The Film Forum in the Village is currently hosting a fabulous film festival dedicated to French crime films. The festival kicked off with the edge-of-your-seat classic heist film Rififi (you must rent it now) and last night I was lucky to catch The Thief of Paris, a 1967 Louis Malle film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Genvieve Bujold. Set at the turn of the 20th century, Belmondo plays a man wronged by his uncle who turns to a life of burglarly while maintaining a gentlemanly veneer. The mostly silent burglarly sequences were thrilling and a lot of the dialogue was very funny. Belmondo has such a great knowing, smirky smile that just watching him watch the snobs of high society is entertainment enough.
The festival runs through September 11th and the movies will change every couple days or so. There are a lot of double features which is a great bang for the entertainment buck. For those unfamiliar with this genre, some highlights include Le Cercle Rouge (a Melville film with Alain Delon, I saw it a few years ago and it is a great thriller), a Touchez Pas au Grisbi (Don't Touch the Loot) and Bob Le Flambeur double feature, Goddard's Pierrot Le Fou, Breathless and Band of Outsiders (the first two with Belmondo) and Diabolique. If you can't make it to the festival, definitely try and check these out on video, particularly Breathless which is a required Film 101 Goddard gem.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment