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Review: Declaration of War

A baby with a brain tumor is no laughing matter.
A puzzler of a cancer drama
By ALICIA POTTER | February 17, 2012

It was inevitable that Air would one day be asked to soundtrack a colorized version of an iconic 1902 silent French film about moon exploration, right? There's the French thing, the moon thing, the kitsch-cool factor.
Astralwerks (2012)
By ZETH LUNDY | February 03, 2012

Review: Charlotte Rampling: The Look

Rampling's physical gifts, unimpeded by plastic surgery in their march through time, are matched by a keen mind and an unapologetic approach to life and work.
Angelina Maccarone's portrait of the actress
By BETSY SHERMAN | February 03, 2012

Review: The best of the Ottawa International Animation Film Festival

The Canadians produce the best animation programs and prove it again with this international selection.
Canadian animations
By PEG ALOI | January 27, 2012

Review: Crazy Horse

In La Danse — The Paris Opera Ballet , Frederick Wiseman looked behind the scenes at a revered dance institution. In his new documentary he examines a dance institution of a different sort, the cabaret bar of the title, a Parisian pop-cultural icon a
Wiseman behind the scenes at a revered dance institution
By PETER KEOUGH | January 27, 2012

Review: Pina

Who could have predicted that it would take the surviving leading lights of the New German Cinema to put 3D to good use?
Putting 3D to good use
By ANN LEWINSON | January 20, 2012

Huntington pays tribute to God of Carnage

If Lord of the Flies wanted an upscale-urban bookend, it could do worse than God of Carnage (presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at the BU Theatre through February 5).
Parent flap
By CAROLYN CLAY | January 20, 2012

Review: The Artist(1)

The advent of talking pictures sends a screen idol into both a career nosedive and an identity crisis in Michel Hazanavicius's flashback to Hollywood's transitional period of the late '20s.
Michel Hazanavicius's flashback to '20s-era Hollywood
By BETSY SHERMAN | December 23, 2011

Review: Weekend

Among the world's masterpieces of misanthropy, Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 opus follows a loathsome, greedy, sexually perverse bourgeois married couple on a weekend jaunt into the French countryside during which they plan to murder the wife's dying father,
Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 opus
By GERALD PEARY | December 09, 2011

Review: Tomboy(1)

In this lovely feature from the French filmmaker Céline Sciamma, Laure, a 10-year-old tomboy decides after moving into a new neighborhood, to pretend that she's a boy, Mikael, as a way to fit in with the local kids.
Céline Sciamma's lovely feature
By GERALD PEARY | December 02, 2011

Review: Le Havre

Few filmmakers practice minimalism as effectively as Aki Kaurismäki.
Aki Kaurismäki's effective minimalism
By PETER KEOUGH | November 11, 2011

Review: Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life

In this tour de force biopic, cartoonist-filmmaker Joann Sfar uses darkly comic fairy tale elements to illustrate Gainsbourg's creative process.
The life of Serge Gainsbourg
By BETSY SHERMAN | October 28, 2011

Review: The Women on the 6th Floor

Philippe Le Guay's '60s-set Parisian upstairs/downstairs, a kind of European version of The Help , has all the ingredients necessary for US consumption: political correctness, platitudes, saucy comedy; and a romance between a middle-aged bourgeois reac
A kind of European version of The Help
By PETER KEOUGH | October 14, 2011

Review: Love Crime

Love Crime deconstructs the genre by showing how to put together a mystery in order to deceive and manipulate those who would try to take it apart.
A deconstruction of the mystery genre
By PETER KEOUGH | October 07, 2011

Review: My Afternoons with Margueritte

European cinema doesn't have as many sure-fire formulas as Hollywood, but the one described, I think, by Pauline Kael as the "lonely child, clean old man" scenario has long endured.
Twisting the "lonely child, clean old man" formula
By PETER KEOUGH | September 23, 2011

Review: Thames Street Kitchen

There's a new restaurant in Newport that may very well give the expression "tsk-tsk" new, enthusiastic meaning.
Getting more than the food right
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 23, 2011

Review: The Hedgehog

Eleven-year-old Paloma (Garance Le Guillemic) agrees, and plans to kill herself on her 12th birthday because she doesn't want to end up like the other members of her family — goldfish in a bowl.
Mona Achache's adaptation of Muriel Barbery's best-seller
By PETER KEOUGH | September 02, 2011

Review: Mysteries of Lisbon

Ruiz's gorgeous, painterly visuals are shot from startling angles and work alongside his precise, anarchic, and gleefully absurd narrative to evoke a heightened reality that plumbs the mysteries of life.
Raúl Ruiz's legacy
By PETER KEOUGH | August 26, 2011

Review: Senna

The story of Brazilian Formula One champion Ayrton Senna sounds, well, just like a movie — Le Mans , maybe, or Talladega Nights without the comedy.
Chronicling Ayrton Senna's career
By PETER KEOUGH | August 19, 2011

Review: The Names of Love

Child abuse, genocide — those French have a way with romantic comedies.
Softcore sex and politics
By PETER KEOUGH | August 19, 2011

Review: Café Zelda

Café Zelda is one of those places that feels elegant but homey; luxurious but not pretentious.
A truly memorable experience
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | August 12, 2011

Review: Point Blank

Samuel (Gilles Lellouche), a student nurse, gets sucked into a quagmire of murder and corruption when a thug kidnaps his pregnant wife, Nadia (Elena Anaya), to blackmail him into springing Hugo (Roschdy Zem), a wounded prisoner held by the police at the
Diminishing returns
By PETER KEOUGH | August 12, 2011

Review: Sarah's Key

Sarah's Key is a superior "woman in the present becomes obsessed with woman in the past" narrative.
A compelling interplay of tensions
By BETSY SHERMAN | August 05, 2011

Review: La Rafle

In La Rafle , director Rose Bosch boldly tackles the psyche of Hitler, showing the Führer enjoying the high life with Eva Braun as he instructs his minions to pressure France to hand over its Jews so he can sate his genocidal bloodlust before the Allie
The psyche of Hitler
By TOM MEEK | July 22, 2011

Review: Viva Riva!

One thing about Djo Tunda Wa Munga's plucky Third World noir: it never slows down.
A gritty get-down
By TOM MEEK | July 08, 2011

Review: L'amour Fou

Pierre Thoretton's lugubrious portrait of the late Yves Saint Laurent (he died in 2008) begins with a 2002 press conference in which the iconic designer announced his retirement from the world of fashion.

By PETER KEOUGH | May 27, 2011

Yelle | Safari Disco Club

In the four years since French electro queen Yelle released her debut, Pop Up, a gaggle of comparable female dance-pop characters — from Gaga to La Roux to Robyn — have made their way into the spotlight.
Barclay Records (2011)
By CARRIE BATTAN | April 01, 2011

Libya: Why Obama is right

That the nation is apprehensive and ambivalent about President Barack Obama's military intervention in Libya is natural, even healthy.
What's wrong with saving lives?
By EDITORIAL | April 01, 2011

Review: Hugo's

For many years now the most memorable meals to be had in Portland have been at Hugo's.
Midweek special gets top-notch gourmet food at neighborhood prices
By BRIAN DUFF | February 25, 2011

Review: Le Central

Their slogan is "Where the East Bay meets the Left Bank," and Le Central, in the middle of Bristol, usually does a fine job fulfilling the claim with more than good french fries. Gone are the days when the town had to settle for a Café La France on the
Cherchez la lunch
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | February 18, 2011

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