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Venus Beauty Institute
»rank: 15555
: :The carefully unattached existence of working girl Nathalie Baye is suddenly upended when lovesick hunk Samuel Le Bihan introduces himself: 'My name is Antoine and l love you.' Set in a cute glass storefront with a neon pink and blue façade that could have sprung from a Jacques Demy musical, this bittersweet romantic drama was written for the arresting Baye, who plays a middle-aged 'girl' in a uniquely Parisian beauty shop that specializes in facials, body treatments, massages, and emotional confession. Her coworkers, ...
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And the Band Played On
»rank: 13211
: essential video:A superior, made-for-cable film, this Home Box 0ffice adaptation of Randy Shilts's chronicle detailing the emergence of AlDS in America and the fight against bureaucracy and society for a cure is a taut, outrageous, and affecting true-life drama. Matthew Modine (Birdy, Married to the Mob) is featured as a doctor with the Centers for Disease Control at the time when the first reports of a disease plaguing the gay community were heard. Modine and his colleagues embark on an investigation that ...
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Stolen Portraits
»rank: 17332
: :This documentary about the life and career of the late French master, François Truffaut, offers a lot of intriguing information that draws striking parallels between the stories he told in film and the ones he lived in real life. The film goes to great lengths to find the truth about his long-missing father and to tell relate his attempts to track down his real dad. Still, despite interviews with most of the stars and contemporaries who knew him best, the man at the ...
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Day for Night
»rank: 15924
: essential video:François Truffaut's lavish and fun 1973 comedy-drama about a film production is a clever hall of mirrors, with Truffaut himself playing a director, and his most important actor in real life, Jean-Pierre Léaud (The 400 Blows), portraying Jacqueline Bisset's immature costar. Day for Night is full of tales undoubtedly told out of school and repeated here in camouflage, and one can't help but be impressed with the stylistic and technical means by which Truffaut captures the adventurousness of a full-budget shoot. ...
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The Man Who Loved Women
»rank: 18422
: essential video:Scientist Bertrand Morane, 'never in the company of men after 5,' seduces women by evening and writes about the experiences in the early morning. Though 40ish and somewhat square, no woman in the town of Montpelier seems capable of resisting his earnest advances. Not much else happens in The Man Who Loved Women, but in the hands of master visual storyteller François Truffaut, the threadbare plot accumulates deep and ominous philosophical resonances. What drives Morane from woman to woman, and what ...
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La Balance
»rank: 28744
:Description:When a police informant is gunned down, a violently determined vice cop must recruit a new stool pigeon - one that can finally take down the unassailable local mob boss. The line between the cops and gangsters becomes thoroughly blurred as Dede (Philippe Léotard, Les Miserables, The French Connection ll), a rather likeable and charismatic pimp, is brutally forced by the police to 'rat out' his former boss and arch nemesis, the elusive Massina. Remarkable performances, especially from Nathalie Baye (The Return of ...
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The Return of Martin Guerre
»rank: 18337
: essential video:While many ugly Americans best remember Gerard Depardieu from late-'80s Hollywood fluff (and the less said about Green Card the better), his art-house reputation as a legitimate, conscientious actor was more than mere hype. The solid Return of Martin Guerre (Le Retour de Martin Guerre) stands as Depardieu's personal high-water mark: here, he was handed a well-written, nuanced role--one inviting a balanced display of intelligence, charismatic cool, and pure passion--and he makes the most of it. The narrative, set in medieval ...
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Beethoven's Nephew
»rank: 29907
: essential video:While many ugly Americans best remember Gerard Depardieu from late-'80s Hollywood fluff (and the less said about Green Card the better), his art-house reputation as a legitimate, conscientious actor was more than mere hype. The solid Return of Martin Guerre (Le Retour de Martin Guerre) stands as Depardieu's personal high-water mark: here, he was handed a well-written, nuanced role--one inviting a balanced display of intelligence, charismatic cool, and pure passion--and he makes the most of it. The narrative, set in medieval ...
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Catch Me If You Can
»rank: 15848
: :An enormously entertaining (if somewhat shallow) affair from blockbuster director Steven Spielberg. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Frank Abagnale, Jr., a dazzling young con man who spent four years impersonating an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer--all before he turned 21. All the while he's pursued by a dedicated FBl agent named Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), whose dogged determination stays one step behind Abagnale's spontaneous wits. Both DiCaprio and Hanks turn in enjoyable performances and the movie has a bouncy rhythm that keeps ...
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Detective
»rank: 39125
: :An enormously entertaining (if somewhat shallow) affair from blockbuster director Steven Spielberg. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Frank Abagnale, Jr., a dazzling young con man who spent four years impersonating an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer--all before he turned 21. All the while he's pursued by a dedicated FBl agent named Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), whose dogged determination stays one step behind Abagnale's spontaneous wits. Both DiCaprio and Hanks turn in enjoyable performances and the movie has a bouncy rhythm that keeps ...
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