Paris Vu Par, six segments on the city, was made a few decades ago and mostly featured shorts from Nouvelle Vague directors. It is a slight, if interesting piece -Godard injected a bit of misogyny, Chabrol a hint of menace and Rohmer departed from his usual template of misguided youth in love.
Last year there was Paris Je T'aime, equally slight and impressionistic eighteen 5 minute segments set in different parts of the city. They all succeed to some degree. In keeping with the times, few of the directors are French. While each segment has its merits, four stood out for different reasons.
The only segment that bears a resemblance to the Nouvelle Vague is of a man trying to leave his wife only to find she is terminally ill (Bastille). The similarity lies in the story in voiceover, the motif of the red coat and a simultaneous slightness and depth.
Salles and Thomas bring an outsider's view to "Far from the 16th". Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) is very effective as an immigrant babysitter who starts by singing a lullaby to her own child at a creche and ends with the same lullaby at her employer's flat on the 16th arrondisment. She should be in every movie that is made, if only to enhance it a little.
Conversely, if Christopher Doyle's segment of Hong Kong fantasia plonked on a Paris setting is any indication, he should never make a film and stick to lensing.
The last and most effective segment has Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways) following a middle aged American tourist taking in the sights of the 14th arrondisment. Like Bastille, it uses a voiceover with the actress speaking heavily accented French. It is the most effective segment because it provides the sights of the arrondisment, links the protagonist's journey to the city and is poignant and hopeful. Most remarkably it is a contained, compact 5 minute film - it doesn't feel rushed yet there is no superfluous moment and nothing more to be said.
Last year there was Paris Je T'aime, equally slight and impressionistic eighteen 5 minute segments set in different parts of the city. They all succeed to some degree. In keeping with the times, few of the directors are French. While each segment has its merits, four stood out for different reasons.
The only segment that bears a resemblance to the Nouvelle Vague is of a man trying to leave his wife only to find she is terminally ill (Bastille). The similarity lies in the story in voiceover, the motif of the red coat and a simultaneous slightness and depth.
Salles and Thomas bring an outsider's view to "Far from the 16th". Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) is very effective as an immigrant babysitter who starts by singing a lullaby to her own child at a creche and ends with the same lullaby at her employer's flat on the 16th arrondisment. She should be in every movie that is made, if only to enhance it a little.
Conversely, if Christopher Doyle's segment of Hong Kong fantasia plonked on a Paris setting is any indication, he should never make a film and stick to lensing.
The last and most effective segment has Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways) following a middle aged American tourist taking in the sights of the 14th arrondisment. Like Bastille, it uses a voiceover with the actress speaking heavily accented French. It is the most effective segment because it provides the sights of the arrondisment, links the protagonist's journey to the city and is poignant and hopeful. Most remarkably it is a contained, compact 5 minute film - it doesn't feel rushed yet there is no superfluous moment and nothing more to be said.
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