Serge Lalou Movies
- 2009
In the years of the early 21st century, a devastating crisis continued to plague Katanga, the southeastern-most province of the Congo in Central Africa. The country sustained a global reputation as one of the most fundamental sources of several key minerals, notably copper, uranium and cobalt - minerals that could be shipped to developing countries such as China and India in exchange for economic sustenance. Yet tragically, very little of that wealth extended to the country's people, who battled the direst poverty despite the richness of the natural resources surrounding them. With his documentary Katanga Business, filmmaker Thierry Michel explores this sad case of socioeconomic injustice. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Moise Katumbi Chapwe, Rene Nollevaux, (more)
- 2009
Filmmaker Luc Moullet offers a darkly comic look at the sinister underside of a small town his family has called home in this documentary. Moullet's parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were all born and raised in the same village in the French alps, and while the town is a beautiful place, it also has a gory history of madness and murder, with one of the director's (very) distant relatives guilty of killing three prominent citizens after someone moved his goat without permission. Why has murder, suicide and insanity thrived in this otherwise peaceful place for so long? Does it have something to do with the presence of unusual religious groups, a common thyroid ailment, or just being stuck in the middle of nowhere? And is this still happening today? La Terre de la Folie (aka Land of Madness) was screened as part of the Directors Fortnight program at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2008
Roni was a soldier serving in the Israeli army when his unit was given an unusual assignment by his commanders -- eager to avenge the death of several Israeli G.I.'s, Roni and his comrades were ordered to find and murder a pair of Palestinian police officers. Several years later, Roni, now a civilian, is haunted by the memories of the killing, and understands what he did was both morally and legally inexcusable. However, while Roni wants some sort of absolution for his crimes, he doesn't want to go to jail, and discussing the killing with his girlfriend has done little to soothe his conscience. Filmmaker Avi Mograbi profiles Roni and examines his ethical dilemma in the documentary Z32; named for the code number assigned to Roni's testimony on an online database dedicated to documenting Israeli war crimes, the film features a digitally obscured Roni sharing his story for the camera, and interaction with his friends and loved ones as he struggles with the demons of his past. Z32 was an official selection at the 2008 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2008
As the role of President of the United States evolves with each term served, so does their fictional television portrayal - or is it the other way around? Politically toned programming from The West Wing to 24 offer their own distinct definitions of what constitutes leading a country, and arguably have a significant issue on modern American culture and society. This documentary examines the influence of television and movies, as well as offering a serious look at how future Presidents will react to events both within and outside of the United States, and offers clips from a variety of films and television shows featuring fictional Presidents. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
Director Ari Folman's animated, quasi-documentary Waltz With Bashir follows the filmmaker's emotional attempt to decipher the horrors that unfolded one night in September of 1982, when Christian militia members massacred more than 3,000 Palestinian refugees in the heart of Beirut as Israeli soldiers surrounded the area. Folman was one of those soldiers, but nearly 20 years after the fact, his memories of that night remain particularly hazy. After hearing an old friend recall a vivid nightmare in which he is pursued by 26 ferocious dogs, Folman and his friend conclude that the dream must somehow relate to that fateful mission during the first Lebanon War. When Folman realizes that his recollections regarding that period in his life seem to have somehow been wiped clean, he travels the world to interview old friends and fellow soldiers from the war. Later, as Folman's memory begins to emerge in a series of surreal images, he begins to uncover a truth about himself that will haunt him for the rest of his days. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ari Folman, Ori Sivan, (more)
- 2008
