Leglessbird Movie Guide

Kandahar (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama, Iran, France 2001

Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Nelofer Pazira .... Nafas
Hassan Tantai .... Tabib Sahid
Sadou Teymouri .... Khak
Hoyatala Hakimi .... Hayat

Posted by Dominic
Story:
A native Afghanistan woman Nafas who now resides in Canada has returned to Afghanistan and must go back to Kandahar to see her sister who wrote and said she was going to end her life. Nafas only has 48 hours and she is deseparate to go on an unsafe journey.

My review:
Though the story is fictional, the many details of the life of the people in Afghanistan are not. Torn by years of war, people are living a pretty scary life. Trust no one and people constantly have to lie to survive. Sigh..

36 Quai des Orfevres (Original French Version with English Subtitles) (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama, France 2004

Director: Olivier Marchal

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Daniel Auteuil .... L?o Vrinks
G?rard Depardieu .... Denis Klein
Andr? Dussollier .... Robert Mancini
Roschdy Zem .... Hugo Silien
Valeria Golino .... Camille Vrinks
Posted by Dominic
Story:
For months, Paris police is trying to solve a gang of violent armed robberies. Vrinks and Denis are both top police officers who are competing to be the next chief. The race is on, Vrinks takes the risk and relies on a tip-off of a convic, though solves the case but got him into serious trouble. Denis disregards the protocol and results in deaths of fellow officers during gun fight. Denis in defending himself, pushes Vrinks deep into trouble and gets thrown in jail. Denis becomes the new chief...

My review:
Good actors but with such an interesting plot, I expect the movie to be more intense. I didn't find the movie was capturing my attention.

8 Women (buy from Amazon)
Type: Suspence, France 2002

Director: Fran?ois Ozon

My rating: 4
Buy it now:
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Key actors/actresses:
Danielle Darrieux .... Mamy
Catherine Deneuve .... Gaby
Isabelle Huppert .... Augustine
Emmanuelle B?art .... Louise
Fanny Ardant .... Pierrette
Virginie Ledoyen .... Suzon
Ludivine Sagnier .... Catherine
Firmine Richard .... Madame Chanel
Dominique Lamure .... Marcel, the husband

Other similar movies: La Fid?lit?, Anthony Zimmer, Swimming Pool, Needing You, l'Etudiante, more
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Country: France
Type(s): Comedy
Drama

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Eight women in the house with one dead man, who is the killer? What are the relationships of the man with these 8 women?

My review:
Very entertaining and amusing. Fun to watch, full of twist and turns.

Nathalie (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama, France 2003

Director: Anne Fontaine

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Fanny Ardant .... Catherine
Emmanuelle B?art .... Nathalie/Marl?ne
G?rard Depardieu .... Bernard

Posted by Dominic
Story:
A woman is suspious of her husband being the type of men that cheat on their wifes. She went as far as hiring a show-girl to seduce her husband and to report back to her everything that they did. Would the husband fall for it?

My review:
Is my partner faithful? Do people often ask themselves such question? How will one know for sure? Do we need to test our partner to find out? What if we don't like the outcome?

The Closet (buy from Amazon)
Type: Comedy, France 2001

Director:Francis Veber

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Daniel Auteuil .... Fran?ois Pignon
G?rard Depardieu .... F?lix Santini
Thierry Lhermitte .... Guillaume
Mich?le Laroque .... Mlle Bertrand

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Fran?ois works in a condom factory as an accountant and he knows he is about to get fired and his family life is in a mess, his ex-wife and son wouldn't talk to him at all. Just when he is going to end his life, his neighbour suggests to him that he should pretend to be gay and they will send some gay pictures of Fran?ois to his boss with a note saying that if he gets fired, it will be discrimination and the gay community will protest. So his job is now safe, but what happens next is something totally unexpected ...

My review:
Very funny comedy, highly entertaining. Great acting too. It is also interesting to see three great actors to play such soft comedian role, different from their usual masculine roles like cops.

La Boum / La Boum 2 (3 DVD Box Set) [Non-US Format, PAL, Region 2, Import] (buy from Amazon)

Type: Drama, France 1980

Director:Claude Pinoteau

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Claude Brasseur .... Fran?ois Beretton
Brigitte Fossey .... Fran?oise Beretton
Sophie Marceau .... Vic Beretton
Denise Grey .... Poupette
Jean-Michel Dupuis .... ?tienne

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Vic is a 13 years old girl who becomes curious about boys. While her parents are so busy with their professional lives, they hardly have time to give Vic advice on romance. Also her parents are going through their own relationship crisis. Fortunately, she has a very liberal grandma on her side who is telling her all about boys!!!

