Christiane Muller Movies
- 2007
- PG13
- Add The Prisoner Or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair to QueueAdd The Prisoner Or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair to top of Queue
The Prisoner Or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair represents a follow-up to husband-and-wife filmmaking team Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein's critically-worshipped, defiantly nonpartisan documentary Gunner Palace (2004), on the day-to-day of American soldiers stationed on the Iraqi front. In that earlier picture, Tucker and Epperlein stumble across Yunis Khatayer Abbas, a Middle Eastern man who merely confesses, "I am a journalist," before American soldiers drag him off to incarceration. The Tuckers reconnected with Abbas at a later point, and disinter his backstory in this film. Tortured by the goons of Saddam Hussein's brother, Uday Hussein, Abbas later became a key terrorist suspect of the U.S. government, who believed that he intended to kill British prime minister Tony Blair. American authorities had Abbas thrown into the notorious Abu Ghirab prison (and other penitentiaries) and subjected him to month after month of grueling interrogation. Eventually, they released him - with a one-word apology. Tucker and Epperlein recount Abbas's story with an unusual approach: in lieu of a straight documentary, the filmmakers employ a comic-book iconography, with over 150 onscreen illustrations of Abbas's plight by Epperlein, intercut with clips from Abbas's home movies and glimpses of U.S. Army documents - all of which detail the sad absurdities that befell him. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Shortly after President George W. Bush announced that "major combat operations have ended" in the war in Iraq, filmmaker Michael Tucker (a self-described "Army brat" whose father served in Vietnam) traveled to Baghdad, where he and his camera crew were embedded with the 2-3 Army Field Artillery unit, improbably based out of a bombed-out mansion which once belonged to Saddam Hussein and his son Uday. Tucker and his crew spent two months with the soldiers of the 2-3 FA (in September 2003 and February 2004), following the young men and women as they went about their daily rounds in a land where they were welcomed by some and targeted by others. Gunner Palace offers a sympathetic but objective portrait of the American fighters as they go on routine patrol, try to ferret out insurgents, help train Iraqi forces, keep an eye peeled for homemade explosives, police some of the local troublemakers, and for the most part simply try to get through their days without the loss of life and limb in the midst of what they sarcastically call "minor combat operations." Gunner Palace received its world premier at the 2004 Telluride Film Festival and became the first documentary about the war in Iraq to be shot and released while the war was still taking place. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2003
- Add Charlie Chaplin: The Forgotten Years to QueueAdd Charlie Chaplin: The Forgotten Years to top of Queue
For a variety of reasons, mostly political, Charlie Chaplin left the United States in the early fifties living the final quarter-century of his life in Switzerland. Charlie Chaplin: The Forgotten Years documents this last act in the legendary director's life. The film intersperses personal footage of the man with interviews from those who knew him during this period. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geraldine Chaplin, Eugene Chaplin, (more)
Director Bertrand Blier's Les Valseuses features Gerard Depardieu and Patrick Dewaere as a pair of sociopaths wending their way across France. Though Depardieu is the more dominant of the two, both men are equally culpable in their disregard for common decency. They are particularly rough on women, even the like-minded Miou-Miou, whom they both love in their own way. Jeanne Moreau has a brief bit as an ex-convict who sleeps with both Depardieu and Dewaere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Miou-Miou, (more)
- 1971
In this characteristic French farce, Louis De Funes in the role of Antoine spoofs the 1959 American classic black comedy, Gazebo. In Jo, De Funes is being investigated by the police because his name was on a list kept by a missing blackmailer who is presumed to be dead. Antoine has good reason to know, as he was there when the fellow died; in the moment he almost managed to shoot the man, someone else kills him. He is stuck with the body, and he keeps having to move it while the police are watching him. Fortunately for him, they are somewhat inept. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Gensac, Christiane Muller, (more)
- 1948
Scandals of Clochemerie proved that Hollywood filmmakers had no monopoly so far as poking fun at the movie industry is concerned. This French effort is a glorious lampoon of the "typical" Gallic film, complete with broadly caricatured characters and deliberately exaggerated cliches. Adapted by Gabriel Chevalier from his own novel, the film revolves around the construction of a comfort station in the village of Clochemerie. This momentous undertaking has serious ramifications on the community, not least of which is the exposure of several family skeletons. The film ran into censorship trouble in the States, not just because of its erotic content and occasional religious satire, but also because, at base, the film is about an open-air toilet facility. Originally released in France in 1947 as Clochemerie, the film proved an enormous success during its initial run; as such, it was the last truly profitable venture from veteran filmmaker Pierre Chenal, once the darling of the Parisian critics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maximilienne, Saturnin Fabre, (more)
