Category: Cinema

Posted in About Learning a Foreign Language Cross Cultural Comments Cinema Video

Sidney Lumet – The Last Word

Related Images:

Posted in Music Cross Cultural Comments Cinema

Singin’ in the Rain

Related Images:

Posted in Music Cross Cultural Comments USA Audio Cinema Video

“Singin’ in the Rain”

If you need to get out of a rainy mood, or if you just happen to like movies, take a 4 minute refresher by watching this!

A. 0. Scott takes a look at the 1952 musical:

Singin’ in the rain !

Related Images:

Posted in About Learning a Foreign Language Cross Cultural Comments Fluency Cinema

The Interpreter

The movie “The Interpreter” is one I highly recommend.

Nicole Kidman is extraordinary and the plot is all too real. 

Related Images:

Posted in Photos Cross Cultural Comments Cinema French/English Paris Favoritz

Copie Conforme = The Original or A Copy?

A brilliant movie … even if the simple is complex here … or vice versa. Or the original is a copy of an original.

If you don’t like mental gymnastics, this is definitely NOT for you. BUT if you enjoy incredibly good acting as well as the charm, wit and emotional soul of Juliette Binoche speaking English, French and Italian fluently … you can’t possibly be disappointed.

((**** Congratulations, Ms. Binoche! Just heard the news! Palme d’Or for Best Actress in Copie Conforme. You deserve it!! ***** Brava!!))

Set in an authentic Tuscan setting, you feel there. It makes you want to be there. Beautifully filmed.

This may appear to be on the fringe of our reality. But it is someone’s reality. And movingly so. Even if … it is a fictional reality. Get it? You don’t? Don’t worry. Art can take time to get to you. The difference between “The” and “A” …

Here’s a posting in English from THE NYT . If you look at the right side of the screen, there is an audio of Juliette Binoche talking about this incredible film experience. She lets you in on the secrets of this masterpiece.

a double bill with kiarostami.

At the Balzac.

on rue Balzac (as in Honoré de ) just off the …

Related Images:

Posted in Cross Cultural Comments France Cinema Off the beaten track Paris Paris Favoritz

shorts at … L’Escurial

Where else is the audience invited for a drink and snack at intermission? Where else does the audience vote on the best short film (court-metrage) shown that evening? Only at the Escurial. Bd. Port Royal, Paris 13. M° Gobelins.

Once a month, a dozen shorts are shown on a given theme.

L’Escurial Panorama est la seule et dernière salle indépendante classée Art et Essai du 13ème Arrondissement et aussi l’une des plus anciennes (création en 1911).

Ce lieu est né sous une bonne étoile : dans les années 1980, après avoir longtemps été la propriété du cinéaste Jean Gourguet, il est sauvé de la transformation en supermarché grâce à la volonté de jeunes fous de cinéma. Cette équipe, qui ne connaît rien à l’exploitation mais tout sur les films, fait de cette salle le lieu du cinéma à la carte avec vingt films par semaine et des nuits entières consacrées aux stars que sont Brigitte Bardot ou Marlon Brando. La fréquentation est multipliée par trois et le succès est si rapide qu’une deuxième salle est construite dans l’ancien balcon.

La programmation de l’Escurial permet de faire découvrir au public un cinéma de qualité soutenu par une politique d’animation très forte. Depuis 2002, ” les soirées courts-métrages ” de l’Escurial vous permettent de voir des chefs d’œuvre au format court, dans une ambiance bon enfant et décontractée, le dernier mardi de chaque mois. Deux fois par mois sont également organisées des projections de documentaires le dimanche matin, suivies de débats.

Ce cinéma au destin étonnant incarne la persistance des salles de quartier à la programmation exigeante. Pour ceux qui ne le connaissent pas, l’essayer, c’est l’adopter !

Link to the Escurial.

If you like the cinema … subscribe to the Paris Savannah Connection!

Related Images:

Posted in Notes on English Cross Cultural Comments Cinema Idiomatic Expressions Reading

“Love – 15”

It’s simply a score!  … A tennis score, silly !

The French, who have a reputation, deservedly or not, in these matters: love or tennis, you choose … just do it … and (whisper?) talk about it.

They say, a little upset for one and self-satisfied for the other,  “Zéro-quinze” and then after the next ball is served, it can be “quinze-quinze” or “Zéro-trente” … followed by “Zéro-quarante” and if the non-serving player scores the next point it’s …

“Jeu.” Game over. No Love. Just a game. On to the next one … A set. Two sets. Match point. Match.

Anglo-Saxons, on the other hand, tend to be much more emotional. We start with “Love” and then the 15s and the thirties and the forties until … someone gallantly says …

“You won!” And then? Well, the next game begins with … “Love”, doesn’t it ? Two winners.

Of course, the British started by playing on … green grass. Lawn tennis. Like love, a little unpredictable as to where the ball bounces.

Fate? Destiny? as in Woody Allen’s masterpiece “Match Point.”

Related Images:

Posted in Cross Cultural Comments Cinema Paris Paris Favoritz Video

“New York I love you” at the Balzac

Not so long ago, I mentioned some of my favorite movie theaters in Paris. One of them is the Balzac … for cinema off the beaten track, sometimes low budget masterpeices … this is one of the spaces.

Right now, the Balzac is showing “New York I love you.”  And I give it plenty of  ***** !

Related Images: