Myriam Mezieres Movies

In this Spanish coming-of-age drama, two teenage boys find their sexual awakening and liberty put to the test over the summer of 1999. Nico (Jordi Vilches) is a budding motorcycle mechanic who has been invited to stay for the season by his best friend Dani (Fernando Ramallo). Dani's parents have left for an Egyptian vacation, leaving the two boys with the run of a summer home over the course of ten days. After bouts of smoking marijuana, eating junk food, and drinking, the boys emerge in innocent sexual games, including "krampack," a Spanish euphemism for "hand-job." After their self-involved sexual escapades, the two begin to forge a sexual relationship until two local girls, Elena (Marieta Orozco) and Berta (Esther Nubiola), enter their lives and begin to take an interest in them. Dani still pines for Nico, with whom he has fallen in love, but Nico only sees their sex play as fun and becomes more involved with the prospect of female attention. When jealousy starts to consume Dani, he finds solace in an older man, Julian (Chisco Amado), whom he sees as a potential rebound for his feelings toward Nico, even though his heart may still lie with his friend. Krampack is adapted from a Spanish play of the same name by acclaimed Barcelona native Cesc Gay. ~ Jason Clark, Rovi

A former schoolteacher turned film distributor, Jean-Pierre Jackson made his directorial debut with this French comedy about two losers. When alimony payments catch up with Felix (Philippe Chevaillier), his furniture is seized. After a decade-long marriage, Raoul (Regis Laspales) leaves his wife. The two team for a job with Le Gai Vendangeur (The Jolly Vintner) as sales reps, but they score zero while tooling around Brittany in a silly station wagon decorated with an immense wine bottle atop the vehicle's roof. However, when they're joined by friendly, sexy Eliane (Cecile Bois), sales surge. The wine pours, and so does the money. Life is sweet, but it all turns sour when an affair begins between Felix and Eliane, much to Raoul's regret. The film's soundtrack includes Xavier Cugat. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

This biblical drama chronicles the life of the mother of Christ. It is shot on location in Northern Africa and follows the scriptures quite closely from the annunciation through the Crucifixion of her beloved son. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Janos and Gabor are brothers who have a life-long competitive relationship. This even extends to their lifestyles and their women. In fact, they both loved the same woman, but only one could have her. The winner stayed in Budapest, and the loser moved to Paris, finding comfort in the arms of a rich woman. Instead of writing letters, visiting, or talking on the phone, the two boneheads compete with one another in the "who has a better life" sweepstakes by making videos of their lives and sending them to one another. Occasionally, a brother will take a scene in the other's video and show how it could have been falsified. Are any of their claims true? Are they actually brothers living in different places? Are the videos even about the brothers, or are they a game conjured up by their women? It's up to the viewer to tell. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Lucas, a computer genius facing an unnamed terminal illness that causes him to lose his memory, meets Blanche, a young woman who seems unable to break free of her vicious environment. The two plunge into a brief but intense affair, understanding that their days together are numbered. This a strangely poetic and powerful film that celebrates love's victory over death and suggests that sentiment has some currency even in a pragmatic world. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

The terrifyingly destructive power of a woman's sexual obsession provides the compelling subject for this psychological study of a woman's descent into madness from French filmmaker Alain Tanner. It is the tale of Parisian actress Mercedes who is first seen attempting to break up with the obsessive Arab Johnny, who stalks her until she meets handsome newspaper writer Pierre on the subway and goes with him for an afternoon fling. Before the sweat even dries, she finds herself hopelessly in love with him. Pierre is flattered and encourages her desperate devotion, but soon after their affair begins, he is called off on a business trip leaving the suddenly distraught Mercedes alone with her demons. Though preparing for a new play, she is unable to concentrate and barely able to function without Pierre. She quits the production, locks herself in Pierre's apartment and quietly begins falling apart until he returns. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A disparate, small group of smugglers try to expand their income by carrying illegal cargo across the French-Swiss border in this routine tale of life on the shady side. Paul (Hugues Quester) works as a mechanic in his father's car repair shop, but he makes extra cash by smuggling goods and people across the border. He dreams of getting his pilot's license and going to Canada to work. Mali (Berry Berr) works in a factory and smuggles narcotics across the border for extra lucre. Finally, Jean (Jean-Philippe Ecoffey) works on his father's farm and is not at all interested in smuggling until he meets Mali. After he agrees to help Paul smuggle some gold into Switzerland, he has no idea that Paul realizes the police are hot on his trail. The results are disastrous. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Elements of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream are mixed with a few doses of Bell, Book and Candle in the French Rendez-Moi Ma Peau. A contemporary witch decides to switch the personalities of two wildly divergent mortals. The comic complications involve the "uptight" character's attempts to adapt to a freewheeling lifestyle, and vice versa. Some potent satirical points are made, but for the most part we're in this for the laughs, and nothing but the laughs. Director Patrick Schulmann doubled as the film's screenwriter, then trebled as musical composer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The revolutionary upheaval of 1968 rocked Europe, and led to many changes. For a while, it was possible to think that the radical idealism of the youth protests would finally take form in the world. In this film, eight people in their late tweties and early thirties try to keep the radical flames burning. From a man continuing his mystic quest to a Robin Hood-like grocery worker, each of them seeks an alternative to the mainstream vision. One of them is married, and his child Jonah, born that year, will be 25 in the year 2000. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Sometimes a reporter's urge to tell the truth is unquenchable, at least when the reporter is Dolannes (Jean-Pierre Mocky). Unfortunately, his newspaper is owned by corporations which like to keep things on an even keel, and his stories are often "spiked," (kept quiet). Frustrated, he leaves the paper and starts his own, telling just who received what bribe in the sports world, unmasking the pretensions of a politician doctor who does abortions, and generally telling the all-too unwelcome truth. For a little while, he lives in a reportorial paradise. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi