This subtle, intimate portrait of the easygoing bond between a young woman and her widower father (Alex Descas) is the latest from Claire Denis (Beau Travail). With Grégoire Colin. Music by Tindersticks.
Films — by Country
- Afghanistan
- Algeria
- Aotearoa New Zealand
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Croatia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Ethiopia
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Iceland
- India
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Kazakhstan
- Korea
- Mexico
- Norway
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Russia
- Slovakia
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- The Netherlands
- UK
- USA
France
Animation for Kids 2009
Selected by kids for kids, our annual panorama of the world’s best animated shorts for the Festival’s youngest audience (we suggest 3–7 this year) has plenty to offer their grown-up escort parties.
Animation Now! 2009
Narrowed down from an amazing 2000+ entries, this year’s survey of the best in animated short films covers the gamut from sumptuous painterly Russian styles to the most inventive and expressive CGI, including NZ-made Poppy.
Antichrist
Appalling many, thrilling others, outraging all, hailed as a brilliantly hellish vision, dismissed as a stunt, Lars Von Trier’s psychosexual horror film was the one that dominated the headlines from Cannes.
The Artist’s Life
La Vie d’artiste
A writer, an actor and a would-be chanteuse pursue elusive glory in this wise and worldly comedy of artistic aspiration. With Sandrine Kiberlain, Emilie Dequenne, Denis Podalydès
The Baader Meinhof Complex
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex
The major German film of the year. This vivid, provocative thriller traces the activities of the violent group of self-styled anti-fascists who called themselves the Red Army Faction and terrorised West Germany.
The Beaches of Agnès
Les Plages d'Agnès
Humorous and illuminating autobiography from Agnès Varda, the lone female among French New Wave directors. “Inspiring… this film should be given to all young hopeful filmmakers.” — Sight & Sound
Bluebeard
Barbe bleue
Catherine Breillat (An Old Mistress, Anatomy of Hell) slyly subverts the allure of the popular 17th-century fairytale about a gloomy nobleman with a penchant for murdering his disobedient wives.
Che
Benicio Del Toro is riveting in Steven Soderbergh’s epic portrait of the revolutionary icon. “The finest film by an American director this year, a monumental achievement of astonishing audacity and ambition.” — Sight & Sound
Chéri
A stunning Michelle Pfeiffer reunites with Dangerous Liaisons director Stephen Frears to play a cynical courtesan in love with a younger man in this sumptuous Belle Epoque drama. With Rupert Friend, Kathy Bates.
A Christmas Tale
Un conte de Noël
This gloriously sprawling drama of a fractious three-generational family Christmas abounds with character and wit. With Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Chiara Mastroianni. “Enchanting.” — Entertainment Weekly
Cléo from 5 to 7
Cléo de 5 à 7
Beautiful new print of the film that put the French New Wave’s Agnès Varda on the map. “Joyful, simple, daring and profound… Cléo is, for me, above all other films of the French New Wave.” — Salon.com
Coco before Chanel
Coco avant Chanel
Audrey Tautou puts Amélie far behind her with a stunning interpretation of the headstrong, self-sufficient designer who revolutionised the way women dressed and saw themselves.
Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl
Singularidades de uma rapariga loura
Cinema’s centenarian Manoel de Oliveira (born 1908) transposes a 19th-century tale of romantic pursuit to 21st-century Lisbon, retaining, to rich and strange effect, every anachronistic detail of courtship and social convention.
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life
Le Premier jour du reste de ta vie
This French hit is a buoyant, rewardingly perceptive comedy-drama about family dynamics and the urge to escape them. “A cross-generational tale whose twists and turns are both touching and entertaining.” — Screendaily
Four Nights with Anna
Cztery noce z Anna
A consummately surreal enactment of obsessive, unrequited desire with a dryly indulgent take on romantic love from Polish master Jerzy Skolimowski (Deep End, The Shout).
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Superb new print of Chantal Akerman’s legendary avant-garde masterpiece which locates the dread behind the monotonous routine of a housewife and part-time prostitute. “A slow-motion thriller.” — Time Out NY
A Lake
Un lac
Philippe Grandrieux’s majestically strange and beautiful Alpine drama contains only the barest of narratives, making its eerily elemental effect through image and soundscape. “Transcendent.” — Time Out
Looking for Eric
Direct from this year’s Cannes Film Festival, director Ken Loach in laughter mode, featuring Steve Evets as a messed-up postman who receives spiritual guidance from none other than soccer idol Eric Cantona.
Louise-Michel
“Constantly outrageous… this tale of factory workers avenging themselves against their bosses is… a wickedly hilarious, marvellously calibrated exercise in deadpan style owing as much to Buñuel as to the Coen brothers.” — Variety
Masquerades
Mascarades
In the Arab-world festival hit of 2008, a drunken boast has embarrassing repercussions. This Algerian wedding comedy delivers hilarious characters and trenchant social satire. “Classically executed farce.” — Variety
Modern Life
Acclaimed documentary masterpiece by filmmaker/Magnum photographer Raymond Depardon. “A deeply humane and warm-spirited portrait of French farmers whose way of life is on the verge of disappearing.” — Eye Weekly
OSS 117 – Lost in Rio
OSS 117 – Rio ne répond plus
Fabled superagent OSS 117 (handsome, straight-faced comic Jean Dujardin) defends La France from slippery foreigners in this spy movie spoof lovingly set in Bossa Nova-era Brazil. “Very, very funny.” — Twitch
Rachel
This intelligent, layered doco puts the Gaza Strip death of American peace activist Rachel Corrie in the context of a new generation of globalised activists crossing the world to put themselves in harm’s way.
The Secret of Kells
Serious fun for the kids in a medieval monastery! “Visually ravishing and doused in Celtic magic, Irish animated feature The Secret of Kells takes as its plot source and stylistic inspiration the eighth-century Book of Kells.” — Screendaily
Séraphine
A moving dramatised portrait of the French ‘naïve’ painter Séraphine de Senlis (1864–1942). César Awards 2009: Best Film, Actress, Original Screenplay, Photography, Score, Costumes, Production Design.
Serbis
Service
A hectic day in the life of ‘The Family Theatre’, a Filipino porn palace. Social realism: raw, real and in your face. “Serbis may be a raunch-fest, but it’s also a mind-trip – a raunch-fest with ideas.” — Village Voice
SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 Highlights #1 – International Showcase
Graphic design and animation morph into a single artform in the best of recent International CGI shorts – narratives, ads, music videos – as selected from a 1000 entries at the prestigious SIGGRAPH Asia Festival.
Song from the Southern Seas
Pesni juzhnykh morej
Counteracting the damage wrought to the national image by Borat, here’s a smart, completely engaging film from Kazakhstan that brings humour and the civilising values of a rich traditional culture to its fable-like tale of neighbouring couples.
Summer Hours
L’Heure d’été
Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling and Jérémie Renier as siblings settling their mother’s lavish, art-filled estate. “A warm, wise drama about the tensions and mysteries of family life.” — Time Out
The White Ribbon
Das Weisse Band
Direct from Cannes, the Palme d'Or winner from Austrian cine-provocateur Michael Haneke. Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?