Cinemania’08 Review: True Enough
True Enough (La verite ou presque) is like a Parisian version of Woody Allen’s lighter comedies, replete with delightfully unfaithful characters who live relatively glamorous bourgeois lifestyles as television producers and aging novelists. Set to the backstory of the death of a struggling jazz musician from Lyon and featuring equally whimsical music, as well as a cast that plays their roles to a tee, one would think Sam Karmann’s latest would be a top comedy. Unfortunately, the truth (or at least my version of it) is that True Enough is little more than an amusing 90-minute afternoon break that never manages to bring out the depth of character of an Allen movie, nor the out-and-out laughs of a Wilder comedy. Read more »
Film Festivals, Film Reviews | 
November 16, 2008 | Comments Off
In 1930, French director Rene Clair directed a film that is seen as one of the most vital in the move from silent film to “talkies”. While there are lines of dialogue dropped in at key moments to move along the plot, the majority of the film is a combination of gestures and music Beneath the Rooftops of Paris (Les toits de Paris). Hiner Saleem’s 2007 film shares the title and affinity for silent communication rather than dialogue, but the similarities end there. Starring classic film star Michel Piccoli, who lives in the tight halls above the Parisian streets, the film is both fanciful in its near lack of dialogue and heartbreaking in its depiction of a man’s solitude. It is a slice of life that is worth a once-over. 
Manuel Poutte’s Distant Tremors (Les tremblements lointains) is a diamond in the rough; it is the rare Montreal film festival premiere that comes as a complete surprise in its excellence in storytelling, filmmaking and mood. It is a dark and mystical film that speaks to a bigger picture in metaphorical images: that individuals may try but cannot escape from their heritage, from the customs that formed them as human beings. The Belgium director has created a disturbing yet wholly original story set in Senegal that culminates in a maddening river journey reminiscent of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. I can only hope the film picks up a distribution deal for general release, as it is one of the finest foreign film experiences this year. 
Sibling Belgian directors Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne never connected with international audiences until their first attempts at long narratives in the late 1990s. With films such as La promesse (1996) and L’enfant (2005), the now middle-aged Dardennes’ have shown to be adept at creating films about the Belgian underclass: immigrants, drug dealers and petty criminals. Lorna’s Silence (Le silence de Lorna) continues along this theme, revealing a hidden world in contemporary Europe that is disheartening in the gains it makes from human lives. While this gritty piece of filmmaking may draw comparisons to 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days due to its equally biting subject matter and handheld camera, it never feels as consummate as last year’s Golden Palm winner. 
Starting this Thursday, November 6th, the Cinemania Film Festival returns for its 14th year as the city’s premiere festival for francophone films from abroad - though you’ll be hard-pressed to find a film where France was not involved in the production. The organizers have handpicked about thirty films that have gone through the festival circuit abroad and are being premiered for the first time in Quebec or Canada during the week of Nov. 6 to Nov. 16 exclusively at the Cinema Imperial. 
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