La Vie En Rose
February 14th, 2007
Marcy thought this epic Edith Piaf biopic was torture, but I fell for it. Sure, all the cliches of the genre are in full effect, from Piaf’s childhood in brothels and circuses to discovery and rise in cabarets and music halls, with generous helpings of suffering, drug addiction, old age, loss, and death. But… non, je ne regrette rien… Unlike Ray, which covered similar stations of the artist’s passion with thudding predictability, director Olivier Dahan uses Marion Cotillard’s abrasive performance and Piaf’s fantastic music to good effect. La Môme just opened the Berlin Film Festival and is playing at the Lincoln Center’s Rendez-Vous with French Film festival. It’s scheduled to open in the US in June.
La Môme. Olivier Dahan, 2007. ***
- Official US Site
- David Hudson’s Review
- The real thing:
[tags]music, film, 3 stars, edith piaf, la mome, olivier dahan, biopics, artists, drugs, booze, marion cotillard, youtube, gerard depardieu[/tags]
Factotum
December 8th, 2006
Unlike, say, The Queen, Factotum doesn’t grow in complexity when you see it again, but it’s a hell of a fun place to revisit. My favorite scene this time is when Chinaski gives Lili Taylor his shoes.
- My Factotum review on About.com
- Bukowski: Born Into This Review
- Top Ten Movies About Writers
- Buk poem: “roll the dice”
Factotum. Bent Hamer, 2005. ****
[tags]charkles bukowski, poetry, writing, factotum, bent hamer, harry chinaski, lili taylor, matt dillon, marisa tomei, booze, film, 4 stars[/tags]
