Pierre-Ange Le Pogam Movies

The lives of a septic tank cleaner, an ambitious mob boss, and a deaf mute deli worker converge in tragedy in this seriocomic crime drama from director/screenwriter James DeMonaco. Blue collar by birth, Sully Halverson (Ethan Hawke) has never amounted to much in life. When Sully finds out he's about to become a father, he schemes to rob Parnie Tarzo (Vincent D'Onifrio), a small time kingpin who's looking for a way to leave his mark on the world. By saving Staten Island Forest, Parnie surmises, he can mold an upstanding public persona for himself while quietly eliminating the competition behind closed doors. That's where Jasper Sabiano (Seymour Cassell) comes in. Seymour may not be able to hear or speak, but he's a hard worker who knows where his bread is buttered. When he's not serving up bagels and coffee, Jasper is dispatching bodies for Tarzo - frequently in Staten Island forest. But lately Jasper has been growing tired of the game, and he's desperate to find a way out. When Sully sets his plan into motion, all three men find themselves thrust into a volatile situation that threatens to destroy their plans for the future as it quickly spirals out of control. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The shocking story of a young man sentenced to a brutal juvenile home comes to the screen in this drama based on an autobiographical novel by Auguste Le Breton set in the early Thirties. Yves Treguier (($Emile Berling) is a fourteen year old who has run away from home and is picked up by police for vagrancy. Yves is sent to an "educational home" for orphans and juvenile felons; the home is more like a prison than anything else, and adults who oversee the youngsters in their care are more interested in discipline and hard labor than in attempting to teach their charges. Many of the boys at the home have become hardened prisoners who greet new inmates with violence or sexual abuse, but Yves is fortunate enough to share his cell with Blondeau (Guillaume Gouix), an older boy with a gentle spirit. Blondeau was simply abandoned by his wealthy mother, and has bittersweet memories of music lessons and reading poetry. While Blondeau has become resigned to his fate, Yves's spirit has not been broken, and he isn't in stir long before making plans to escape. After two attempts to run away fail, Yves is warned that a third offense will result in him being transferred to a prison for adults, but despite the long odds against him, Yves believes that he has a slim chance of escape but no chance at all if he stays on the inside. Les Hauts Murs (aka Behind The Walls) was the first theatrical feature from director Christian Faure, who previously distinguished himself working in television. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

On the heels of his first foray into romantic comedy, versatile French filmmaker Luc Besson breaks new ground yet again with this computer-animated, family-friendly adaptation of his own children's book Arthur and the Minimoys. Arthur is a wide-eyed ten-year-old whose vivid imagination is fueled by the colorful bedtime stories his grandmother reads to him each night. His dreams are filled with images of African tribes and the remarkable inventions detailed in the enigmatic book that his grandfather left behind after mysteriously disappearing four years ago. Arthur and his family are in danger of losing their home to an unscrupulous real-estate developer, but if there is any truth to the tales of a treasure hidden deep beneath their garden and the tiny, fairy-like creatures that his grandmother so frequently sketches, there may still be hope of saving their home before it's too late. Now, with nothing to guide him but the clues left behind by his grandfather, Arthur will set out to find the mythical world of Seven Kingdoms, where the Minimoys are said to dwell, and ensure that his troubled family always has a place to call home. An imaginative children's fantasy in the vein of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Arthur and the Invisibles features the voices of David Bowie, Snoop Dogg, Madonna, Mia Farrow, and Freddie Highmore. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In the mid-'90s, an Englishman by the name of Alan Conway (John Malkovich) conned many people into believing that he was the reclusive American director Stanley Kubrick, despite the fact that Conway was openly gay, bore no physical resemblance to Kubrick, and knew little about the director's work. Conway's story has been loosely adapted into the comedic feature Colour Me Kubrick. Anthony Frewin, who worked as Kubrick's personal assistance for many years, wrote the script, and Brian Cook, who served as Kubrick's assistant director on several films, including Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut, marks his directorial debut with the film. Colour Me Kubrick follows Conway on a number of adventures, wherein he cadges drinks, cash, sex, and more from unsuspecting victims, ranging from a heavy metal band to a wine bar owner (Richard E. Grant) to a British lounge singer (British television comic Jim Davidson making his feature-film debut), who are awestruck by his purported fame and fortune, and willing to overlook Conway's genuinely bizarre behavior in the hopes of impressing the great director. Conway's act reached its pinnacle when he temporarily pulled the wool over the eyes of then-New York Times theater critic Frank Rich (William Hootkins). Colour Me Kubrick features cameos by Ken Russell, Honor Blackman, Peter Sallis, and Marc Warren. The French production had its international premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

A would-be independent filmmaker moves from Super-8 to 35 mm overnight in this comedy from France. Goran (Clément Sibony) is an auto mechanic who has been given the nickname Kubrick by his pals because of his great love for movies and his desire to someday become a professional filmmaker. Karim (Micky El Mazroui) and Toxic (Dan Herzberg) are Kubrick's two best friends, willing to do anything to back him up. When Karim has a hot date one night and no place to take his girl, Toxic lets him use his apartment and ends up sleeping in a public park. The next morning, Toxic discovers a film crew has set up for a location shoot in the park, and a member of the crew, mistaking him for a driver, hands Toxic the keys to a truck full of camera equipment, sound gear, and costumes and tells him to park it somewhere else. Seizing a golden opportunity, Toxic turns the truck over to Kubrick, who with the tools at his disposal begins plotting his dream project -- a full-dress screen version of Romeo and Juliet, starring neighborhood beauty Soraya (Karina Testa) and local wise guy Billou (Lorant Deutsch) as the doomed lovers. Ze Film was written and directed Guy Jacques, who shot the film on-location in the neighborhood where he grew up. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A not-so-worldly twentysomething gets caught up with some shady Parisians in director Cedric Klapisch's 2003 crime comedy-drama Not for or Against. Wallflower camerawoman Caty (Marie Gillain) is three years into her career and residency in the French capital with little to show for it in the friend category, never mind the fact she is hopelessly single. While on the job filming an interview with a prostitute, Caty gets a tip from the hooker for a quick and profitable money-making possibility. Following up on the lead, Caty meets the handsome Jean (Vincent Elbaz) who offers to pay her to film him while he robs a store. After some perfunctory soul-searching, Caty impetuously decides to take the offer. This start in crime leads her into Jean's gang of criminals, which she rather quickly becomes a member of. As the thieves tend to spend their loot about as quickly as they accumulate it, they begin planning an enormous caper that will enable them to live more comfortably -- if they manage to survive its undertaking. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

Coming in on the heels of his internationally acclaimed first film, Le Dernier Combat, 26-year-old director Luc Besson created this tongue-in-cheek look at filmmaking and at the denizens in the tunnels of the Paris Metro -- a new kind of underground movie. Fred (Christopher Lambert) has just stolen some major documents from a birthday celebration given by the Paris elite for one of their kind, Helena (Isabelle Adjani). He takes off into the Metro just as it is shut down for the remaining few hours of predawn darkness and once in the Metro encounters several characters in the tunnels. There is a bodybuilder who works out with subway parts, a purse-snatcher, and a flower seller of dubious ethics. Inspired by the moment, Fred decides to recruit a few of the ubiquitous musicians who perform (some of the best music around) on the Metro's byways, and he creates a rock band. Through all of these encounters and activities, the police and others -- including Helena -- are after Fred for their own reasons, none of which coincide. As Fred discovers, going underground can be risky. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide