Female Film Critics 24/375
A Parisian woman juggles the demands of motherhood and daughterhood while trying to claim a chance at love in writer-director Mia Hansen-Løve’s intimate drama One Fine Morning. Anchored by star Léa Seydoux’s authentic, naturalistic performance as single mom Sandra, the film is a quietly moving meditation on what it means to be a caregiver to others when what you may need more than anything is to be cared for yourself.
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Mia Hansen-Løve is one of the best directors working today for a body of films that reveal the small truths of ordinary lives. She’s not afraid to trust her story or allow her actors to be understated in exploring what it means to be a mother, a daughter, or lover. Like her recent, extraordinary films Things to Come and Bergman Island,”her latest One Fine Day is another semi-autobiographical journey that unfolds in a natural, deceptively simple way as Hansen-Løve tackles themes of loss and rebirth.
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Over Labor Day weekend, the 49th Telluride Film Festival presented thought-provoking films to its full complement of attendees, a nice rebound from the all-mask 2021 event. As always, no one could come close to seeing all the enticing films on offer, so tough choices and constant second guessing rules. This year women directed and dominated exceptionally strong selections that tell stories of quite different time periods and subjects. Intelligently and insightfully observing internal and external struggles, revealing the specificity of contemporary and historical pressures (so remarkably relevant today), the fest’s films reached out and inspired as they informed. We are, indeed, a global community.
Read moreAuteur David Cronenberg introduces avant-garde performance artists sometime in the dystopian future when humans have lost the ability to feel physical pain. Perhaps because people eat and metabolize plastic, the human body has evolved, unpredictably growing invasive, nonfunctional organs. It’s called Accelerated Evolution Syndrome. Crimes of the Future is extreme, stomach-churning and definitely not for the squeamish.
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It helps, but is not mandatory, to know something about the work of author Philip Roth when viewing this adaptation of his novel, Deception. The book is mostly dialog between its two main characters so any attempt at translating it to film is a daring project. Director Arnaud Desplechin takes it on with a strong sense of the rhythmic nature of the give and take between the two lovers that make up the plot. However, the underlying themes of self-loathing and obsession bog down the story, making it feel stifling and static at times.
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Creating a buzz in any industry takes savvy, creativity, a sense of humor, and a willingness to do anything. In France, Léa Seydoux plays the titular role, a broadcast journalist and star whose personal life is just as provocative as her stories. With power, money, and fame come great sacrifice and a little bit of fabrication.
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France is meant to be a satire on fame, celebrity, and the blind adulation of news personalities and their takes on the news, and as such, it’s certainly interesting. Lea Seydoux excels at being at once beautiful, inscrutable, and magnetic as France de Meurs, a fictional celebrity newscaster, clearly designed in the vein of Christiane Amanpour. De Meurs, however, proves to be manipulative, self-absorbed, and shallow.
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No Time to Die is the twenty-fifth installment of the James Bond franchise and Daniel Craig’s final appearance as 007. It’s a worthy, though not overly spectacular, exit of the famous character, delivering what every Bond film must have, that is, reckless car and motorcycle chases, gravity-defying stunts, gorgeous locations, plus futuristic technology and gadgets: watches, autos, and planes.
Read moreDiary of a Chambermaid, starring Lea Seydoux as the 19th century woman trying to escape her exploitative employers, has contemporary
Read moreThere are two cinematic biographies about infamous French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, who died in 2008. Directed by Bertrand
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