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Director Showcase: Erick Zonca
Julia (2008)
I already reviewed Julia quite a long time ago, but my review of it (as emphatic as my praise may have been) was rather short. The fact is, it has come to be one of my favourite movies in recent years not least because its darkly comic tragic elements. Tilda Swinton gives an unsurprisingly (for her) incredible performance in the leading role as the alcoholic with addiction-fuelled sociopathic tendencies and a habit of using her looks to get ahead. Realising that her looks are not going to last forever, she becomes desperate for a get-rich-quick opportunity and it comes in the form of a similarly desperate Alcoholics Anonymous member who proposes plans to kidnap her own son away from his wealthy grandfather. What could go wrong?
( Read more... )
So what else has Erick Zonca directed?
Well Julia comes after a pretty long gap. He co-wrote a movie released in 2000 called "Le Secret", but back in 1998 and 1999 he directed his only two other full-length films: "Le Petit Voleur" (The Little Thief) and "La Vie Rêvée Des Anges" (The Dreamlife Of Angels).
Le Petit Voleur (The Little Thief) (1999)
While not unusually short (1 hour 40 minutes), Le Petit Voleur is a very simple story. The film begins with our little protagonist, Esse, quitting his job in a bakery and deciding that he's given up on being a wage slave. Instead he is going to be a criminal and make a life for himself that way. He argues unconvincingly with a female friend at the bakery that people like her are fools to continue working for pathetic wages and he's finally free of this system. So begins this skinny kid's life of crime.
( Read more... )
La Vie Rêvée Des Anges (The Dreamlife of Angels) (1998)
Once again we see Zonca's keen eye for characterisation. However, out of all the characters, by far the most endearing is the main protagonist, Isa, played by Élodie Bouchez. It's not obvious from the start that things will work out this way though. In the opening scenes she's selling self-made cards to strangers and she's trying a rather laboured pitch to encourage someone to buy. He's not really terribly impressed, but he recognises that she's keen to work and offers her a job in his factory when she (falsely) suggests that she has experience with a sowing machine.
( Read more... )
Julia (2008)
I already reviewed Julia quite a long time ago, but my review of it (as emphatic as my praise may have been) was rather short. The fact is, it has come to be one of my favourite movies in recent years not least because its darkly comic tragic elements. Tilda Swinton gives an unsurprisingly (for her) incredible performance in the leading role as the alcoholic with addiction-fuelled sociopathic tendencies and a habit of using her looks to get ahead. Realising that her looks are not going to last forever, she becomes desperate for a get-rich-quick opportunity and it comes in the form of a similarly desperate Alcoholics Anonymous member who proposes plans to kidnap her own son away from his wealthy grandfather. What could go wrong?
( Read more... )
So what else has Erick Zonca directed?
Well Julia comes after a pretty long gap. He co-wrote a movie released in 2000 called "Le Secret", but back in 1998 and 1999 he directed his only two other full-length films: "Le Petit Voleur" (The Little Thief) and "La Vie Rêvée Des Anges" (The Dreamlife Of Angels).
Le Petit Voleur (The Little Thief) (1999)
While not unusually short (1 hour 40 minutes), Le Petit Voleur is a very simple story. The film begins with our little protagonist, Esse, quitting his job in a bakery and deciding that he's given up on being a wage slave. Instead he is going to be a criminal and make a life for himself that way. He argues unconvincingly with a female friend at the bakery that people like her are fools to continue working for pathetic wages and he's finally free of this system. So begins this skinny kid's life of crime.
( Read more... )
La Vie Rêvée Des Anges (The Dreamlife of Angels) (1998)
Once again we see Zonca's keen eye for characterisation. However, out of all the characters, by far the most endearing is the main protagonist, Isa, played by Élodie Bouchez. It's not obvious from the start that things will work out this way though. In the opening scenes she's selling self-made cards to strangers and she's trying a rather laboured pitch to encourage someone to buy. He's not really terribly impressed, but he recognises that she's keen to work and offers her a job in his factory when she (falsely) suggests that she has experience with a sowing machine.
( Read more... )
