Pascal Verroust Movies
- 2006
Jean-Christophe Klotz was a cameraman for a French broadcast news service in 1996 when he was sent to Rwanda to cover the growing violence between ruling Hutus and rival Tutsi tribespeople. What Klotz saw profoundly shocked him, as bodies littered the sides of the roads and bloody massacres became the order of the day. In between interviews with government officials and United Nations forces vainly struggling to contain the violence, Klotz captured the mayhem on film, believing that if world leaders saw what was happening, they would step forward to stop the violence. When Klotz was injured while filming an attack, he was sent back to Paris, and while his footage was aired, French forces only belatedly arrived, ultimately doing more to protect those who caused the massacre than bringing them to justice. Years later, Klotz used his footage to help identify some of the victims of the killings, and in 2006 he returned to Rwanda to visit the nation after the violence had ceased. Kigali, des images contre un massacre (aka Return to Kigali) is a documentary in which Klotz explores the physical and emotional costs of genocide on Rwanda, comparing his newsreel footage of the slaughter with images of the same nation a decade later. Return to Kigali premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2005
Richard Dembo's third directorial effort, La Maison De Nina, concerns a group of Jewish children living in an orphanage in Paris at the end of WWII. Soon there is an influx of children at the orphanage whose parents did not survive the concentration camps. Eventually those newcomers and the orphans who already lived there are feuding over the importance of their Jewish heritage. The children must deal with their grief in a variety of ways including religion, music, and one poor child by deciding to not talk. Dembo, an Oscar winner in 1984, passed away while the film was in post-production. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Agnès Jaoui, Sarah Adler, (more)
- 2003
Two people brought together by fate are torn apart by their cultural and familial differences in this romantic drama. Raphael Ramirez (Samuel Le Bihan) is a first generation Frenchman whose parents emigrated there from Spain. Formerly a boxer, Raphael turned his back on pugilism and has gone into auto repair, though both Raphael and his brother, Manu (Yann Tregouet), both have a keen interest in the local Thai boxing scene. Raphael was once close friends with Tony Tran (Bounsy Luang Phinith), the son of a successful local businessman (Thomas Larget) who settled in France after leaving his home in Vietnam. However, Tony and Raphael have become wary of one another, and the tension between the two increases when Tony announces he wants to buy Raphael's garage. The simmering anger becomes explosive when Raphael meets Chinh (Yu Nan), a shy but beautiful girl of Cambodian heritage who is pledged to marry Tony. Raphael falls head over heels in love with Chinh, and is determined to wed her, whatever the cost. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samuel Le Bihan, Yu Nan, (more)
An attractive widow just edging into middle age begins to explore a new side of her personality once she's on her own in this drama from Tunisia. After the death of her husband, Lilia (Hiam Abbass) finds herself at a loss for what to do with her life. Her teenage daughter, Salma (Hend El Fahem), is just old enough to be developing a life of her own, and is too busy with school and her friends to spend much time with her mother. Lilia fills the days by watching television and obsessively cleaning her home, but she feels lonely and out of sorts. Lilia begins to suspect that Salma is dating an older man, and one evening, after Salma's dancing class, she spies her leaving with a musician named Chokri (Maher Kamoun). Lilia discovers that Chokri performs at a nightclub featuring a troupe of belly dancers, and she goes to the club one night to confront him. Lilia is initially embarrassed by the boisterous atmosphere of the cabaret and the scanty dress of the dancers, but she soon finds herself drawn into the devil-may-care attitude of the patrons and performers. Lilia also finds herself becoming fascinated with belly dancing, and begins learning how to perform the sensuous dances herself; in time, she becomes a performer at the club and finds herself drawn into a relationship with Chokri. Satin Rouge was the first feature from writer and director Raja Amari. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hiam Abbass, Hend El Fahem, (more)
French filmmaker Karim Dridi directs this semi-documentary musical road film about Latin American's hippest island -- Cuba. The film follows 76-year-old itinerant singer Miguel Del Morales, aka El Gallo (the Rooster), as he wanders from one end of the country to the other, through Santiago de Cuba, Gauntanamo, Camguey, and Trinidad. Along the way, he connects up with old friends and meets new ones. Dridi shot the entire film with a single hand-held camera and a single boom-mounted mic. This film was screened at the Director's Fortnight at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Karnaval is set against a backdrop of intolerance and hostility in the gloomy Northern French city of Dunkirk. The story is set during carnival time, when the citizens let themselves loose for six weeks of partying, carousing and having a good time. The film centers on Larbi (Ben Abdallah), an Arab youth, and his confrontation with one of the turning points of his life. After a violent argument with his father, Larbi decides to leave the family's business and go to Marseilles for a fresh start. On his last night in the town he grew up in, he sleeps in the hallway of an apartment building, where he is disturbed by Béa (Sylvie Testud) and Christian (Clovis Cornillac), a couple having fun at the carnival. Larbi is attracted to Béa and decides to stay a few more days to try his luck. In the free atmosphere of the carnival, Larbi discovers a world that he did not know existed, a world which is about to clash with his conservative outlook, and the three lives are changed forever. First time director Thomas Vincent approached the project with a realistic perspective rooted in a social context while remaining very lyrical, an approach he admired in the films of Ken Loach. Karnaval received the Alfred Bauer Prize for a debut film at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival in 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amar Be Abdallah, Sylvie Testud, (more)
- 1999
In this low-key drama from France, Marie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) has been laid off for over a year; depressed and with little to do, she drifts through the aisles of a supermarket, aimlessly doing her shopping. She bumps into Pierre (Patrick Dell'Isola); they strike up a conversation and she discovers that he worked for the same firm and was also let go, about a month ago. They keep running into each other at the market and strike up a friendship that grows into an affair. But Marie and Pierre are both married, and neither wants their spouses to know; this relationship has less to do with love than with a need to fill up the empty hours of the day and restore their damaged self-esteems. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Patrick Dell'Isola, (more)
- 1997
A young man returns to his Senegalese fishing village after studying political science in Europe and eagerly sets about launching a political career for himself in the capital city of Dakar. First Daam (played by singer Ismael Lo) marries the beautiful Gagnesiri (Ndeye Fatou Ndaw). She proves to be a devoted wife, but unfortunately she is unable to have children. Needing an heir in order to further his political career, Daam marries Kine (Ndeye Bineta Diop). This second wife bears him a child but proves to be more interested in furthering her ambitions than motherhood. As Daam becomes more politically prominent, Kine becomes increasingly greedy and demanding. When Daam cannot provide the luxury she craves, she sneaks off to a crooked village businessman known as the President, a man with a grudge against Daam, and illegally provides him with important information. As a result of her treachery, the President becomes more powerful, and Daam's career is destroyed. With no hope of wealth, Kine leaves him. Fortunately, loyal, loving Gagnesiri awaits the fallen Daam's return. Unfortunately, even her good love is not enough to save him from his shame, and she is eventually left with a difficult choice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
