Foreign Films

The talk-fest films of aging French New Wave filmmaker Eric Rohmer (My Night at Maud's, Pauline at the Beach) have grown less fashionable--and watchable--over the years. Rendezvous in Paris, though, is his breeziest film in years. Three unconnected stories of modern courtship play across the screen with a wonderful supporting player tying the stories together: the colorful streets of Paris. In the first story a young woman hears her boyfriend is seeing other women, leading her into a sticky, amusing situation. Another woman doesn't want to visit her boyfriend's apartment in the middle piece. She suggests, though, they have an affair while posing as tourists. The finale, the best segment, focuses on your typical aloof artist who warms to a newly married woman visiting an art gallery... Less

Heralded as one of the funniest men in the world by The New York Times, Jacques Tati centers his fantasy film Parade exclusively around the circus. Here is Tati at his finest, offering gloriously funny visual gags that flow beautifully from one act to another. Tati's rich genius touches on everything from the celebration of children to the comic vignettes of real people. Tati himself appears as Monsieur Loyal with some of the finest mime and visual humor since the days of Chaplin and Keaton. A true masterpiece of wit and wry humor.

Here's an absolutely charming Academy Award nominated look at being a kid brought to us by the father/son team Zdenek and Jan Sverak, Zdenek writing and acting while his son directs. An unruly class of boys nine to thirteen years of age drive their timid teacher to the point of insanity, at least manage to push her into resigning. She is quickly replaced by an ex-soldier who is willing to discipline yet also quite fair and loving. As the lads shape up and develop respect for their new instructor, the man finds himself tempted by situations which threaten his position, womanizing is more than a hobby for this fellow. Seen mostly through the eyes of young Eda (Vaclav Jakoubek), this film both beautifully and honestly addresses issues of growing disillusioned with one's parents,... Less

A luminous love story about two outsiders who find each other, I Don't Want To Talk About It stars one of the cinema's greatest actors, Marcello Mastroianni, and newcomer Alejandra Podesta. Mastroianni is Ludovico, a sophisticated world traveller who has retired to a small town and is immediately drawn to a much younger woman. The smartest, most talented woman in town, Charlotte is in many ways a perfect match for Ludovico. But, because she is a dwarf, she has been sheltered by her overprotective mother from the realities of life. And when the real world intrudes-in a Felliniesque twist of fate-the love between Ludovico and Charlotte takes an unexpected turn. A charming fable that lingers in the mind. Approximately 102 minutes. Color. Rated PG-13. 1995 Columbia Pictures. A fairy tale by... Less

Tenth in the Eclipse Series, Criterion's effort to reintroduce lost, forgotten, and overshadowed classics, Silent Ozu includes three early Yasujiro Ozu films that are incredibly entertaining with or without the piano scores offered by Donald Sosin. Ozu, the master of bittersweet family dramas, apparently based later films on these three--Tokyo Chorus (1931), I Was Born But… (1932), and Passing Fancy (1933)--though there is no lack of action, passion, or cinematic revelry in these prototypes. Crafted at Shochiku studios, each film reveals an everyman's struggle to pay bills and raise children. Not only do these movies offer slice-of-life glimpses into 1930s Japan, but they also honor familial roles with humor and respect. It is Ozu's ability to cut from emotional pain to comedy and back... Less