This peaceful nature film contemplates the creatures and critters that live in and around a 200-year-old oak, including some Top Gun-esque aerial cinematography
Entirely devoid of dialogue (unless a bit of Dean Martin on the soundtrack counts), this pleasant nature film observes the seasons passing for 18 months on, around and even underneath a 210-year-old oak tree in Sologne in central France. Technically, some would argue this is not exactly a documentary because some of the sequences are staged or composed of shots taken at totally different times, but scientific accuracy and cinematic authenticity aren’t really the point; this isn’t didactic film-making in the David Attenborough or even March of the Penguins tradition, crafted to drop a bit of natural history knowledge on the viewer. That said, if you sit through the end credits, you’ll at least learn some of the featured creatures’ Latin and French names,...
Entirely devoid of dialogue (unless a bit of Dean Martin on the soundtrack counts), this pleasant nature film observes the seasons passing for 18 months on, around and even underneath a 210-year-old oak tree in Sologne in central France. Technically, some would argue this is not exactly a documentary because some of the sequences are staged or composed of shots taken at totally different times, but scientific accuracy and cinematic authenticity aren’t really the point; this isn’t didactic film-making in the David Attenborough or even March of the Penguins tradition, crafted to drop a bit of natural history knowledge on the viewer. That said, if you sit through the end credits, you’ll at least learn some of the featured creatures’ Latin and French names,...
- 6/5/2024
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Films by auteurs Claire Denis, Hong Sangsoo and Rithy Panh are part of the lineup in competition at the 72nd Berlin Film Festival.
Berlin’s 2022 selection spans 18 movies, seven directed by women, which will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears. The films originate from 15 countries, with 17 serving as world premieres. Two of the films are first features, both from women.
Artistic director Carlo Chatrian discussed the thematic throughline of “human and emotional bonds” across the selection, with the family unit serving as a key focal point in a number of movies. More than half are set in the present time, and two are within the pandemic era.
The festival hosts 12 returning filmmakers, eight of whom are in competition and five of whom already hold a Bear from Berlin.
The festival will go ahead as an in-person event, albeit with seating capacity in movie theaters reduced to 50% and without any parties or receptions.
Berlin’s 2022 selection spans 18 movies, seven directed by women, which will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears. The films originate from 15 countries, with 17 serving as world premieres. Two of the films are first features, both from women.
Artistic director Carlo Chatrian discussed the thematic throughline of “human and emotional bonds” across the selection, with the family unit serving as a key focal point in a number of movies. More than half are set in the present time, and two are within the pandemic era.
The festival hosts 12 returning filmmakers, eight of whom are in competition and five of whom already hold a Bear from Berlin.
The festival will go ahead as an in-person event, albeit with seating capacity in movie theaters reduced to 50% and without any parties or receptions.
- 1/19/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
PoetBerlinale have announced the first 62 titles selected for the 72nd edition of their festival, set to take place physically from February 10 — 20.FORUMAfterwater (Dane Komljen)Poet (Darezhan Omirbayev)The Middle AgesEurope (Philip Scheffner)A Flower in the Mouth (Éric Baudelaire)Memoryland (Kim Quy Bui)My Two Voices (Lina Rodriguez)Nuclear Family (Erin Wilkerson, Travis Wilkerson)Super Natural (Jorge Jácome)The United States of America (James Benning)Forum EXPANDEDDragon Tooth (Rafael Castanheira Parrode)Home When You Return (Carl Elsaesser)Jail Bird in a Peacock Chair (James Gregory Atkinson)Sol in the Dark (Mawena Yehouessi)vs (Lydia Nsiah)PANORAMATalking About the Weather (Annika Pinske)The Apartment with Two Women (Kim Se-in)Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (Nina Menkes)Swing Ride (Chiara Bellosi)Dreaming WallsKlondike (Maryna Er Gorbach)A Love Song (Max Walker-Silverman)Myanmar Diaries (The Myanmar Film Collective)Into My Name (Nicolò Bassetti)Nelly & Nadine (Magnus Gertten)We, Students! (Rafiki Fariala)Until Tomorrow (Ali Asgari...
- 12/15/2021
- MUBI
The 2022 Berlin International Film Festival has revealed its first titles, including seven films that have been invited to the Berlinale Special program. You can see the full list of confirmed films below.
Those seven include Peter Flinth’s Against The Ice, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joe Cole, Heida Reed and Charles Dance, and Laurent Larivière’s About Joan, starring Isabelle Huppert, which both play as Berlinale Special Galas.
The Panorama program has unveiled 13 titles, with Generation confirming eight features, and further films set for Forum and Forum Expanded.
The Panorama strand includes Myanmar Diaries, a doc/feature hybrid from the Myanmar Film Collective that highlights violence suffered by Burmese citizens.
“The pandemic has created distances – not only between people but also the way we see the world. Amongst the 2022 selection are films shot during the pandemic, reflecting on how it feels to be disconnected from others. It is with this first...
Those seven include Peter Flinth’s Against The Ice, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joe Cole, Heida Reed and Charles Dance, and Laurent Larivière’s About Joan, starring Isabelle Huppert, which both play as Berlinale Special Galas.
The Panorama program has unveiled 13 titles, with Generation confirming eight features, and further films set for Forum and Forum Expanded.
The Panorama strand includes Myanmar Diaries, a doc/feature hybrid from the Myanmar Film Collective that highlights violence suffered by Burmese citizens.
“The pandemic has created distances – not only between people but also the way we see the world. Amongst the 2022 selection are films shot during the pandemic, reflecting on how it feels to be disconnected from others. It is with this first...
- 12/15/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Following the French box office hit “Rolling to You,” Gaumont is re-teaming with the film’s stars, Franck Dubosc and Alexandra Lamy, on “Family Swap,” a comedy about a dysfunctional family whose members swap bodies.
The film will start shooting in September, with Jean-Patrick Benes (“Ugly Melanie”) directing. The story follows the Morels, including two teenagers and a 7-year-old kid who are driving their parents out of their minds. One morning, they all wake up inside each other’s bodies.
Gaumont worked with Dubosc on his directorial debut, “Rolling to You,” which was one of France’s highest-grossing local films in 2018, with about $20 million locally, and $25 million abroad. Karé Prods. is producing “Swap,” and Gaumont is co-producing, distributing in France and handling international sales.
Gaumont, which is in Cannes with Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s closing night film “The Specials,” has also boarded “Heart of Oak,” a music-filled, 4K-lensed...
The film will start shooting in September, with Jean-Patrick Benes (“Ugly Melanie”) directing. The story follows the Morels, including two teenagers and a 7-year-old kid who are driving their parents out of their minds. One morning, they all wake up inside each other’s bodies.
Gaumont worked with Dubosc on his directorial debut, “Rolling to You,” which was one of France’s highest-grossing local films in 2018, with about $20 million locally, and $25 million abroad. Karé Prods. is producing “Swap,” and Gaumont is co-producing, distributing in France and handling international sales.
Gaumont, which is in Cannes with Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s closing night film “The Specials,” has also boarded “Heart of Oak,” a music-filled, 4K-lensed...
- 5/15/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
It took writer and co-director Jacques Perrin more than three years of filming around the world to bring "Le Peuple Migrateur" (Traveling Birds) to the big screen. Although the technological feat of following migratory birds around the globe should be enough to leave audiences open-mouthed with admiration, the movie ultimately fails to leave a deep impression.
At first, French moviegoers gave "Peuple" a tepid reception. But over the past few weeks, interest has picked up, with the boxoffice showing healthy admissions.
As with his previous foray into the animal world, producing the award-winning "Microcosmos", all elements are here -- stunning scenery, sharply observed animal behavior, brief moments of humor. Yet to an ornithologically challenged audience, all birds are alike. It's not really the birds that steal the show but the notion that Perrin brought such an awe-inspiring idea to fruition. He is definitely a man with a plan.
Four years ago, he set up five breeding centers, in France, Canada and Iceland, where birds were reared to become accustomed to a human presence. They also became familiar with the machines that Perrin would use to bring about his dream of actually flying with the birds themselves. These included microlights and hot-air balloons.
The movie is not without moments of real drama, like when birds escape an avalanche where huge walls of ice fall into the sea. Perrin filmed other stunning scenes such as dawn over the Great Wall of China or a flock of birds flying down the Hudson River with the famous New York skyline in the background. But most of the time, the movie runs as a wildlife documentary without the illuminating and explanatory background. There are only so many times that an unidentified flock of birds, flying over an unidentified piece of land, can hold a viewer's interest.
The lack of real commentary highlights the absence of any logical sequence to the filming. The movie jumps from species to species and country to country without any rationale. Add to this an eclectic choice of music to accompany the migrating birds, and it's not just the endless aerial shots that leave the audience feeling dizzy.
LE PEUPLE MIGRATEUR
Galatee Films
Credits:
Producer: Christophe Barratier
Director: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzeaud, Michel Debats
Screenwriter: Jacques Perrin
Directors of photography: Thierry Machado, Dominique Bentil, Bernard Lutic, Luc Droin, Laurent Fleutot, Michel Terrasse, Syllvie Carcedo, Laurent Charbonnier, Philippe Guarguil
Music: Bruno Coulais
Editor: Marie-Josephe Yoyotte
Production designer: Regis Nicolino
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 100 minutes...
At first, French moviegoers gave "Peuple" a tepid reception. But over the past few weeks, interest has picked up, with the boxoffice showing healthy admissions.
As with his previous foray into the animal world, producing the award-winning "Microcosmos", all elements are here -- stunning scenery, sharply observed animal behavior, brief moments of humor. Yet to an ornithologically challenged audience, all birds are alike. It's not really the birds that steal the show but the notion that Perrin brought such an awe-inspiring idea to fruition. He is definitely a man with a plan.
Four years ago, he set up five breeding centers, in France, Canada and Iceland, where birds were reared to become accustomed to a human presence. They also became familiar with the machines that Perrin would use to bring about his dream of actually flying with the birds themselves. These included microlights and hot-air balloons.
The movie is not without moments of real drama, like when birds escape an avalanche where huge walls of ice fall into the sea. Perrin filmed other stunning scenes such as dawn over the Great Wall of China or a flock of birds flying down the Hudson River with the famous New York skyline in the background. But most of the time, the movie runs as a wildlife documentary without the illuminating and explanatory background. There are only so many times that an unidentified flock of birds, flying over an unidentified piece of land, can hold a viewer's interest.
The lack of real commentary highlights the absence of any logical sequence to the filming. The movie jumps from species to species and country to country without any rationale. Add to this an eclectic choice of music to accompany the migrating birds, and it's not just the endless aerial shots that leave the audience feeling dizzy.
LE PEUPLE MIGRATEUR
Galatee Films
Credits:
Producer: Christophe Barratier
Director: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzeaud, Michel Debats
Screenwriter: Jacques Perrin
Directors of photography: Thierry Machado, Dominique Bentil, Bernard Lutic, Luc Droin, Laurent Fleutot, Michel Terrasse, Syllvie Carcedo, Laurent Charbonnier, Philippe Guarguil
Music: Bruno Coulais
Editor: Marie-Josephe Yoyotte
Production designer: Regis Nicolino
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 100 minutes...
- 1/22/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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