romain duris Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Pickings are a bit slim on the indie DVD shelves this week, but here are three titles that sound like they're worth checking out.

"Instead of grousing or hand wringing" about its topic -- why the US government hasn't been able to locate certain war criminals -- Jeffrey M. Anderson said that The Hunting Party "becomes a spry, surprising and intelligent comedy." Richard Gere stars as a reporter who convinces his former cameraman (Terrence Howard) to join him in tracking down an infamous war criminal. Richard Shepard wrote and directed. The DVD features an audio commentary by Shepherd, deleted scenes, a "making of," and interviews with the journalists featured in the magazine article that served as source material for the film.

Laurent Tirard's Molière "uses the titular French playwright's life as a jumping-off point for a fanciful tale of romance, duplicity, and acting, Acting, ACTING," according to Nick Schager. "What's missing, alas, is a greater sense of surprise that might keep the film from feeling somewhat rote." Still, it's hard to find eye candy that looks better than this cast: Romain Duris stars as the playwright; with Ludivine Sagnier and Laura Morante also featured. The DVD includes an audio commentary with the director and a "making of" feature.

If you're in the mood for an off-beat doc, Confessions of a Superhero (pictured) should cure what ails you. Our own James Rocchi says that the film examines four would-be actors making ends meet "by dressing as superheroes and posing with the tourists outside Graumann's Chinese Theater." (When I lived in Los Angeles, I always wondered about those people.) He felt that the film "never loses sight of pop culture or personal struggle, and sticks with you thanks to a careful mix of big images and small moment." The DVD includes a commentary track, deleted scenes and extended footage.

Laurent Tirard's Molière belongs to the subgenre of fictionalized biopics, which is considerably better than belonging to the traditional biopic genre, now a classification that denotes little more than phony, moldy clichés. Taking its cue from Shakespeare in Love, Tirard's film uses the titular French playwright's life as a jumping-off point for a fanciful tale of romance, duplicity, and acting, Acting, ACTING, imagining the adventure had by the 22-year-old Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, aka Molière (The Beat That My Heart Skipped's Romain Duris), during a period of months in 1644 when he mysteriously vanished. It's speculation of the playful sort, as screenwriters Tirard and Grégoire Vigneron cook up a wild saga to serve as the eventual inspiration for the writer's Tartuffe and The Bourgeois Gentleman, both of which are born from his unlikely stay at the opulent estate of arrogant fat cat Monsieur Jourdain (Fabrice Luchini), where he finds himself in the middle of various romantic entanglements. Ruses, double-crosses, and covert kisses ensue, all while Tirard casts his legendary protagonist as a kindred spirit of Preston Sturges' Sullivan, convinced that comedy - his natural calling - is merely the ugly, inferior stepchild to tragedy.

It's a belief anyone with passing knowledge of Molière's work knows will inevitably be torn asunder, and one that's firmly opposed by Molière itself, which fervently embraces the author's brand of frothy farce tinged with melancholy. After a brief framing intro (set in 1658) in which Molière and his troupe return to Paris after a 13-year tour of the countryside, the film flashes back to the artist's early days when he was struggling to make ends meet as a two-bit performer. Those lean times come to an end after an accidental bit of Chaplin-esque stage buffoonery gets him hired by Jourdain, who wants acting lessons so that he might perform a ridiculously bad, self-penned one-act play (about Greek mythology) for the gorgeous marquise Celimene (Ludivine Sagnier). This must all be done in secret, however, since Jourdain is married to the sharp-eyed Elmire (Laura Morante), a beauty with whom Molière - posing as a priest named Tartuffe who's been commissioned to tutor the younger Jourdain daughter - soon comes to find himself enraptured, and with whom he begins a clandestine affair that proves one of many tricky situations the young playwright is charged with resolving.

While you could probably question some of John Malkovich's choices when it comes to movie roles, you can't help but notice that he usually manages to walk away with his reputation intact. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Malkovich has joined the thriller Afterwards; a film that also stars Romain Duris and Evangeline Lilly (who probably needs no introduction to you Lost fans, as she is the show's star). This is Lilly's big-screen debut, and will be a return home for the Canadian-born actress when the film starts shooting in Montreal, and then in New York later this summer.

Based on the novel "Et apres...." by Guillaume Musso, the story centers on Duris' character, "a workaholic lawyer drifting away from his ex-wife (Lilly) and daughter, who meets a mysterious doctor (Malkovich) who claims to have the power to predict people's deaths". Director Gilles Bourdos -- who has some experience with suspense having already given us the 2003 Ruth Rendell adaptation Sight for Sore Eyes (Inquiétudes), also helped co-write the screenplay. The film is a French and Canadian co-production and features the cinematography of Mark Lee Ping-bin; fans of Wong Kar-Wai might recognize him as the cinematographer for In the Mood For Love. Afterwards is set for release in 2008; by then I'm sure Malkovich will be on to the next job in his ever-growing list of film commitments.