A man slowly learns his new friend is no friend at all in this psychological thriller from France. Georges Clou (Sergi Lopez) seemingly leads a charmed life; he has a beautiful and loving wife, Helen (Nathalie Richard) and he has a fine home in an exclusive gated community, away from the growing chaos of the cities. There are occasional signs that not all is well, most of which come from their teenage son Tony (Laurent Delbecque), who is withdrawn and often seems to be the victim of some sort of violence. But for the most part Georges is a happy man when Paul Marteau (Jean-Marc Barr) moves into the neighborhood. Paul is a wealthy but jaded man who strikes up a friendship with Georges at a housewarming party, even though he alienates many of his new neighbors. Beneath Paul's friendly surface is a bitter, angry man who loathes the complacent suburbanites around them; he wants to give them a harsh dose of unpleasant reality, and Paul has chosen Georges to receive his first lesson. Adapted from John Cheever's novel Bullet Park, Parc received its North American premiere at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergi López, Nathalie Richard, (more)
- 2007
Circa 1974, the citizens of Chile threatened to crumble beneath the oppressive weight of dictator Augustin Pinochet. The unpleasantries and injustice of Pinochet's reign, in turn, prompted the efforts of a small, brave, tightly-knit cadre of rebels, known as the MIR, who banded together to buck the current regime and restore the paradise of Salvador Allende. On October 5, 1974, with MIR leader Miguel Enriquez murdered in combat, the Chilean secret police invaded the home of Enriquez's accomplice, Carmen Castillo, and wounded her - as a warning against future subversive activities. This represented only the beginning of a massive clamp-down against the Chilean underground resistance, that would see Pinochet prevail. Castillo's memories, however, lingered - and in time, she found herself asking key questions about the value of her and others' attempts at sedition, especially in light of the unfavorable outcome. The documentary Santa Fe Street finds exiled director Castillo undertaking a long and often poignant journey into the past to revisit the heroic anti-establishment efforts in which she participated. In the process, she ponders whether Enriquez and others died in vain, reinvestigates the events that carried her from 'underground subversive' to 'political exile,' and revisits the circumstances that tore a nation in half ideologically. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Director Gideon Koppel transforms the ordinary into the sublime in this documentary that describes the current issues facing the Wales farming community. As the population ages, the schools face closure, and the mobile library signals a resistance to move into the 21st Century, Koppel's camera stands as a silent observer and the music of Aphex Twin washes over the viewer. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
In 1976, filmmaker René Allio used a notorious Normandy crime as the foundation for his film I, Pierre Rivière, Having Slaughtered My Mother, My Sister, and My Brother. The film drew detailed a triple homicide that had taken place 140 years prior, and its cast was comprised almost exclusively of homegrown talent. Now, over 30 years later, I, Pierre Rivière assistant director Nicolas Philibert travels back to the shooting locales to find out just what has become of the amateur actors who appeared in that film. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira pays homage to Luis Bunuel's masterful exercise in surreal eroticism, Belle de Jour, with this latter-day "sequel." Years ago, Henri Husson (Michel Piccoli) lusted after Severine, a beautiful and innocent young housewife who satisfied her less than wholesome erotic desires by working afternoons at an upscale brothel while avoiding intimacy with her husband. While Henri knew Severine's secret, he never told her if he did (or did not) reveal her secret life to her wheelchair-bound husband, and she's long wondered if he ever betrayed her confidences. One day, while attending a concert, Henri is startled to see Severine (Bulle Ogier, in the role Catherine Deneuve played in Belle de Jour) is also in the audience, and he arranges a candlelight dinner. However, while Henri is as sly and randy as ever, he discovers Severine is a changed woman -- after more than thirty years and the death of her husband, she's a mere shadow of her former self, and is considering joining a convent for retirement. Belle Toujours received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Bulle Ogier, (more)
A certified insomniac, the celebrated belletrist Franz Kafka whiled away the hours between dusk and dawn authoring tomes - tomes whose dreamlike, often nightmarish qualities (a human transformed into a giant cockroach, an unwitting fellow trapped in a labyrinthine bureaucratic web) were inextricable from the circumstances in which their progenitor created them. Naturally, these facts continue to spin a web of intrigue and mythos around the original author; per its title, the pseudo-documentary Who Was Kafka? travels beyond these enigmas to revisit Kafka himself. The program uses a Meeting of the Minds-style setup, where actors portray Franz Kafka's closest acquaintances, are posed incisive questions about the author and then answer in the real life figures' own documented words. Each character describes his or her relationship with the writer (and observations of Kafka) in colorful and revealing detail. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 2005
Documentary filmmaker Avi Mograbi draws an analogy between the Jewish mythologies of the Zealots at Masada and Samson and the ordeal of contemporary Palestinians in his documentary, Avenge But One of My Two Eyes. Mograbi intercuts footage of himself discussing politics (over the phone) with a depressed, cynical Palestinian friend (whose voice was dubbed by an actor to protect his identity) in the occupied territories, footage of Israelis giving tours to youth groups and celebrating the aforementioned myths, and footage of Palestinians dealing with the indignities of checkpoints and the capricious enforcement of seemingly arbitrary rules and regulations by Israeli soldiers. There's also a scene where the ultra-right-wing Kach Party of the late Meir Kahane holds an exuberant political rally/rock concert. Enthusiastic tour guides describe the actions of the Zealots (after the Romans had destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and built a wall around Masada, the men killed the women and children, then committed mass suicide rather than surrender) and those of Samson (who, having been shorn of his hair and blinded by the Philistines, prayed to God so that he could destroy his enemies and himself with one last surge of strength) in glowing terms, for the most part. Their actions are described as unequivocally heroic, and those telling the tales clearly do not see a parallel to the desperation of present-day Palestinian suicide bombers. Late in the film, Mograbi expresses his outrage, yelling at a group of Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint who are not letting a group of school children pass. Avenge But One of My Two Eyes was shown at the 2005 New York Film Festival, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Argentinean filmmaker Edgardo Cozarinsky's 2005 feature Night Watch (or Ronda Nocturna) is a searing, scorching character study of Victor (Gonzalo Heredia), a young hustler dealing and pimping on the streets of Buenos Aires, with a calm demeanor that masks a nasty, virulent temper. When a series of external threats -- including an attempted homicide and a broken affair -- rob Victor of his bearings, he must suddenly reassess his values and priorities by taking a long, difficult journey into the dark night of his own soul. Night Watch co-stars Rafael Ferro and Moro Anghileri. Cozarinsky wrote the original script. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gonzalo Heredia, Diego Trerotola, (more)
- 2003
Iranian culture in the early 2000s wasn't quite as idyllic as the nation's Islamic fundamentalist government led the rest of the world to believe, asserts filmmaker Thierry Michel in his 2002 political documentary entitled Iran Sous le Voile des Apparences (Iran, Veiled Appearances). In an attempt to redefine Western (primarily United States') preconceptions of the powerful Middle Eastern country, Michel presents the two main opposing factions within Iranian society: the current Islamic leadership and its supporters of the 23-year-old Revolution versus the repressed younger generation espousing their own form of revolution -- democratic reform. As the theocratic power elite struggles to maintain control over the hearts and minds of the nation's citizenry, the government's dissenters engage in simple, yet groundbreaking, acts of civil disobedience that could very well result in imprisonment, torture, or death or any combination of the three. Iran Sous le Voile des Apparences was selected for participation in a number of film festivals in 2002 and 2003, including the 2003 Sundance International Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- 2002
Though they were as aesthetically and stylistically different as night and day, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse shared a status as undisputed giants of modern art. This documentary takes that shared status as a thematic foundation, and also the seldom-discussed fact that the two men were close friends who shared a great deal on a personal level; Their friendship evolved from the mutual recognition and conviction that they were artistic equals. With his program Matisse Picasso, documentarist Philippe Kohly springboards from these facts into an exploration of the men's lives and the ways in which they continually intersected. Françoise Gilot (b. 1921) -- the companion and romantic partner of Picasso from 1945-1953 and the mother of two of his children (Claude and Paloma) -- was privy to the men's meetings, and fully participated in the making of this documentary; she appears as an on-camera contributor and discusses the basis of their relationship, namely the fact that each wanted to understand the other's creative processes and modes of thought. Others who bore firsthand witness to the men's exchanges also turn up for insightful and revealing commentary in this program, including Claude Picasso, Jacqueline Matisse-Monnier, Maya Widmaier, and Matisse biographer Hilary Spurling. Director Kohly supplements the newly shot interview footage with archival photos and film, and on-camera views of their work, to examine the ways in which their paths intersected and diverged, and how they influenced one another creatively. