Notizie

Writer-director Claude Berri’s 1983 crime drama Tchao Pantin, also known as So Long, Stooge, is set in a world between dusk and dawn. It begins, as the cliché goes, on a dark and stormy night, with a young Arab man, Bensoussan (Richard Anconina), arriving at a gas station looking for a spark plug for his dead moped. Graveyard-shift worker Lambert (Coluche) says that he doesn’t have one, and after Benoussan politely leaves, that would seem to be the end of their association. But circumstance keeps bringing Bensoussan and Lambert together, not least because they’re nocturnal creatures who approach things with a gentle, detached irony.

Lambert may be a creature of the night, but he looks like he never adjusted to his own schedule; the bags under his eye are nearly as blue as his garage uniform, and his slicked hair and pencil mustache look more like oil stains than natural fibers.

Fred Zinnemann’s counter-assassination thriller remains topflight filmmaking, torn from reality and shot through with an unsentimental dose of political realism. Edward Fox’s implacable killer outwits the combined resources of an entire nation as he stalks his prey, and when bad luck forces him to improvise, he racks up more victims on his kill list. Step aside Bond, Bourne and Marvel — the original Jackal is the man to beat.

The Day of the Jackal

Blu-ray

Arrow Video USA

1973 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 143 min. / Street Date September 25, 2018 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95

Starring: Edward Fox, Michel Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig, Cyril Cusack, Eric Porter, Tony Britton, Alan Badel, Michel Auclair, Tony Britton, Maurice Denham, Vernon Dobtcheff, Olga Georges-Picot, Timothy West, Derek Jacobi, Jean Martin, Ronald Pickup, Jean Sorel, Philippe Léotard, Jean Champion, Michel Subor, Howard Vernon.

Cinematography: Jean Tournier

Film Editor: Ralph Kemplen

Second Unit Director: Andrew Marton

Original Music: Georges Delerue

Written...

One of the best international thrillers ever has almost become an obscurity, for reasons unknown – this Blu-ray comes from Australia. Edward Fox’s wily assassin for hire goes up against the combined police and security establishments of three nations as he sets up the killing of a head of state – France’s president Charles de Gaulle. The terrific cast features Michel Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig and Cyril Cusack; director Fred Zinnemann’s excellent direction reaches a high pitch of tension – even though the outcome is known from the start.

The Day of the Jackal

Region B+A Blu-ray

Shock Entertainment / Universal

1973 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 143 min. / Street Date ? / Available from Amazon UK / Pounds 19.99

Starring: Edward Fox, Michel Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig, Cyril Cusack, Eric Porter, Tony Britton, Alan Badel, Michel Auclair, Tony Britton, Maurice Denham, Vernon Dobtcheff, Olga Georges-Picot, Timothy West, Derek Jacobi, Jean Martin, Ronald Pickup, Jean Sorel, Philippe Léotard, Jean Champion,...

One of the best double features you could treat yourself to this year would be a back-to-back viewing of two Agnes Varda films starring Jane Birkin, rescued from obscurity in 2015 thanks to Cinelicious Pics. Both released originally in 1988, the imaginary bio-pic Jane B. Par Agnes V. and the provocative fictional narrative Kung-Fu Master! are available on a lovingly restored disc set (as the playful Venn diagram cover art implies, the titles are more inextricably connected than initially seems apparent). Both titles received a theatrical release at New York’s Lincoln Center, followed by a VOD release.

Jane B. Par Agnes V.

A playful exploration of the multi-faceted actress, singer, and icon Jane Birkin as she balances career choices and motherhood long after the initial scandals that brought her international attention. Filmed in tandem with their other collaboration, the fictional narrative Kung Fu Master!, both titles were released theatrically in 1988 when...

She’s Not There: Varda’s Lovely, Refracted Portrait of Iconic Birkin

The other obscure Agnes Varda title treated to a digital restoration courtesy of Cinelicious Pics is Janes B. par Agnes V., a playful exploration of the multi-faceted actress, singer, and icon Jane Birkin as she balances career choices and motherhood long after the initial scandals that brought her international attention. Filmed in tandem with their other collaboration, the fictional narrative Kung Fu Master!, both titles were released theatrically in 1988 when presumably one grew out of the other, though it’s difficult to tell which origination came first. Proclaimed to be an imaginary bio-pic by Varda, we glimpse candid interview footage strewn throughout a mixture of playful moments and pretend reenactments. Footage from their other film is included, only here it’s being presented as an idea the actor and director are just fleshing out, not something already completed.

A Death in the Family: Pialat’s Subtle Masterpiece of Familial Anguish

French auteur Maurice Pialat, the famed Palme d’Or winner who resisted being defined by a particular time, movement, or theme, receives another retrospective in 2015. Of the ten titles in his filmography, five have been chosen on this tour, several of them notable restorations of works that have become increasingly difficult to track down over the years. While more notable titles, like 1983’s A nos amours and his 1968 debut L’enfance Nue have received widespread recuperations (thanks in part to their placement within the Criterion collection), Cohen Media Group resuscitates some lesser known works. One of the most exciting of these is his 1974 title The Mouth Agape, a portrait of familial woe a bit less histrionic than other examples of societal strains evidenced on Pialat’s famous nuclear units and troubled couples. Documenting the death of a mother,...

With Cannes and Colcoa in the wings, I was reminded of an encounter with the actor Philippe Leotard (now deceased) in the streets of the French festival town. He was walking in the street with actress Nathalie Baye and I stopped him just to say how much I admired his performance in Le Gueule Ouverte, a searing family drama by Maurice Pialat.