Pierre Kubel Movies

A family welcomes home a missing child, but he may not be all he seems to be in this suspense drama. Nicholas Barclay was a 13-year-old living in Louisiana with his family when he mysteriously disappeared, and though his mother, Kimberly (Ellen Barkin), and sister, Kathy (Emilie de Ravin), have been hopeful he'll be found, after three years it seems increasingly unlikely. To their surprise, Nicholas (Marc-André Grondin) returns home one day, claiming he'd been kidnapped by child predators but finally escaped. Kimberly and Kathy are overjoyed and welcome him home with open arms. Nicholas' brother-in-law, Brian (Brian Geraghty), senses this young man isn't really Nicholas, though, and Jennifer Johnson (Famke Janssen), an FBI agent looking into the case, shares his suspicions. But if Brian and Jennifer are convinced Nicholas is an imposter, why aren't Kimberly and Kathy willing to acknowledge the same evidence? Based on a true story, The Chameleon was the first English-language feature from French director Jean-Paul Salomé. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An addition to the subgenre of neo-screwball comedies, à la Seems Like Old Times and Illegally Yours, Antoine de Caunes' French-language farce Twice Upon a Time (aka Désaccord Parfait) observes the long-delayed reunion between two former lovers. Alice (Charlotte Rampling) is a British stage actress, Louis (Jean Rochefort), a Gallic film director of cult movies. The two broke up in the late '70s, but now they experience a sudden and startling rekindling amid witty verbal duels. Throughout, the director takes satirical potshots at everything from Canadians to French cinema to gay Englishmen. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

A minor scooter accident turns into a comic nightmare for an aimless young man and his friends in Pierre Jolivet's Zim and Co. Victor Zimbietrovski, or Zim (Adrien Jolivet, the director's son), works hard, but not in any organized way. He plays guitar in a band, and he has a couple of odd jobs, off the books. He lives with his easygoing mother (Nathalie Richard) and he gets by. But when he accidentally sideswipes a vengeful motorist, he ends up in a great deal of trouble. He tests positive for marijuana, and because it's his second offense, there's a good possibility he'll have to do time. The judge tells Zim he might avoid jail if he can prove that he has a job. Zim manages to land a job working for a sporting goods company by telling them he has a car. Now he has ten days to produce a high-school diploma, a driver's license, and a car, or he'll probably end up in the slammer. He turns to his friends, who have problems of their own. Arthur (Yannick Nasso) has to deal with his strict father, who tells Arthur he doesn't "deserve to be French" when Arthur's kicked out of a mechanic's training program by the bigoted teacher. Cheb (Mhamed Arezki) is trying to sell the latest gadget he's invented, a cell phone locator, while Cheb's cousin Safia (Naidra Ayadi) has been fired from her waitress job for dipping into the till, and needs a new place to live. Still, the four stalwart, resourceful friends band together against an uncaring and often racist bureaucracy, determined to help Zim stay free. Zim and Co. was shown by the Film Society of Lincoln Center as part of their Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in 2006. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Antoine de Caunes' second feature, Monsieur N. is a historical mystery thriller about Napoleon. Sir Hudson Lowe (Richard E. Grant) is assigned to guard Napoleon (Philippe Torreton) while the latter is in exile in Saint Helena. A local girl, Betsy (Siobhan Hewlett), has a crush on the exiled leader. This, along with the fact that keeping Napoleon on the island is costing the British a great sum of money, leads Lowe to consider drastic action. Monsieur N. was screened at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi