Welcome - Movie Poster

Welcome

4.5 Anne Murphy

Bilal, a 17 year old Kurdish boy from Iraq sets off to England to see his love who lives there.

"Welcome" is an authentic exploration of a divisive social issue of our time. The device of narrowing the focus from exiles and asylum seekers to one man allows sensitivity to infiltrate the story, and attitudes of caring emerge from unlikely sources. The movie is grounded with a heartbreaking love story at the core. Strong performances hold the production together, keeping it from showing undue concern in a bleeding heart fashion. Always welcome are extraordinary, powerfully emotional, and well directed films about unwelcome immigrants.


Actresses - Movie Poster

Actresses

4.0 Anne Murphy

Marcelline has the lead role in Turgenev's "A Month in the Country" and is in rehearsal for the stage production while rendezvousing with her real and imagined mid-life crisis.

This is a charming dramatic comedy about arriving at a certain life stage unfulfilled by the journey and irrevocably aging. Time ticks to an off-beat rhythm as players and characters collide, even the director's metronome can't restore a more even beat for members of the cast. It's the off-stage drama that is most engaging, where emotions are held in check only to emerge in theatrically inappropriate ways. Encore.


Beautiful Lies - Movie Poster

Beautiful Lies

4.0 Anne Murphy

An anonymous love letter leads to a slew of misunderstandings.

Frivolous, frothy, and fabulous rather than slight. In short, everything hoped for from a good French rom-com is served up in "Beautiful Lies". It is delectable. The comic storyline is complicated enough to tease out laughter around situations of mistaken identities and misguided efforts of matchmaking. There's no mistaking funny for ridiculous however; this is an intelligent and warm movie that brims with affection. The delightful cast bring depth to the characters, who relate genuinely to each other and the audience can't help but care what happens in the end. Sincerely comique.


You'll Miss Me - Movie Poster

You'll Miss Me

4.0 Anne Murphy

The lives of six people converge briefly at an airport, where arrivals and departures are the norm.

"You'll Miss Me" is composed of a delightful series of vignettes that deftly intersect and overlap, exploring loves lost and found. The movie delves into the emotions of people with vastly different lives, the laughs laced with feelings. The production has a warm hearted feel, perhaps only possible because it's French - it's certainly not as theatrical as the English ensemble pieces it is so reminiscent of. Try not to miss this one.


Potiche - Movie Poster

Potiche

4.0 Anne Murphy

When her husband is taken hostage by his striking employees, a trophy wife takes the reins of the family business and proves to be a remarkably effective leader.

The 70's are perfectly recreated with all of the colour and fashion to bring on pangs of nostalgia. The social attitudes are missed less. "Potiche" is a light-hearted movie loaded with social comment, looking at the role of women in the workplace, and the incumbent responsibilities of fatherhood. Focused on individual choices and growth, there's no haranguing, and the delivery is affable, warm, and comic. A gold medal for the trophy wife.


Angèle and Tony - Movie Poster

Angèle and Tony

4.0 Anne Murphy

A fragile woman returns to the seaside town of Normandy on completing a jail term and meets a fisherman through a personal ad.

The sensitivities around relationships are captured with few words in this intimate exploration of human connections. The characters are forthright and defensive, whatever warmth they may have is not to be squandered, and their innermost temperaments are reflected in the windswept coastline and grey subdued ocean. The tone is understated and the film is all the more powerful for the simplicity with which it captures restrained expressions of longing. Tony ❤ Angele and vice versa.


Mozart's Sister - Movie Poster

Mozart's Sister

3.5 Anthony Macali

Beginning in 1763, it follows the Mozart family's exhausting life on the road, traveling by coach from one royal court to the next.

"Mozart's Sister" is a beautiful film, mesmerising in picture and music. In a period of couture and candlelight, the Mozart siblings shine in their bewitching portrayals. For Nannerl, the message is very clear; women should not play violins, or compose. Such narrow-mindedness even causes our central character to dress as a boy at times. These examples of prejudice contribute to the film’s success, highlighting the frustrating loss of genius and talent to the hands of bigotry. This girl can play.


The Princess of Montpensier - Movie Poster

The Princess of Montpensier

3.5 Anne Murphy

Set against the savage Catholic/Protestant wars that ripped France apart in the 16th century, the action centres on the love of Marie de Mezières for her dashing cousin Henri de Guise.

This period drama is sumptuously set and fastidiously costumed. The renaissance, as far as we can tell, is faithfully reproduced and it's magnificent to watch. "Princess of Montpensier" comes complete with dashing sword fights and big bloody battles, but most interest is invested in the dilemmas of duty over love. As the drama is played out the heroine is unable to refuse the allure of true romance, a Queen of Hearts.


Anything for Her - Movie Poster

Anything for Her

3.5 Anne Murphy

With no legal means left to him, a high school teacher devises a daring plan to rescue his wrongfully imprisoned wife from jail.

"Anything for Her" is a gripping thriller that will be watched heart pumping, and eyes glued to the screen. Tension is maintained throughout this tightly edited and well acted film that moves credibly between middle-class lives and the underside of the streets of Paris. While it may stretch plausibility, it is an action packed yarn that prompts questions about innocence and guilt, love and desperation.


Little White Lies - Movie Poster

Little White Lies

3.5 Anne Murphy

Despite suffering a traumatic accident, a group of friends go ahead with their annual beach vacation.

"Little White Lies" is an entertaining mix of comedy and drama. The film follows the cracks that appear as little pretences are revealed, straining the relationships among a group of long-time friends. It drifts along with a vacation atmosphere and a song-after-song soundtrack. You will probably wish you were a part of the tight-knit group by the seaside. Deep connections and human foibles are explored and exposed by the extraordinary French ensemble cast. Most enjoyable, and that's no lie.


Every Jack has a Jill - Movie Poster

Every Jack has a Jill

3.5 Anne Murphy

Jack is encouraged to take the romantic Paris vacation he won, despite just being dumped by his girlfriend.

Despite the odd title, "Every Jack has a Jill" is a thoroughly enjoyable romantic comedy. The genre dictates the happy outcome so the ending is no surprise. Apart from the conclusion the rest of the story is delightfully unpredictable with a cast of eccentric characters. See this movie to enjoy a warm hearted story which has all the quirky and charming elements required to weave an endearing spell.


The Clink of Ice - Movie Poster

The Clink of Ice

3.0 Anne Murphy

An alcoholic writer is visited by an incarnation of his cancer.

"The Clink of Ice" is as original as it is deeply and darkly humorous. Imagine bantering with your life threatening illness and laughing. The premise of personifying a malignant disease in a suit sets up an intriguing film. Not that there is anything funny about cancer or facing death. Typically we deride perverse situations as being as 'funny as cancer' but the director and cast prove dexterous enough to turn that assertion around. As bleak as the themes of the movie are, the clinking of ice muffles the death knell.


Seraphine - Movie Poster

Seraphine

3.0 Anne Murphy

Based on the life of French painter Séraphine de Senlis.

Séraphine's paintings reflect both her simplicity and her deep commune with nature. The artist's life is appropriately rendered with compelling images of rural life in the French village of Senlis before World War 2. Although visually delightful, the characters and story are sketched without sufficient dimension to enthral the viewer. The aesthetic experience would be enhanced by a stronger narrative dimension.


L'Amour fou - Movie Poster

L'Amour fou

3.0 Anne Murphy

Explores the relationship between fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent and his lover, Pierre Berge.

Filmed after the death of Yves Saint-Laurent "L'Amour fou" provides a candid look into the life, the breathtaking art collection amassed by the couple and its eventual auction to benefit an AIDs charity. The narrative provides as glimpses into a privileged lifestyle without exploring too deeply. Interesting are revelations of an ongoing struggle with depression and resulting addictions, perhaps one of those being the central objects d'art. Archival film footage stills and interviews are used to effect and reveal much about the troubled man of fashion. Melancholic.


Happy Few - Movie Poster

Happy Few

3.0 Anne Murphy

Two couples fall in love, lose sight of each other in the confusion and end up pulling through.

"Happy Few" covers many relationships between two couples, each person with every other, and then with their children. All of the inter-relationships are handled respectfully, and the characters are strong and credible. It's a shame the emotional development is secondary to the depictions of the physical encounters, and surprisingly, this translates to the movie revealing less intimacy than one might have expected. Still, there's much happiness to be found in this French romp. Many will be happily seduced.