Tell No One

Francois Cluzet finds himself a suspect in his wife's murder in Tell No One (Music Box Films)

I don't envy any film opening against The Dark Knight. That's tough. But I hope the new French thriller Tell No One (opening July 18 at Landmark's Hillcrest and La Jolla Village Theaters) doesn't get completely over shadowed by the Batman. Based on American writer Harlan Coben's novel, Tell No One serves up an obsessive love story wrapped up in a thriller about murder and deception.

Roman de Gare

Dominique Pinon and Audrey Dana in Roman de Gare (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

Roman de Gare (opening May 23 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas) concerns a popular novelist and her ghostwriter. So in keeping with the spirit of the film, director-writer Claude Lelouch initiated the project under the pseudonym of Herve Picard. He only revealed the true authorship of the film when it screened at Cannes last year. This sense of playful deception manifests itself in the Roman de Gare and keeps you engaged through a plot piled high with twists and turns. [You can also listen to the discussion about the film on the KPBS Film Club of the Air by clicking on the player icon above.]

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies

The name's Bond... um, I mean Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath. (Music Box Films)

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (opening May 16 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) is one mouthful of a title. But it does exactly what a good title should do - it conveys something about the film. In this case, it signals that you are in for a spoof on spy movies. Most Americans will assume that it's simply poking fun at James Bond but that's only part of the joke. OSS 117 also refers to a famous French spy who appeared in nearly a 100 novels beginning in 1949, and a handful of movies in the 50s and 60s. So that may explain why the film's been such a hit in France where it plays on their own pop culture. It's been such a homegrown hit that there's already talk of sequels.

Cairo, 1955. Everyone suspects everyone of something; everyone is plotting against or double crossing everyone else; nobody trusts anybody; and the British, the French, the Soviets, the family of the deposed King Farouk, and the insurgent religious sect Eagles of Kheops are all engaged in some sort of covert activity in Egypt. Into this nest of spies, the President of the French Republic, Monsieur René Coty, sends his best weapon: Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, agent OSS 117 (Jean Dujardin). Or as one of the femme fatales he meets says, "numbered like a cow for slaughter." Any way, OSS 117 must discover who killed a fellow spy and restore order to Cairo and the world. Along the way he encounters a bevy of beauties, some with lethal intentions. (You can also listen to my Film Chat about OSS 117 and Son of Rambow.)

Flight of the Red Balloon

The Flight of the Red Balloon (IFC Films)

If memory serves me right, Flight of the Red Balloon (opening May 9 at Landmark's is only the second film by acclaimed Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsaio-Hsien to receive a theatrical release here in San Diego, and the first to open in a Landmark Theater. The now defunct Madstone Theaters played Hou's Millennium Mambo, and the late Ruth Bailey screened his works when she ran the San Diego International Film Festival at UCSD. The San Diego Asian Film Festival has also played his Flowers of Shanghai and Three Times. While the opening of Flight of the Red Balloon is cause for celebration, it's just a shame that the Hou film to receive the best release here in San Diego is not one of his masterworks. But any Hou film is worth seeing if you truly love cinema.

French and Francophone Film Festival

Blame It On Fidel screens as part of the French and Francophone Film Festival. (Koch Lorber)

San Diego has an Asian, Latino, Jewish, Black, Women's, and most recently an Italian Film Festival so it's only appropriate to have a showcase for French cinema as well.  The French and Francophone Film Festival will take place March 26 through 28 at Montezuma Hall in the Aztec Center at SDSU. Each evening two 35mm films will be screened and admission is free. This is a great opportunity for filmgoers to catch up with French Cinema on the big screen. The event is sponsored by the Cercle Francais/SDSU with the support of Program in French and Francophone Studies and European Studies.

Diva

Diva (opening January 11 for a limited engagement at Landmark's Ken Cinema) was a film I reviewed when I first began writing film criticism back in 1982, while I was still in college. I was dazzled by it then and in the passing years it has lost neither its charm nor its luster. Rialto Pictures is presenting a newly restored 35mm print of the film for its re-release.

French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Beineix doesn't direct Diva but rather choreographs its movements. The film dances and glides with exhilarating grace, emphasizing style and form rather than content. Beineix has yet to equal this debut feature although he has delivered such eccentric fare as Moon in the Gutter and Betty Blue. But with Diva, Beineix serves up a romance wrapped in a fresh and witty variation on the film noir/gangster genre.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Jean-Dominique Bauby was 43-years-old when he suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with a rare condition known as "locked-in syndrome." In Bauby's case, this meant that he was left entirely paralyzed except for his left eye. But with that one good eye he managed to blink out the dictation of his memoirs called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly(opening December 25 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas). The deep sea diving bell is how Bauby visualized himself trapped within his own body, and the butterfly represents his escape. Now his memoirs arrive on screen. Check out my interview with director Julian Schnabel, writer Ronald Harwood, and actor Mathieu Almaric.

Time to Leave

Time to Leave (Strand Releasing)

While Hollywood's end of summer action films Crank and The Covenant kill off a multitude of characters, France's Time to Leave (opening September 15 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) takes a quiet moment to consider what it means to face death. Jeanne Moreau co-stars is this latest film from Francois Ozon.

Heading South

Charlotte Rampling stars in Heading South (Red Envelope)

Charlotte Rampling proves yet again that European actresses have far more opportunities to play challenging roles later in life than do their American counterparts. This summer alone she serves up two stellar portraits of discontented women in their fifties. Earlier this summer she appeared in Lemming and now in Heading South (beginning a limited run at Landmark's Ken Cinema on August 25) she is part of an ensemble of women who find escape in Haiti.

Lemming

Charlotte Rampling in Lemming (Strand Releasing)

French filmmaker Dominik Moll gained attention for his Hitchcock-like thriller With a Friend Like Harry back in 2000. Now he delivers another disturbing and unnerving drama with Lemming (opening July 7 at Landmark's La Jolla Village Theaters) starring Charlotte Rampling.

As with With a Friend Like Harry, Lemming begins innocently enough. We meet Alain Getty (Laurent Lucas) at a demonstration of his latest invention, a flying web cam that keeps an eye on your home while you're at work and lets you know when things are awry. As Alain's presentation glides along, his boss Richard Pollock (Andre Dussolier) is all smiles. To celebrate or just to be social, Alain and his wife Benedicte (Charlotte Gainesbourg) invite Mr. Pollock and his wife Alice (Charlotte Rampling) over for dinner. A backed up kitchen drain proves to be a harbinger of what's to come. (The drain turns out to be blocked by a Scandinavian lemming thousands of miles from its home, hence the film's obscure title.)