Lasse og Geir/Them and Us

Lasse & Geir is a social realistic drama- and youthfilm from 1976 directed by the - in Norway - very well known duo, Svend Wam (often working in team with the Norwegian director and producer Petter Vennerød).
As the main characters we find the actors Torgeir Schjerven and Lasse Tømte but also actors like Knut Pettersen, Jorunn Kjellsby og Kjersti Døvigen.
This is our film this evening.

À l'aveugle (2012)

Notre film ce soir Our film this evening:

De grønne slagtere/The Green Butchers

Fra : Notre film ce soir.  Une comédie dingue (comme d'habitude) danoise mais drôle, au moins selon notre goût. Réalisateur : Anders Thomas Jensen. Acteurs : Nikolaj Lie Kaas et Mads Mikkelsen dans les rôles principaux. En: Our film this evening. A crazy (as usual) Danish comedy but funny, at least from our point of view. Director: Anders Thomas Jensen. Actors: Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Mads Mikkelsen in the principal roles.

Cloclo

Fra :
Notre film ces soir, c'est le film biographique 
sur la vie de l'artiste Claude François.
Encore une fois, un artiste français, énormément bien connu
ou plutôt célébré en France et dans les pays francophones
mais un artiste que je ne connais pas avant avoir rencontré
ma femme française. Souvent c'est le cas avec certains
artistes français/françaises. Connu dans le monde francophone
mais très peu en dehors, malgré une vente de disques gigantesque !
Réalisateur : Florent Emilio-Siri
Acteurs principaux/actrices principales :
Jérémie Renier, Benoît Magimel, Monica Scattini et Sabrina Seyvecou.
Eng:
Our film this evening, it's the biopic about the artiste Claude François.
Once again, a French artist, enormously well known, not to
say famous in France and the French speaking countries
but an artist I hardly knew before meeting my French wife.
This is often the case with some Franch artists.
They are well known in the French speaking world
but very little outside this very same world
and this in spite of a gigantic record sales!
Director: Florent Emilio-Siri
Principal actors/actresses:
Jérémie Renier, Benoît Magimel, Monica Scattini et Sabrina Seyvecou.


Cloclo
Cloclo Bande-annonce VF

127 Hours

Our film this evening is built on a real story a real event about an experienced mountain climber and wildlife habitué who becomes to sure of himself leading him to fall down into a ravine.
At first he tries to scream and think logically but after a while, when the dark comes, he realizes that he is alone and that it might take days, weeks or never(!) for someone to find him. He got to get out of there alone.
When being stuck with his leg between rocks, it gets worse.

Although one sometimes could feel his distress and the claustrophobia, the fact that this actually happened to someone (or many), it was not an impressing film and we were not as affected by it as one could have imagined we should have been.

In the Land of Blood & Honey

Our film this evening is directed by Angelina Jolie and it's her first feature film as an director. She had directed a documentary before.
The story takes place in the 1990s, in Sarajevo during the wrath of the Bosnian War. Danijel (Goran Kostić) is a soldier fighting for the Bosnian Serbs. In a prisoner camp led by his strict father, general Nebojša, he finds Ajla (Zana Marjanović), his former love, who is a Bosniak (a Bosnian Muslim) and therefore a prisoner.  This situation creates problems concerening loyalty, love, ethnic belongings and so on.
In spite of the gravity of the subject it didn't touch us sufficiently. The reality is far worse of course.
Notre film ce soir est un film réalisé par Angelina Jolie et c'est son début comme réalisatrice d'un long-métrage, film fiction. Avant ce film elle avait aussi réalisé un documentaire.
L'histoire se déroule pendant le siège de Sarajevo dans les années 1990. Un Serbe de Bosnie, Danijel (Goran Kostić), retrouve Ajla (Zana Marjanović), une Bosniaque, qu'il a connue avant la guerre. Lui est le gardien d'un camp de concentration et elle, une prisonnière dans ce même camp. Avant la guerre ils étaient des amants.  Cette situation crée des problèmes de loyauté, l'amour, l'appartenance ethnique etc.
Malgré la gravité du sujet, le film nous a pas touché suffisamment. La réalité est biens sûr toujours pire.

