Carlo Brandt Movies

Immediately after selling his late father's corporation to found a humanitarian organization, Largo Winch (Tomer Sisley) finds himself the target of some shocking allegations. Now, in order to clear his name, Largo must travel deep into the jungles of Burma and get back in touch with his roots. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Writer/director Philippe Ramos ponders the formative years of legendary Herman Melville seaman Captain Ahab in this stylized tale of adventure presented in five chapters. When Ahab's mother dies in childbirth, the infant's gruff father (Jean-Francois Stevenin) places his son in the care of his pious aunt Rose Mona Heftre). It is Rose who sparks the imagination of the young boy by teaching him to read the Bible, though when Ahab is reclaimed by his father a decade later the growing boy strives to become a hunter like his old man. Later, after Ahab warms to his father's lover Louise (Hande Kodja), the old man dies and the boy is sent back to his God-fearing aunt. Rejecting Rose and her abusive husband Henry (Philippe Katerine)'s unforginv brand of discipline and infuriated that his aunt confiscated the locket given to him by Louise, young Ahab boldly stages his own kidnapping as an ingenious escape plan. Later, after embarking on a series of youthful misadventures, Ahab is rescued by Pastor Mulligan (Carlo Brandt) after washing ashore on the Atlantic coast. In the following years Ahab learns to fish in the ocean and forms a strange fascination with a whale skeleton on a local shore. Thirty years later, widowed Nantucket laundress Anna (Dominique Blanc) discovers ailing whaler Ahab (Denis Levant) in her garden missing the better part of one leg. Now determined to seek revenge against the creature that left him unable to walk, the obsessive whaler acquires a whalebone leg replacement and sets out with faithful shipmate Starbuck (Jacques Bonnaffe) to take down the whale they call Moby Dick once and for all. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Christine Blanc (Sasha Andres) is a single woman working as a temp. She lies to co-workers, and her parents, telling them she lives with her boyfriend. She's socially awkward, and spends hours wandering the misty outskirts of town or sitting at the mall alone, observing people. She tries to talk to people, but she tries too hard, and they are put off. Uncertain of what to say to people, she uses snatches from conversations she's overheard. She's drawn to her boss at the employment agency, Patricia (Catherine Mouchet), and when Patricia has a fight with her boyfriend, Christine seizes the opportunity and invites her to dinner. Despite a few awkward moments, mostly caused by Christine's desperation to please, the dinner goes reasonably well. A surprising turn of events soon changes the course of Christine's life. Before long, she's gotten her driver's license, co-workers are inviting her out for drinks, she starts dating Eric (Eric Caravaca), and she is offered a permanent position at her job. But life isn't perfect. There are a couple of co-workers who pester her, and the police are soon questioning her about the death of an acquaintance. Degas (Carlo Brandt), an inspector, seems particularly interested in the case. Or is he interested in her? Elle Est des Nôtres marks the feature debut of director Siegrid Alnoy, who co-wrote the script with Jérôme Beaujour (A Single Girl) and François Favrat (Seaside). The film won a FIPRESCI Prize at the 2003 Stockholm Film Festival and a Special Mention at the 2003 Thessaloniki Film Festival. It was also shown at the Walter Reade Theater in New York as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Rendez-Vous With French Cinema in 2004. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

In 1972, 18-year-old Mark Moskowitz read a positive review in the New York Times Book Review that inspired him to get a copy of Dow Mossman's novel, The Stones of Summer. An avid reader, Moskowitz found himself unable to get through the book, and set it aside after 20 pages. Twenty-five years later, he finally picked it up again, this time reading it all the way through. Moskowitz was thrilled with the book, and immediately began looking for the author's other works. There weren't any. At this point, Moskowitz, who earns his living making political advertisements, began making a documentary, Stone Reader, which depicts his search for Mossman. He tracks down the writer of the original Times review, along with teachers, editors, agents, and other authors whom he thinks might have known Mossman or might have some insight into what happened to the author. He talks to critic Leslie Fiedler and author Frank Conroy, the head of the Iowa Writers Workshop, among others. Moskowitz tries to understand how it's possible for an author to write one outstanding book as a young man and then seemingly disappear. He also explores his own rewarding lifelong relationship with literature. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

This European road movie sees Georges (Moussa Maaskri, who also co-wrote the film's script) quit his job at a gas station in order to travel with and protect Abdou, a teen runaway en route to the World Cup in Marseilles. During the course of their journey they accumulate a host of travel companions, including Louisa, a plucky drug dealer, and Oleg, a Russian knickknack merchant whose sanity is as questionable as his wares. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Richard Bean directs this slick, ultra-cool noir thriller about a master pickpocket sucked into the realm of gangland violence. Franck Spadone (Stanislas Mehrar), along with his two sidekicks, swipe the wallet of gorgeous, depressed stripper Laura (Monica Bellucci) while working the Paris Metro. Awestruck by the image of the stripper, Spadone begins hanging out at the club where she works, which is a Mafia den where a band of mobsters are plotting the next battle in a gang war. Soon Spadone finds himself engulfed in the violence surrounding him; he is beaten to a bloody pulp one day and is almost murdered by a bumbling hitman the next. Meanwhile, Laura is forced by her Mafioso boyfriend (Carlo Brandt) to sleep with a wizened, corpulent don. Spadone decides to take matters into his own hands to save his love. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

In this cynical comedy, an renowned, out-of-work, unpublished "underground" writer from formerly Communist Poland is driven to unusually desperate measures in order to get his work published. Stan (Jiri Menzel) has been living in the attic apartment of his ex-wife's home, which he shares with a journalist friend (Andre Dussolier). One day, he has an accident which convinces his ex-wife and her current husband (Anna Romantowska and Pierre Arditi) that he's suicidal, and they hastily contact a media representative to see if some sort of publicity can't be arranged so that Stan's work can be published and they can benefit, if not from the money, then from their association with him. The organization they contact says that they will be happy to publish his writings, if he will commit suicide live, on television, in St. Peter's square, while the Pope is delivering an address. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this earnest drama, a rural schoolteacher who has become a strong advocate for ecological awareness and is a committed opponent of hunting in the local swamp becomes romantically embroiled with a single mother who has returned to her birthplace since just before her boy (now nine years old) was born. Despite some hard feelings from the adult population of the town (who are very pro-hunting), the teacher's romance progresses smoothly until he learns that his girlfriend's brother stuffs and mounts specimens of endangered species. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi