Frantic
February 21st, 2007
Over the years, Roman Polanski’s culture shock thriller has acquired an additional level of disorientation: Harrison Ford gets lost in Paris, and the movie gets lost in the Eighties. Emmanuelle Seigner plays a greedy drug mule in Madonna duds, and together they’re desperately seeking Betty Buckley. Narrative and film grammar have grown a lot tauter since 1988, so the title doesn’t quite ring true anymore, and the terrorists aren’t nearly menacing enough. Anybody who’s ever suffered the indignities of consulates and embassies will thoroughly enjoy Polanski’s jabs at American bureaucracy. Achtung cinephiles: the region 1 DVD is pan-and-scan.
Frantic. Roman Polanski, 1988. ***
[tags]film, 3 stars, roman polanski, paris, harrison ford, emmanuelle seigner, betty buckley, eighties, pan-and-scan, bureaucracy, america, madonna[/tags]
Backstage
November 28th, 2006
The amazing Isild Le Besco plays the smitten fan of a pop diva (Emmanuelle Seigner) who stalks the star after a misbegotten reality TV encounter and ends up as her maniac mascot in the hotel room where Seigner is gobbling pills and hiding from the cruel, cruel world. Hothouse passions & overripe desire make this slightly silly but very watchable. Le Besco and Seigner are both fascinating. Currently playing at Film Forum. Trailer. RT.
Backstage. Emmanuelle Bercot, 2005. ***
[tags]french, film, 3 stars, emmanuelle bercot, emmanuelle seigner, isild le besco, stalkers, obsession, celebrity[/tags]
