'gainsbourg: a heroic life' review

I first saw Gainsbourg back in the spring of 2010 when I was part of the jury for COL-COA. I liked it then, and I liked it again when I re-watched it this week in a slightly shorter version. (The original was 130 minutes long; the new cut is 122 minutes.) I couldn't tell you what was taken out, but the film's overall impact feels the same: Eric Elmosnino is quite good in it as Serge Gainsbourg, but the biopic as a whole is only so-so. My review is up at The Projector for you perusing.

'Rapt' Review

I first saw Rapt last spring as part of COLCOA. I thought it was pretty great then, and I still think it's pretty great now. My review is up at Yahoo.

colcoa jury prize winners, and my own top favorites

Saturday night, my fellow COLCOA jury members and I deliberated at Greenblatt's Deli and selected our critics prize winners from the festival. You can read the full list of winners (including audience and short-film prizes) here. I'm very pleased with what we came up with, but I'd also like to offer my own list of favorites, with links to their plot descriptions:

1. Silent Voices
2. Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno
3. Rapt
4. The Father of My Children
5. An Ordinary Execution
6. Farewell
7. Irene

As I had hoped, being a jury member for the festival was a real treat. I thank my fellow jurors, COLCOA director/programmer Francois Truffart, and his entire staff for a great experience. Let's do it again next year.

COLCOA jury duty

The annual COLCOA (City of Lights, City of Angels) festival will be taking place in Los Angeles from April 19-25. As the festival says, it's "A Week of French Film Premieres in Hollywood." I'm proud to say I'll be serving on the jury with four fellow LAFCA members, and our screenings start next week. The slate of COLCOA films is here -- in previous years, they've spotlighted such great films as The Secret of the Grain, Seraphine, Roman de Gare and Manon on the Asphalt.

I'm thrilled and honored to be part of COLCOA, and I'm looking forward to discovering a few gems -- as well as finding out what the super-secret "Blind Date" film that's screening during the festival will be.