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Faure
The one-room schoolhouse, where one teacher instructs several grades at once, is generally regarded a quaint thing of the past and a symbol of obsolete and ineffective teaching methods. However, the documentary To Be and to Have offers an in-depth look at a small school in rural France where one remarkable man has been doing the job of a small teaching staff for 20 years, and has taught several generations of bright and capable children along the way. Georges Lopez is an educator at a small school in France's Auvergne region, where between December 2000 and June 2001 he taught 12 students between the ages of four and ten. Employing a curriculum that embraces both academics and practical skills, Lopez and his school represent a surprising mix of the old and the new, where computer technology and old-fashioned memorization of the multiplication tables sit side by side. To Be and to Have captured Georges Lopez near the end of his career in education -- shortly after the film was completed, he retired after 35 years as a teacher. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2000
A drama set in the brutal world of Africa's ghettos, Bronx-Barbes opens with an introduction to Toussaint (Antony Koulehi Diate) and Nixon (Loss Sylla Ousseni), two teenaged friends who are out of work and commit petty thievery in order to eat. After accidentally murdering a ganglord one night, the two are taken under the wing of a group of thugs who populate the Bronx, a tough neighborhood run by a Mafia-like organization. Toussaint is able to scale the ranks of the neighborhood hierarchy, while Nixon ends up in jail for burglary, and is only released after Toussaint raises the money to free him. Eventually, the friends move on to Barbes, an even rougher neighborhood where they find that it takes more than just friendship to survive. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Yom Huledet Same'ach, Mar Mograbi examines the predicaments of a documentary filmmaker who finds himself torn between conflicting situations. Avi Mograbi is hired by a TV producer to make a film about the celebrations surrounding Israel's 50th anniversary. But the director is more tuned to the media than his commitment to the project. When an unemployment crisis breaks out, he turns to a socially engaging film, while the deadlock in the peace process prompts him to make a film about peace in the Middle East. During the rekindled Gulf crisis, he can't make anything at all. In the meantime, a Palestinian producer asks him to make a film about the 50th anniversary of the Nakba (the catastrophe) -- the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem. In the meanwhile, the director's 42nd birthday is approaching, and he would like to get some land, build a house and fulfill his individual Israeli dream. But questions of ownership lead to violent clashes between neighbors. The last part of the film is an argument among its three narratives, each one trying to overcome the others. The film ends with Israeli's celebrating Independence Day and shooting Palestinian protesters, while Palestinians in the Occupied Territories mark the Al Nakba, with Mograbi sitting at home and finishing his three parallel stories. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shahar Segal, Daoud Koutab, (more)
- 1998
Avant-garde director Stephen Dwosken made this down-beat documentary in order to explore the nature and psychology of pain and the roles it plays in our daily lives. Much of the film devotes itself to showing people suffering from various forms of pain, some of which is self-inflicted. Interviews with sufferers are interspersed between these scenes. Pain Is... was screened at the 1998 Montreal Festival of New Cinema & New Media. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1997
This French documentary travels to the Loire Valley of France to go behind the gates of La Borde, a progressive French psychiatric clinic, where emotionally disturbed inmates stage an annual musical production. With original music and songs, the play is the Polish absurdist comedy, Operetta by Witold Gombrowicz. Shown at the 1997 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
