New Patrice Leconte comedy splendid Sunday attraction @ COLCOA
Apr
24
2015
A very appealing prospect on Sunday afternoon at COL*COA film festival, now on at the DGA Building on Sunset Boulevard, is a new film by French comedy writer/director Patrice Leconte. Leconte who burst forth in 1989 with “Monsieur Hire” and “The Hairdresser’s Husband,” has led a long career making films of wide-ranging themes, many with ...
Classics of COL*COA 2015
Apr
21
2015
The wonderful French film festival in Los Angeles, COL*COA (City of LIghts*City of Angels), a big favorite chez arts·meme, kicked off its 19th edition last night with a baguette-et-fromage-strewn cocktail hour in the lobby of the Director’s Guild of America. A fun flick, a gothic thriller, “The Ideal Man,” opened the festival. Now a nine-day ...
Claude Lelouch on the friendship in “We Love You, You Bastard” 1
French film director Claude Lelouch, whose seventh film, A Man and a Woman (1966), catapulted an international career, persists in his cinematic exploration of the perils of the human heart — not just in love but in friendship. LeLouch’s 44th feature, “We Love You, You Bastard,” which opened the 18th annual COLCOA French film festival ...
COL·COA tickets still available this weekend, says Francois Truffart
Apr
24
2014
Midstream through COL·COA [City of Lights · City of Angeles], the inimitable week-long film festival showcasing the best of new French cinema in Los Angeles premieres, we chatted with Francois Truffart earlier this afternoon. And the Festival director wants to spread the word. “We still have tickets,” said Truffart, speaking during the annual COL·COA luncheon ...
Hallyday, in Hollywood not on holiday but at COL·COA
French rock star Johnny Hallyday, who resides in Los Angeles, manly, subtle and sensitive in director Claude LeLouch‘s latest, “Salaud, On t’Aime” (“We Love You, You Bastard” its less charming English title) seen last night, with Lelouch and Hallyday in the house, at opening night of the 18th annual COL*COA, French film festival. In the ...
Oh, COL•COA!
Apr
18
2014
The wonderful French film festival in Los Angeles turns 18 this year. A big draw amongst the 41 feature films on view in the festival: Roman Polanski‘s riveting direction of “Venus in Fur” with a killer courageous performance by Emmanuelle Seigner. A little disappointing that it’s not a truly auteur film; instead, it’s based on ...
A la française: food & fashion films
If you are me, you’re going to the movies this weekend. You’re going to skip “Rush,” but there are two oh-so-French movies opening, one which I have seen and recommend highly. I loved “Haute Cuisine.” Hortense Laborie (Catherine Frot), a renowned chef from Perigord, is astonished when the President of the Republic (Jean d’Ormesson) appoints ...
Strong female film characters on parade @ COL*COA
French actress Jeanne Moreau, platinum blonde and wrapped in a feather boa, poses in vast ennui in BAY OF ANGELS (1963) written and directed by Jacques Demy. Moreau plays a bored upper class housewife on an existential bender in the south of France. She gloms onto a young drifter, Jean, first by his pocketbook and ...
Paris arrives at L.A.’s doorstep for COL*COA @ the DGA
Apr
17
2013
We love the annual French film festival, COL*COA [City of Lights * City of Angels]. It’s a deep plunge, every April, into the latest of French cinema and, increasingly, the schedule is studded with digitally restored classics. The two viewing rooms at the Director’s Guild are among the loveliest in town; both are sparkling clean, ...
Canapes and CLOCLO made COL*COA cool
Apr
23
2012
No one does it like the French. No one, no way, no how. COL*COA (City of Lights*City of Angels), the annual French film festival in Los Angeles, just wrapped up at the Director’s Guild of America building on Sunset Boulevard. The festival, now in its 16th year and masterminded by the incredibly hard-working Francois Truffart, ...