European March

This here post groups together the films from the European continent, including the UK, that I saw in March. I'm tired, so there won't be very much about each.

L'ivresse du Pouvoir (A Comedy of Power) is Claude Chabrol's examination of a French scandal involving an oil company, albeit in fictionalized form. And with Isabelle Huppert in the lead role as a balls-crushing magistrate, it's particularly enjoyable as you relish each excruciating she puts her targets through. It's also a fascinating observation of the many power and political nuances in France, and how thoroughly the ridiculously rich disregard morality and ethics. A master at work is simply compelling to watch, no matter what the genre.

Paris, je t'aime is a rare film indeed - an omnibus that collects 18 short films about love, each set in a distinct Parisian neighborhood. Of course, in any short film collection are winners and stinkers, and this is no exception. My personal favorites are the Coen Brothers' hilarious entry Tuileries where Steve Buscemi is an absolute hoot, Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas' poignant Loin du 16eme, and the Alexander Payne finale 14th Arrondissement, which, like most of his work, manages the difficult task of being funny, sad and yet full of heart at the same time. The absolute worst of the lot has to be Christopher Doyle's Porte de Choisy, which is just pure rubbish, with Faye Wong's 1994 hit 天空 thrown in for no apparent reason.

The History Boys was originally a theatrical play, and it wears its theatricality proudly on its sleeve, with clever dialogue zipping about at machine-gun speed. Yet, underneath all that is a sad, sentimental heart that all its cleverness can't disguise - not that it has to. The only complaint I have is that its adaptation to cinematic form just isn't bloody cinematic enough, but that's a small quibble when the script and performances are so well executed, even though they're not entirely original - probably the biggest bit of originality is that the beloved teacher gropes his male students.

13 Tzameti has one of those titles that makes absolutely no sense before the movie, and complete and perfect sense afterwards ("tzameti" is the Georgian word for "thirteen"). I'm not going to tell you how the number figures in the movie; what I'm going to tell you is that it's a fantastic noir piece that feels like it was made decades ago (in a good way), and is gripping and chilling as hell. A young man gets embroiled in a macabre game played by rich gamblers, from which he has no way out except to finish it - that is, if he can finish it alive. It's a rough gem from a first-time director, and I eagerly anticipate his next film.

Anthony Minghella's latest film, Breaking and Entering, has wonderfully compelling performances from Jude Law and Juliette Binoche, and complex characters that are using each other for their own selfish agenda. The missteps they take just keep on building until they reach an unbearable point - and then Minghella tries to wrap everything up and the whole thing goes awry. It's one of those unfortunate cases where the ending is exactly how you want the film to turn out, yet it feels false because it goes against what the rest of the film has been saying. That being said, it's still worth a watch for the performances.