French music hall revisited with “Monsieur Chocolat” @ COLCOA
“Monsieur Chocolat,” a biopic set in the fin-de-siècle world of French circus and music hall opened the 20th anniversary edition of COLCOA French Film Festival in Los Angeles last night, bringing exotica and rich visual zing to the big screen of the Director’s Guild of America. The film’s talented director Roschy Zem and its star, ...
French swashbuckling powers “On Guard” @ COLCOA Classics
Apr
18
2016
The yummy goodies that add piquancy to the jam-packed opening-night reception of COLCOA, Los Angeles’s premier French film festival celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2016, carry forth to a rich movie-menu of new releases. There’s even an ‘evergreen’ mini-festival, COLCOA Classics which provides a second look at great movies reprised on the big screen. Romance ...
Delon and Gabin crime story a highlight of COLCOA Classics
Brenda Blethyn’s performance as a devoted parole officer was the best thing about Two Men in Town, but it wasn’t enough to bring the drama fully to life. An adaptation of a 1973 French film that transplanted the action from Montpellier to the U.S.-Mexican border, the recent release also starred Forest Whitaker and Harvey Keitel. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
Bertrand Blier to Gérard Depardieu: ‘Trop gros pour moi!’
Apr
15
2011
depardieu/farley, snl “I always think about Gérard Depardieu when I create a role,” said Bertrand Blier, who since 1974 has made eight films with France’s premier actor. “Even if it’s a woman. Even if it’s an animal. Sometimes there’s a big piece of furniture — it’s Depardieu.” Blier was free-associating at the daily afternoon ‘Happy ...