Off-Hollywood Film Guide The Definitive Guide to Independent and Foreign Films on Video and Dvd

Chapter 1 A A NOS AMOURS France 1984 C 102 min. R Drama Dir: Maurice Pialat C: Sandrine Bonnaire, Dominique Besnehard, Maurice Pialat That an actress like Sandrine Bonnaire, with her impressive filmography, is almost totally unknown in this country is a sad commentary on how marginalized foreign films have become; graybeards can recall the days when Jeanne Moreau was known even to people who didn't bother going to films with subtitles. Bonnaire was seventeen when she made her debut here, playing a fifteen-year-old whose sexual activity reflects a fractured home life. Adolescence is tough enough, but throw in a mom who turns every event into a crisis, a dad who's fed up and about to move out, and a brother who's a bit too affectionate, and this girl is using every bit of her resources just to get through the day. A Nos Amours won France's Cesar for best film. DR11, DR41 Goes well with: Vagabond ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS U.K. 1986 C 107 min. PG-13 Musical Dir: Julien Temple C: Eddie O'Connell, Patsy Kensit, David Bowie, James Fox, Ray Davies, Mandy Rice-Davies, Sade Adu, Slim Gaillard Music video directors like Julien Temple get knocked for making films that look like extended videos, but in this case, Temple hit on the perfect excuse-an exploration of the 1958 pop culture scene in Britain, based loosely on Colin MacInnes's novel. From its amazing opening shot (which rivals, at least in technique, the famed openings of Orson Welles's Touch of Evil and Robert Altman's The Player), Temple establishes that we're in his amusement park, and he's about to take us for a roller-coaster ride. The story, about a naive photographer (Eddie O'Connell), the fashion designer (Patsy Kensit) he yearns for, and a slick advertising executive (David Bowie), is the usual fluff about breaking in, moving up, and selling out, but the plot is only the clothesline on which to hang a series of gaudy production numbers. O'Connell is forgettably blah, and Kensit is perky as a kind of junior Julie Christie, but the supporting players are the real stars: the ultra-suave James Fox, Bowie and fellow pop stars Ray Davies and Sade (billed under her full name, Sade Adu), jazz veteran Slim Gaillard, and Mandy Rice-Davies of Profumo scandal fame. Gil Evans, one of modern jazz's best arrangers, supervised the score. Best seen in widescreen for maximum impact. CO10, DR23, MU2, XT7, XT8 Goes well with: Blowup ACCIDENT U.K. 1967 C 105 min. PG Drama Dir: Joseph Losey C: Dirk Bogarde, Jacqueline Sassard, Delphine Seyrig, Michael York, Stanley Baker, Vivien Merchant, Harold Pinter, Nicholas Mosley The second of three collaborations between director Joseph Losey and writer Harold Pinter (following The Servant, preceding The Go-Between) is one of those Rotting Groves of Academe tales of a professor (Dirk Bogarde), his neglected wife (Vivien Merchant), and their various friends and colleagues. In The Servant, Bogarde played the title character, a butler who takes charge of his dissolute boss's life. Here Bogarde is the man whose life is spinning out of control, as he looks to compete with a brash and dashing colleague (Stanley Baker) for the affections of their student (Jacqueline Sassard). Gerry Fisher's camera lingers on the rot behind the characters' faces just long enough for us to notice. The supporting players are all excellent, including Pinter himself as a TV producer and Nicholas Mosley, whose novel Pinter adapted, in a small role. DVD: Available only as part of three-disc Dirk Bogarde Collection, which includes The Servant and The Mind Benders. DR19, DR31 Goes well with: The Servant THE ADDICTION U.S. 1995 B&W 82 min. NR Horror Dir: Abel Ferrara C: Lili Taylor, Christopher Walken, Annabella Sciorra, Edie Falco, Michael ImperioliWiener, Tom is the author of 'Off-Hollywood Film Guide The Definitive Guide to Independent and Foreign Films on Video and Dvd' with ISBN 9780812992076 and ISBN 0812992075.