Rendez-vous with French Cinema 2017: New Waves & World Wars

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 20 February 2017 19:11

Written by Jack Angstreich

The 22nd edition of the Rendez-vous with French Cinema series, co-sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and UniFrance, runs from March 1st to 12th. Notable presentations this year include a new feature by the underappreciated Pascal Bonitzer (screening on the 10th and 12th at the Walter Reade Theater), a live talk with New Wave pioneer Agnès Varda on March 10th at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, and an exhibition at the Furman Gallery of recently discovered color photographs by Paul Ronald of the production of Federico Fellini's celebrated 8 1/2.

Another significant event will be the screening of the latest work by the consistently remarkable François Ozon, the moving Frantz, a remake of Ernst Lubitsch's dramatic film set in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, Broken Lullaby. Handsomely photographed in widescreen, the film beautifully oscillates between black-and -white and color while the director elicits uniformly superb performances from a cast of mostly unknowns. Elegantly crafted, this is one of Ozon's strongest works to date and fulfills much of the promise of his early efforts. Frantz will be shown on March 2nd (with a Q&A with Ozon) and 11th and will be released by Music Box Films.

Of comparable merit is the extraordinary new feature by Bertrand Bonello, the doom-laden Nocturama—which might be described as a "phenomenological" thriller for its focus on sensation and the consequent obliquity of its political commentary— about a terrorist attack in contemporary Paris staged by a multicultural group of disaffected youth. Structurally, the film exhilaratingly disorients as it elliptically crisscrosses back and forth in time in exposition of the narrative. The director confidently employs a range of techniques and devices such as the zoom, split screens, and liberal reliance on the Steadicam. The work is enhanced by a propulsive techno score composed by the filmmaker and is captivatingly animated by a compelling, attractive cast, also mostly unknowns.Nocturamashows on March 4th and 5th, with Bonello present at both screenings, and is being released by Netflix.

Considerably less rewarding was the new, bizarre opus of the fascinating Bruno Dumont, Slack Bay, a tale of cannibalism set in a small town on the coast of northern France in 1910. A few excellent stars—Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Juliette Binoche, and Fabrice Luchini in a highly exaggerated turn—can do little to redeem the general, although not entirely uninteresting, unpleasantness. One redeeming facet is the appearance of a beautiful young androgyne in one of the leading roles. The film plays on the evenings of March 9th and 11th.

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