NEW YORK MOVIE JOURNAL (Feb.-Mar. 2017)

[Chris Knipp]

RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA AT LINCOLN CENTER



Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello 2016). Watching screenings of the Uni-France/Film Society of Lincoln Center series that runs 1-12 March 2017. The best one so far (shouldn't it have been in the NYFF last fall?), is Bonello's Cannes-debut film of a youthful terrorist crew who carry rout out their shocking series of attacks in Paris, then hide out for the night in a posh department store where their focus begins to unravel. Smart, thought-provoking, and a dazzling show of neatly economical mise-en-scène and maintenance of non-stop excitement and tension from first to last. Following Apollonide and [/i]Saint Laurent[/i], Bonello has three times shown surprising range and chops as a filmmaker; he's one of the best directors in France now.