francophone film series.
Love permeates SFFS's francophone film series.
Love permeates SFFS's francophone film series.
Thrill ride 'Point Blank' loses nothing in translation—it's a prime example of cinematic globalization.
Thrill ride 'Point Blank' loses nothing in translation—it's a prime example of cinematic globalization.
Thrill ride 'Point Blank' loses nothing in translation—it's a prime example of cinematic globalization.
Ozon's Deneuve vehicle, filled with comedy and politics, travels well.
Ozon's Deneuve vehicle, filled with comedy and politics, travels well.
Ozon's Deneuve vehicle, filled with comedy and politics, travels well.
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.
The latest finds from France's national cinema play in an SFFS showcase.
The latest finds from France's national cinema play in an SFFS showcase.
The latest finds from France's national cinema play in an SFFS showcase.
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.
Resnais remains elusive and detached, his films beautiful abstracts of intellectual rather than emotional impact.
Resnais remains elusive and detached, his films beautiful abstracts of intellectual rather than emotional impact.
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.
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.
Claire Denis proves her unpredictability and versatility as a director with the 2008 release 35 Shots of Rum.
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.
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.
The movies of William Klein are suffused with the same impudence, social commentary and aesthetic surprise found in his photos.
The story of teenagers living like a savage, roaming pack of animals, The Beautiful Person locates a classic in a contemporary setting.
Tilda Swinton's edge of riskiness is on ample display in Julia, a new film by French director Erick Zonca.
Philippe Garrel sticks to his highly-personal aesthetic in Frontier of Dawn.
With films that focus a patient eye on common human conditions, Belgian-born auteur Chantal Akerman is a formalist with heart–and global interests.
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.
The SFFS has added a Gallic counterpart to its long-running New Italian Cinema series.
The SFFS has added a Gallic counterpart to its long-running New Italian Cinema series.
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.
Dyspeptic rather than tragic, Jacques Nolot's Before I Forget may be the best gay feel-bad movie ever.
Eric Rohmer's latest "moral tale," The Romance of Astrea and Cèladon, filled with evanescent beauty, plays as part of SFFS Screen.
'Love Songs', a truly gay musical utterly devoid of camp, causes critic Dennis Harvey to reassess France's take on the genre.
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.
The SFIFF announced its 2008 program and the June 13 launch of its year-round programming on one screen at the Sundance Kabuki
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.
How does Jean-Jacques Beineix's breakthrough hold up a quarter-century later, duly remastered and freshly subtitle-translated?
Tirard takes an ingenious tack in conjuring the creative evolution of France's master of satiric comedy.
Tirard takes an ingenious tack in conjuring the creative evolution of France's master of satiric comedy.
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.
Despite the best efforts of method actors, methodical directors, and talented costume designers, biopics can usually be relied upon to disappoint.
A masterful stroke by writer-director Abderrahmane Sissako; Luc Besson returns to American theaters after a nearly decade-long absence.
As Bruno Dumont's Flanders navigates festival waters, it's been leaving behind a noticeable wake.
in Claude Chabrol's latest film, Isabelle Huppert plays a judge plunging headlong into a dangerous investigation of french corruption and gender dynamics.
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.
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.
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.
Jean-Pierre Melville's remarkable 1969 nail biter is on a different plane than contemporary spy thrillers.