Jerome Levy Movies
A young man gains a new perspective on himself and his people during an unexpectedly complicated sojourn in Europe in this independent drama. Daniel (Ash Newman) is a teenager growing up in London; good looking and personable, Daniel enjoys a life of carefree hedonism, but deep inside he feels that something is missing. Daniel has a close relationship with his Jewish grandmother (Hadassah Unger Diamant), who serves as his confidante and conscience. Grandmother persuades Daniel to go to Europe in search of the grave of her late husband, who vanished during the pogroms of World War II. Daniel sets out for Paris, where his grandfather was last seen, but he soon finds himself on a journey that takes him through several nations as he is thrown into a number of unusual adventures. While searching for his grandfather, Daniel learns a great deal about himself and his heritage along the way. Ash Newman's performance in Shem earned him the Best Actor prize at the 2004 New York Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ash Newman, Hadassah Unger Diamant, (more)
- 2002
Based on the original '60s French comic books by René Goscinny, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre is the big-budget sequel to the 1999 box-office hit Astérix and Obélix vs. Caesar. Empress Cleopatra (Monica Bellucci) makes a wager with Julius Caesar (played by writer/director Alain Chabat) that her people can build a beautiful palace in three months. She chooses architect Numerobis (Jamel Debbouze) for the project, which must be completed in time or he will be fed to the crocodiles. Numerobis travels to Gaul to get help from the superpowered Panoramix (Claude Rich) and the warriors Astérix (Christian Clavier) and Obélix (Gérard Depardieu), along with their faithful pet Dogmatix. They use their magic potion to make the Egyptian slave-labor population into superheroes, thereby building the palace in no time. Meanwhile, the angry architect Amonbofis (Gérard Darmon) and Julius Caesar don't want to see them succeed. At the time of its release, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre was the most expensive French film ever made, with a budget of $50 million. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Christian Clavier, (more)
- 2001
In this comedy, five French students in their early twenties decide it's time they saw a bit more of the world, so Clementine (Ludivine Sagnier), Caroline (Veronique Balme), Lionel (Pascal Reneric), Bruno (Thomas Blanchard), and Brigitte (Marie Gili-Pierre) buy cut-price rail passes and set out to visit 15 of the great cities of Europe. But it doesn't take long for their great plans to unravel, as the group's desire to see the important sights gets sidetracked by their fondness for partying and the opposite sex, and as they roll through Amsterdam, Berlin, Athens, and Bologna, they stumble into a wide variety of misadventures and meet all manner of unlikely people, from a former teacher who has come rather dramatically out of the closet to a washed-up dance-pop star. Bon Plan was the first feature film from writer and director Jerome Levy. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ludivine Sagnier, Veronique Balme, (more)
- 2000
The cast and crew from the 1998 Gallic megahit Taxi return for this high-octane sequel about a crime-bustin' cabby and a defrocked cop. The film opens with Daniel (Samy Naceri) rushing a pregnant woman to the hospital in his souped cab through the streets of Marseilles. Meanwhile, taciturn cop Emilien (Frederic Diefenthal) finally passes his driving test after flunking 27 times in a row. The action really gets rolling when blonde bombshell police woman Petra (Emma Sjoberg) gets kidnapped on the toilet by ninjas and added to their collection of hostages, including the Japanese minister of defense. The yakuza are out for trouble, and nothing stands between bedlam and civil order but two guys and one wicked-cool cab. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samy Naceri, Frédéric Diefenthal, (more)
- 1989
- PG
This easygoing French comedy -- originally and more wittily titled Romuald et Juliette -- is about conservative Parisian yogurt-company CEO named Romuald Blindet (Daniel Auteuil) who by circumstance finds himself drawing closer to his black cleaning woman Juliette Bonaventure (Firmine Richard). A romance soon develops between them. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Firmine Richard, (more)
- 1989
La Soule is the name of a once-popular and now long-forgotten extremely violent sport with an ancient history, which somewhat resembles rugby. It was not uncommon for players to be left on the playing field after a game, dead or maimed. In this unusual drama, Pierre Cursey (Christophe Malavoy), a former officer in Napolean's army, seeks revenge against Francois Lemercier (Richard Bohringer), one of his soldiers, who betrayed him to the English. His plan is to track the soldier (now a village cobbler) down and humiliate him completely in a game of Soule, preferably one which results in grave injuries. It seems that the soldier's whole sense of pride in himself is invested in participation in this game. Pierre has one difficulty, though, as the nefarious soldier is not only a very good Soule player, but is the captain of a championship-winning Soule team. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Bohringer, Christophe Malavoy, (more)
- 1983
A sensitivity to sounds coming from the activities of an unwelcome guest in the close quarters of an apartment is only one important component in this atmospheric, avant-garde drollery by Chantal Akerman. When the apartment owner comes home, her guest is settled in and at first, the slightly reclusive host decides simply to eat her breakfast in her room instead of having to face morning conversation with her guest. Sounds of the toilet flushing, the bath water running and splashing, footsteps pacing, and furniture moving invade the hostess' refuge in her bedroom like the frontrunners of an all-out offensive. She locks herself up for 28 days, life's detritus accumulating around her, just so she does not have to go out to face the nemesis that lurks beyond her door. Then suddenly on one occasion, she catches a flash of a naked male in the bathroom, on another occasion, the man bursts out singing a refrain from Oklahoma -- this is absolutely more than she can handle, and her determination to stay holed up is all the stronger. How long can this last? Director Akerman has expertly captured an induced paranoia with humor and artistic finesse in this peek at the making of a hermit. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chantal Akerman, Jeffrey Kime, (more)
- 1956
This Australian trilogy affects the Italian neorealist style. In the first story, a community of miners stage an elaborate funeral for a stranger. The second tale is set during an economic depression and follows a proud but impoverished laborer as he steals wood from an avaricious landowner to keep his mates from freezing during a winter storm. In the final story two young people decide to overcome their fears about money and security and get married. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John McCallum, Jerome Levy, (more)
