‘The Balconettes’ Review: Female Friendship Sizzles and Shines in Noémie Merlant’s Genre-Bending Second Feature
Merlant once again re-teams with Céline Sciamma (the film’s co-writer) to serve up an exceptionally feminist genre mashup centered around a trio of longtime girlfriends who rise against the men fighting to control them amid a midsummer heatwave in the South of France.
‘The Empire’ Review: A Simultaneously Zany and Inert Reworking of the Sci-Fi Space Opera
French auteur Bruno Dumont’s Berlinale-winner The Empire is a genre-mashing comedy that is light on humor but heavy on impressive craftsmanship.
‘Endless Summer Syndrome’ Review: Family Vacation Leads to Ruination in a Thorny, Alluring French Thriller
The feature debut from Prague-based Iranian filmmaker Kaveh Daneshmand, Endless Summer Syndrome compellingly probes a seemingly normal upper-middle-class French family to explore the mistrust and deceit that lies just below the surface.
‘Daaaaaalí!’ Review: Quentin Dupieux Pays Homage to One of the 20th Century’s Kookiest Personalities
In a playful ode to his idols, Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel, Dupieux concocts one of the best films of his increasingly prolific career.
‘Red Island’ Review: Youth Blooms as Colonialism Wilts in 1970s Madagascar
In his follow-up to the critically lauded 2017 film BPM (Beats Per Minute), French writer-director Robin Campillo spectacularly excavates his own childhood experiences growing up in post-colonial Africa.