My review:
This is Sophie Marceau's first movie and what a wonderful actress she has become and still going strong. La Boum is such a well known movie in France that everyone of this generation knows the sound of this movie by heart! The word La Boum refers to the type of drinks party teenages held in their house or flat and when soft music is played during the movie, you are expected to kiss someone! Thus very appropriate name for this movie which is trying to look at romance from a young teenager's view.

La Boum 2 (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama, France 1982

Director:Claude Pinoteau

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Claude Brasseur .... Fran?ois Beretton
Brigitte Fossey .... Fran?oise Beretton
Sophie Marceau .... Vic Beretton
Lambert Wilson .... F?lix Mar?chal
Pierre Cosso .... Philippe Berthier
Alexandre Sterling .... Mathieu

Story:
Vic is now 16 years old, though she has a boyfriend, she is still very clueless about boys but even more curious. Grandma comes to the rescue again for giving her advice. Being older, she also pushes her parents' tolerence to the limit. In the meantime, her parents have also new set of relationship problem of their own...

My review:
This is the sequel to La Boum and as Vic grows older, a new set of teenagers' problem occur. La Boum 2 is also well known to the French generation of the 1970s, 1980s. It is a fun and entertaining movie with a simple story, just like the first movie. Watch out for the next one L'etudiante where Sophie Marceau plays a graduate student, love relationship problem continues...
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Jet Lag (buy from Amazon)
Type: Comedy Drama, France 2002

Director: Dani?le Thompson

My rating: 3
Buy it now:
Barnes And Noble online
Key actors/actresses:
Juliette Binoche .... Rose
Jean Reno .... F?lix

Other similar movies: La Fid?lit?, Anthony Zimmer, Swimming Pool, Needing You, l'Etudiante, more
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Country: France
Type(s): Comedy
Drama

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Paris is on strike again, so the airport service was affected. Rose and Felix didn't know each other but were both stuck at the airport as a result. Rose needed to call her mother and borrowed Felix's mobile phone, this encounter led to a development that neither of them had anticipated...

My review:
Delighted to see two of my favourite actors in one film. Jetlag is a nice story of 2 ordinary persons met by chance, seemingly total different personalities but in the end, strongly attracted to each other like magnets.

L' ?tudiante (buy from Amazon)Type: Drama, France 1988

Director: Claude Pinoteau

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Sophie Marceau .... Valentine
Vincent Lindon .... Edward
?lisabeth Vitali .... Celine
Jean-Claude Leguay .... Charly
Elena Pompei .... Patricia

Story:
Valentine is a studying to be a teacher, and she is about to focus on her final exams that is going to take place in 3 months time. She encounters a musician during skiing and just when she thinks after a one-night encounter, she can put him behind at least for 3 months, until after exmas. She is wrong, they couldn't stop seeing each other, but the relationship isn't always pleasent, they argue and cause pain to each other just like any relationship...

My review:
This film is often viewed as the sequel to La Boum 1 and 2 where Sophie Marceau played a 13 and 16 year-old girl and her encounters with boys! Now her role has matureed and is now a grown lady. These 3 movies are must-watches for many French people of this generation and the music used in the movies are all very familiar to them.

The relationship described in the movie is fairly realistic, I think Valentine is a very high maintanence character, not very fun to be with!

Anthony Zimmer (Original French Version with English Version) (buy from Amazon)

Type: Suspense Thriller, France 2005

Director: J?r?me Salle

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Sophie Marceau .... Chiara
Yvan Attal .... Francois Taillandier
Sami Frey .... Akerman
Gilles Lellouche .... M??ller
Daniel Olbrychski .... Nassaiev

Story:
Anthony Zimmer is one of the most wanted man in France by the French authority and the Russians, because he helps big international criminal organisation to laundary their money. Very good at his work and smart to avoid getting caught, changing his face from time to time. The only weapon French government has is Chiara, a French agent sent to approach Zimmer before, and they are still in love. Unsure about Chiara's loyalty, she is asked to hunt down Zimmer, or better Zimmer will come to her. To disrupt the chase, Chiara picks up a random guy on the train called Francois and claims that he is her lover Zimmer, landing Francois in deep trouble...

My review:
Full of twist and turns but no real surprise, Sophie Marceau is as beautiful as ever.