The Immortals (1995)

Our film this evening:  A nightclub owner, Jack (Eric Roberts) brings together a group of small-time hoods and teams them up in unusual pairs (black man and white racist, Ivy Leaguer and simpleton) for a set of multiple heists which turn out to be an elaborate double cross against a notorious gangster, Dominic (Tony Curtis). It seems as if Jack is more or less suicidal.  Director: Brian Grant.
Not a particularly good film, even as a simple action movie.
Notre film ce soir : Jack (Eric Roberts), patron d'un night-club, a mis au point un incroyable plan pour un braquage. Huit inconnus, d'origines et sexes différentes mais ayant tous un point en commun, devront voler au même moment des valises dans différents endroits de la ville. Dans ces quatre mallettes se trouve une grosse somme d'argent appartenant à un gangster, Dominic (Tony Curtis). Chaque braqueurs prennent conscience pendant la soirée que le plan de Jack est totalement suicidaire. Réalisateur : Brian Grant.
Pas un film particulièrement bon, même pas vu sous l'angle d'un simple film d'action.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Our film this evening is a "classic" action-super-hero-film within the Marvel Comics Universe.
Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a military soldier during WWII, rejected because he is to small an thin, is transformed into Captain America after taking a dose of a "Super-Soldier serum". As Captain America his mission is to take down a war monger and a terrorist organization of Nazi origine.
Perhaps one of the better Marvel films (so far) in the action-hero-genre. Clichés and foreseeable "jokes" of course but... as "entertainment"...
In other roles we see Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper and Samuel L. Jackson.
Notre film ce soir est un film d'action avec un "super-héro" dans le cadre de l'Univers de Marvel Comics.
Fondé sur le personnage de la série Marvel Comics, Captain America, le film raconte l'histoire de Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), un jeune homme, rejeté comme soldat pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, parce qu'il est trop petit et maigre mais qui est transformé en un super-soldat "grace" ou à cause d'un "Super-Soldier-sérum". Il devient Captain America et son mission c'est d'éliminer un criminel de guerre, le chef d'une organisation Nazi.
Peut-être un des meilleurs films (jusqu'à maintenant) dans ce genre de film d'action avec des "super-héros". Des clichés et et des "blagues" prévisibles bien sûr mais... comme "divertissement"...
Dans d'autre rôles on peut voir Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper et Samuel L. Jackson.

I did not graduate with a Master in Art for that!

L'Hôtel de Villaines, La Châtre. Exhibition hall.

Today, for the first time in my (Aurore´s) life, I said no to a part time job. Why?

Well, let's say that the ad was attractive and that the real tasks were not.

We're talking about a summer job at a museum.
The employment office had announced a curator job.

The real position had more to do with a janitor one.

No. Thanks.

The Town Museum:

Musée George Sand et de la Vallée Noire

(Photo Hôtel de Villaines: http://static.berryprovince.com/wp-content/uploads/wpetourisme/hotel-de-villaines-vd-2-700x525.jpg)

(Photo Musée de George Sand et de la Vallée Noire: http://webmuseo.com/ws/musee-de-la-chatre/app/file/download/Musee.JPG?key=a57075zc27tl6z1tyy29mic00iao0168i)

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a 2011 American 3D sequel to the 2007 film Ghost Rider and features Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider. In the supporting roles we see Ciarán Hinds (replacing Peter Fonda), Violante Placido, Johnny Whitworth, Christopher Lambert, and Idris Elba. 
The film is directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, from a screenplay written by David S. Goyer, Scott M. Gimple and Seth Hoffman. 
The critics were not to fond of it and I (Gunnar) found the first one better but this one is a not to bad Relax-on-a-Friday-evening-film.

Blinkende lygter/Flickering Lights

Our film this evening is Danish and one where they use the black humour being so common in Danish film making. Not common in a negative sense of the word because they often use it in a brilliant way. In this film too.
Four small-time gangsters from Copenhagen (played by Søren Pilmark, Ulrich Thomsen, Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, where the three last have gone on to act in international productions) steal over 4,000,000 Danish kroner which they were supposed to bring to a gangster boss. Their plan is to flee to Barcelona but they are forced to stop in the countryside, in an old, worn-down house, hiding there for several weeks.
After some time they get attached to this house and surrounding and they decide that they would stay there.  Their plan is to renovate the house and make it into a restaurant.
What they didn't foresee was that the gangster boss could show up some day, as he does.
In other roles we see the fine Danish actressess Sofie Gråbøl and Iben Hjejle.  In the role as the gangster boss we see the Swedish actor Peter Andersson, he also a very fine actor, seen in the Millenium movies but also in films by Björn Runge, among other œuvres.
Director: Anders Thomas Jensen.  

