SFFS French Cinema Now Seeries, Oct 24-30, 2012

[Chris Knipp]

The San Francisco Film Society French Cinema Now series
Oct. 24-30, 2012

Index to links to my reviews:

Alyah (Elie Wajeman 2012)--FCN
All Together (Stéphane Robelin 2012)--FCN
Camille Rewinds (Noémie Lvovsky 2012)--NYFF 2012
Donoma (Djinn Carrénard 2011)--ND/NF 2012
Hores Satan (Bruno Dumont 2011)--Paris Movie Report II 2011
Louise Wimmer (Cyrile Mennegun 2011)--R-V 2012
Mobile Home (Francois Pirot 2012)--FCN
My Worst Nightmare (Anne Fontaine 2011)--FCN
Sister (Ursula Meier 2011)--Paris Movie Report (May 2012)
World Without Women , A (Guillaume Brac 2012)--FCN


General Forum notification and discussion thread for this series here.

Following is the schedule (with festival blurbs) of the SFFS French film series, which shows at Landmark's Embarcadero Cinemas in San Francisco at the times given below. I've already reviewed three of these films (see links) and plan to be reviewing some others, including Copocabana, A Real Life, and The Princess of Monpensier.

Camille Rewinds
Noémie Lvovsky (Camille redouble, France 2012)
OPENING NIGHT FILM Camille, a 40-something mother in the midst of a painful divorce from her high-school sweetheart, gets the chance when she passes out at a New Year’s Eve party and wakes up back in the ’80s where everyone reacts to her as if she were 16 again.
Wednesday October 24, 6:30 pm, Saturday October 27, 3:30 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema Buy Tickets

Donoma
Djinn Carrenard (France 2011)
This bold and confident first feature from Haitian filmmaker Djinn Carrénard layers issues of race, class, religion and gender within a variety of intersecting storylines involving multiple youngsters in Paris.
Wednesday October 24, 9:15 pm
Sunday, October 28, 1:30 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema Buy Tickets

Alyah
Elie Wajeman (Alyah, France 2012)
Lacking the spiritual motivation that spurs many Jews to make Alyah—a return to the Holy Land—low-level drug dealer Alex instead sees it as a chance to escape his current life, specifically the burden of his older brother Isaac, who is perpetually on the brink of disaster. Thursday, October 25, 6:30 pm
Monday, October 29, 9:00 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema Buy Tickets

My Worst Nightmare
Anne Fontaine (Mon pire cauchemar, France 2011)
Opposites collide to humorous effect in Anne Fontaine's satire of the Parisian bourgeois. An uptight gallerist and her partner hire a boorish Belgian construction worker for a remodeling job and he teaches them both how to enjoy life a bit more.
Thursday October 25, 8:45 pm
Saturday October 27, 6:30 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema Buy Tickets

All Together
Stéphane Robelin (Et si on vivait tous ensemble?, France/Germany 2011)
Set against the backdrop of France's economic crisis, this trenchant crowd-pleaser depicts a group of elderly friends who decide to pool their resources and live out their sunset years under the same roof. Friday, October 26, 4:00pm
Saturday, October 27, 1:15pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema Buy Tickets

Mobile Home
François Pirot (Belgium/Luxembourg/France 2012)
Simon and Julien are handsome girl chasers, handicapped by the fact that they are out of work and living with their parents. Using money that his folks had set aside for his future, Simon decides to buy the titular vehicle and asks his best pal to join him on the road toward new adventures and locales.
Friday October 26, 6:30pm
Sunday October 28, 9:00 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema Buy Tickets

A World Without Women
Guillaume Brac (Un monde sans femmes, France 2011)
Patricia and her daughter Juliette have rented a cottage in a lazy, beachfront town. Both of them play a back-and-forth emotional tease with Sylvain, the flat's schlubby proprietor, and the resulting psychological effects on all parties are explored with subtlety and impressive acting.
Friday October 26, 9:15 pm
Sunday October 28, 6:30 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema Buy Tickets

Hors Satan
Bruno Dumont (France 2011)
Suffused with elemental images—fire, sky, sea, land—Bruno Dumont's latest provocation concerns an unnamed drifter disturbing the balance in a seaside town.
Saturday October 27, 9:00 pm
Monday October 29, 6:15 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema Buy Tickets

Louise Wimmer
Cyril Mennegun (France 2011)
This devastating portrait of a middle-aged woman living out of her car puts a compelling face on the millions of people suffering from Europe's current financial woes.
Sunday October 28, 4:30 pm
Tuesday October 30, 9:00 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema Buy Tickets

Sister
Ursula Meier (L’enfant d’en Haut, France/Switzerland 2011)
Reminiscent of the brand of social realism perfected by the Dardennes brothers and starring Léa Seydoux, this is a powerfully acted story of siblings living in the proximity of a Swiss ski resort.
Tuesday October 30, 6:15 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema