{"id":59978,"date":"2025-02-24T19:57:47","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T23:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/?p=59978"},"modified":"2025-02-24T19:57:47","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T23:57:47","slug":"tackling-justice-political-trauma-and-creative-pleasure-at-rendez-vous-with-french-cinema-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/2025\/02\/24\/tackling-justice-political-trauma-and-creative-pleasure-at-rendez-vous-with-french-cinema-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Tackling Justice, Political Trauma and Creative Pleasure at Rendez-vous with French Cinema ’25"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Roger Costa<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

THE QUIET SON<\/strong><\/p>\n

Filmmakers duo Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin’s accurate depiction of troubled youth brings the always great and potent Vincent Lindon in a career-best turn as a devoted father in conflict with one of his sons who is involved in a radical, extremely violent group. Winner of the Best Actor Award at Venice Film Festival, Lindon anchors the film with his strength and charisma, delivering another memorable character and proving why he is France’s leading male performer. The directors execute the timely material with human sensibility and necessary urgency, addressing the impacts and the influence of violence and extremism on the young generation with impressive results. Besides being a touching and mesmerizing portrait of a prudent father doing his best to keep his sons out of trouble and survive the unstable jungle of modernity (Lindon delivers some powerful lines on xenophobia and immigration issues, making it even more relevant), the film culminates on a terrific courtroom climax, so intense and effective, so achingly observed that easily puts it among the most memorable courtroom scenes in cinema history.<\/p>\n

(Screens March 8 and 11)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

GHOST TRAIL<\/strong><\/p>\n

Based on a true story of trauma and survival, Adam Bessa gives a breakthrough performance as a Syrian refugee seeking to avenge the man who tortured him in jail. Grieving the loss of his family, Hamid is determined to make justice and is joined by a French woman whose husband was killed. Director Jonathan Millet crafts a magnificent political thriller, suspenseful, intriguing and well acted. He makes a powerful antiwar and humanitarian statement through the willingness of Hamid in execute his revenge yet firmly attached to his principles. A mind-spinning, investigative and propulsive thriller that effectively reflects our troubled times of political intolerance and migration issues.<\/p>\n

(Screens March 9 and 11)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

THE SECOND ACT<\/strong><\/p>\n

French provocateur Quentin Dupieux latest is a meta-movie-within-a-movie that reunites L\u00e9a Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel, and Rapha\u00ebl Quenard in a hilarious scenario about creative pleasures, artistic and personal ego, ambition and the crazy fun that is to make movies. As the camera rolls on and follows them through what it seems to be a horror narrative reflecting their realities, Dupieux delivers another absurdist fable on relationships and reckless behavior, an utterly funny and darkly observed look at the artistic creative process and its unexpected twists.<\/p>\n

(Screens March 8 and 13)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

CROSS AWAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is Vincent Lindon again in a brilliant remake of Steven Knight’s “Locke”. Set inside his automobile, he plays a construction foreman facing moral and life-altering confrontations on the eve of an important mega job. As he drives away, leaving his duties behind, he rushes to make himself present for the birth of a child he conceived during a one-night-stand. His attitude is morally driven but puts his marriage and career at risk. Directed by Gilles Bourdos, making excellent use of sound and neon lights to create a suffocating, unpredictable atmosphere and extracting a gripping, standout one-man-show performance from Lindon, it’s a seductive and thoughtful meditation on marriage, principles and new beginnings.<\/p>\n

(Screens March 7 and 10)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

VISITING HOURS<\/strong><\/p>\n

French diva Isabelle Huppert is fascinating and extremely funny as a free-spirited woman who becomes attached to a working-class woman she meets during the visiting hours to a prison where both of their husbands are serving time. Huppert and Hafsia Herzia demonstrate an amusingly convincing chemistry as two very different women forming a special and unlikely bond. But their social and economic differences will come as a wall between the valued friendship testing their loyalty and veracity. Director Patricia Mazuy’s relatable and empathic dramedy is a gorgeously old-fashioned take on female bond, resistance and overcoming.<\/p>\n

(Screens March 8 and 10)<\/em><\/p>\n

(Presented by Film at Lincoln Center and UniFrance, the 30th Rendez-Vous with French Cinema runs March 6-16 at Walter Reade Theater, NYC. Go to https:\/\/www.filmlinc.org\/festivals\/rendez-vous-with-french-cinema\/#films<\/a> for details and full schedule)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Roger Costa THE QUIET SON Filmmakers duo Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin’s accurate depiction of troubled youth brings the always great and potent Vincent Lindon in a career-best turn as a devoted father in conflict with one of his sons who is involved in a radical, extremely violent group. Winner of the Best Actor Award at Venice Film Festival, Lindon anchors the film with his strength and charisma, delivering another memorable character and proving why he is France’s leading male performer. The directors execute the timely material with human sensibility and necessary urgency, addressing the impacts and the influence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,16],"tags":[],"views":1067,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59979,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59978\/revisions\/59979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}