The Impressionists (TV-series)

The Impressionists is a 2006 three-part docudrama based on facts in the form of documents, archive letters, records and interviews from the time, made by the BBC, reconstructing the origins of the Impressionist art movement.

The story is structured aroudn the paintings. Some of the world's most memorable art works are recreated, following the same techniques that the artists used at the time.

The series reveals how Claude Monet took just 40 minutes to paint his seminal work Impression, soleil levant ("Sunrise") in a race against time to capture the light, the painting laying the foundations for the Impressionist movement; why Manet's depiction of Olympia so outraged Parisian society; and how Cézanne's 60 paintings of one mountain, Montagne Saint-Victoire, laid the foundations for Cubism and modern art.

Julian Glover plays 80-year-old Monet, the "father of Impressionism" and narrator of the series. He undertakes a nostalgic but painful journey as he looks back on his past life in an interview with a journalist at his garden in Giverny.

As all docudramas, I feel a bit ambiguous about these depictions of "real life stories", as with biopics. 
The problem with language: French artists speaking English? How "real" is this?
This is of course a recurrent problem in English speaking countries but also French speaking, Spanish speaking and other countries not interested in hearing another language than their own.

But otherwise a good production as (almost) always from BBC.

Exposition sur le cinéma/Exhibition on film La Berthenoux

Français (English below):

Grâce à Facebook, j'ai (Gunnar) rencontré un homme qui s'appelle Gérard Prugnaud, qui a travaillé comme professeur, mais qui est aujourd'hui à la retraite.

Toute sa vie il s'est intéressé au cinéma et il a collectionné des objets utilisés qu'on a utilisé pour créer des films mais aussi des objets dérivés de différent films et aussi des journaux de cinéma.

L'exposition a été montrée dans la bibliothèque de La Berthenoux.

L'exposition est composé par Gérard avec des objets de sa collection et c'ést intéressant de trouver de vieilles caméras, super-8 et le 'clap' original utilisé par Jacques Tati quand il a tourné le film Jour de Fête.

Ce film (Jour de fête) a été tourné pas loin d’où j'habite, La Châtre, et pas loin de La Berthenoux non plus, à Sainte-Sévère. Dans cette ville on peut aujourd'hui trouver  un musée dédié à ce film et sa réalisation, inauguré en 2009.

Nous n'avons pas de photos de l'exposition en soi (sauf les deux au-dessus), mais l'exposition reste en place jusqu'au 30 mars, ce qui vous donne la possibilité de la visiter si vous n'habitez pas loin de La Berthenoux.

English:

Through Facebook I (Gunnar) 'met' a man by the name of Gerard Prugnaud, having worked as a professor, now being retired from his work.

All his life he has had an interest in film/the movies, collecting items used making films and stemming from films but also journals about film.
This exhibition was displayed in the library in La Berthenoux.

It's put together by Gerard from his own collection and it was interesting to find some older film cameras, super-8:s and the original clapper board Tati used in his film Jour de Fête.

The latter film (Jour de Fête) was made not far from La Châtre, where I live and not far from La Berthenoux either, in Sainte-Sévère, where we today find a museum dedicated to that film and its realisation.

Now we don't have so many photographs from the exhibition (except the two at the top) but it continues to the 30th of March wherefore you can visit it if you're nearby.

On the other hand we will show you La Berthenoux through our photos.

Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1990)

Another version but better then the previous ones? Well not bad at all and as Michael Caine creates the lead role my wife Aurore would probably say it is the best one. He is one of her favourites and, at least as younger, a "perfect man"!!

Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy

This film is directed by the Swedish director Tomas Alfredsson, the son of the comedian, actor, writer and director Hans Alfredsson (1931-). 

It is an impressing cast: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ciarán Hinds and the Swedish-Danish actor David Dencik. 
Where are the women? Well there are some but one can't say they play an important role, unfortunately. Kathy Burke, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Linda Marlowe and Laura Carmichael are the most predominant women in the film. 

A very macho like film in this sense. 

As a film quite entertaining, not taking itself too seriously. A combination between different 1960-70 agent and spy-stories; James Bond and more amusing detective franchises. 

The basis is the book by John Le Carré and the action is taking place during the Cold War so the background is of course a rather severe and serious one. 

On the whole a film worth seeing with some original ingredients but mostly entertaining, not trying to take a serious standpoint on the Cold War.

Driver (1978)

For those having seen the film Drive by Nicolas Winding Refn, this is the original from which he built his film. 

The story is almost identic, that is to say it turns around a get away driver who uses his squills as a driver of fast cars to help criminals escape the police. 

In the role as the driver or "Cowbow" as he is called here, we see Ryan O'Neal and his is very good as the cold, rather ruthless but in spite of this also warm hearted character. 

In Winding Refn's film it is Ryan Gosling who takes on the same role, an actor with very few facial expressions and that works in a film like this. 

O'Neal is however more expressive although his role also implies not displaying any particular feelings. 

I or we liked both films in its genre. Winding Refn's film a bit more violent, as most of his films.

Driver is directed by Walter Hill.

Thor

Sedmikrásky/ Daisies

Ce film s'appelle "Les Petites Marguerites" (Sedmikrásky) en français et c'est un chef-d'oeuvre de La Nouvelle Vague Tchécoslovaque. La réalisatrice s'appelle Věra Chytilová est elle était une pionnière du nouveau cinéma Tchécoslovaque et une réalisatrice qu'Aurore connait très bien, car elle a beaucoup regardé des films d'elle et d'autres réalisateurs/réalisatrices tchécoslovaques pendant ces études. Aurore avait même envie de consacrer ses études au cinéma tchécoslovaque avant elle s'est tourné vers le cinéma scandinave.
This film is called "Daisies" in English and it is a masterpiece within the Czechoslovak New Wave cinema. The director's name is Věra Chytilová and she was a pioneer within the new Czechoslovak cinema and a director Aurore know very well because she has seen many films by her and other directors from the former Czechoslovakia during her studies. Aurore, for a while, even wanted to devote herself to studies of the Czechoslovak cinema before turning towards the Scandinavian cinema.

Chakushin Ari/ One Missed Call

Déjeuner avec les chasseurs Sarzay

Près du Château de Sarzay (ci-dessous) nous avons mangé avec les chasseurs (les amis de mon beau-père) aujourd'hui. Quelque photos.
Close to Château de Sarzay (below) where we ate with the hunters (friends of my father-in-law) today. Some photos.

Il y avait plus de viandes dans l'assiette que ce que révèle la photo.
Malheureusement, nous avons oublié de prendre une photo
avant j'ai mangé le chevreuil.
And it was much more meat on the plate than this photo reveal.

Unfortunately we forgot to take a photo before I had eaten the deer.

The Stranger

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Blodsbånd

The Norwegian film Blodsbånd (literary meaning "Blood relationship" or "Blood ties") is the story about a young boy - Mirush - who lives in Kosovo with his mother and older brother Armend. Armend have saved some money in order to go to Norway but he is killled in a car accident so Mirush finds the money and a map of Norway and without telling his mother, he leaves Kosovo in order to go to the land of the fjords.
His father works at a restaurant there and Mirush finds it and the day after he is given a work at the restaurant without telling his father that he is his son. Obviously he has not seen his son since he was a very small child.

In Kosovo Mirush was a good basketball player and he also gambled on winning and he continues to do so in Norway. It is just that he finds a gold watch belonging to the Albanian mafia, steals it and uses it when gambling with other boys when playing basket. He wins and gets quite a good amount of money but he does not want to return the gold watch to the mafia. A waiter, Frode, finds out that Mirush has stolen the watch and beg him to leave it back but Mirush refuses. 
The mafia thinks it is Frode who has stolen it and breaks his fingers!

A film not depicting Mirush as a very nice person, to say the least and of course it could be intepreted as a critique and accusation of dishonesty among Kosovo people, if one overinterpret the film. Dishonest "Kosovians" and an Albanian mafia. The Norwegians seem honest? A real depiction of the Norwegian society or a critique against the immigrant policy or what? Well, judge for yourselfs.

The director is Marius Holst.