French Boys & The Movies That Love Them

The line-up for one of my favorite yearly fests has arrived today -- the "Rendez-Vous With French Cinema" festival at Film at Lincoln Center arrives for ten straight days of Gallic bliss in March, the 4th through the 14th, and it's an astonishingly sexy line-up of 18 movies this year (not that we'd expect any less from the French), starting from the top down with the legendary sexpot Emmanuelle Béart as the fest's Guest of Honor. For one they'll be screening Francois Ozon's sweaty and super-gay Summer of 85 (which I reviewed for NewFest last fall right here), which just got nominated for a heap of César awards (aka France's Oscars). But more than ever I felt like looking through this year's line-up there's an absolutely stunning French actor in every single one, so let's pick our picks, that way!

Vincent Lacoste in Faithful -- Lacoste first popped onto our radar with Christophe Honore's heartbreaking 2018 romance Sorry Angel, which has already become one of our all-time favorite gay films at this point. And Faithful has him (and his mustache!) starring opposite another fave, Phantom Thread star Vicky Krieps! He plays an imprisoned Communist revolutionary in the 1950s; she's his wife who refuses to abandon him. 

Rabah Naït Oufella in Ibrahim -- Oufella caught our eye thanks to two totally terrific movies, Bertrand Bonello's "teens take over a shopping mall" movie Nocturama and the cannibal flick Raw -- see a nice little gallery of him right here. In Ibrahim he plays the bad-influence best-friend to the titular character (played by Abdel Bendaher, above right), a teenager trying to do good; Rabah drags him into an ill-planned robbery attempt. It played Cannes last year.

Arnaud Valois in Lifelines and Spring Blossom -- The BPM beauty has a pair of features at the fest this year; his role in Lifelines;(which is about a woman obsessed with a found diary) is described as "an intriguing supporting role" but Blossom sounds Valois-centric, with him romancing actress / director Suzanne Lindon.

Niels Schneider in Love Affair -- Niels is best known for being the doe-eyed love-interest in a couple of Xavier Dolan movies back in the day, but he's worked plenty since then -- he was just in the ace Sibyl last year. And he's nominated for Best Actor at the Césars for this movie here -- it's also nominated for Best Film, Best Director, and all the other acting categories, so I think it's one to pay attention to! It's about cousin lovers!

Pierre Niney in Lovers -- The endearingly gawky Niney was delivered unto these shores via Ozon's 2016 film Frantz and immediately became a fave -- this one's a noir-tinged love triangle also starring the terrific Stacy Martin (from Nymphomaniac and Vox Lux) and...

... our boy Benoît  Magimel from The Piano Teacher! Yes this one's a two-fer -- two hot French actors for the price of one. Plus it's a thriller -- obviously this one is high on my Must Watch Immediately list. Although I will surely be let down and the two guys will fight over the girl with nary a whiff of sexual tension between the two of them, sigh. Tis my cruel fate.

Grégoire Ludig in Mandibles -- Previously seen by me rocking one hell of a stache in Quentin Dupieux's super fun 2018 flick Keep an Eye Out! (which I reviewed out of this exact same fest in 2019 right here) this movie has Ludig re-teaming with confirmed nutter Dupieux for a movie about two doofus low-lifes who find a scooter-sized housefly in the trunk of their stolen car, and train it to do crime. I don't think I've disliked a Dupieux flick yet? I am so on his wacky wavelength and this one is apparently one of his best.

Vincent Dedienne in Margaux Hartmann -- I actually don't think I know Dedienne from anything previous (nothing jumps off his IMDb page) but a quick google set me to attention; this is the flick that the fest's Guest of Honor Emmanuelle Béart stars in, and has her playing an older woman who's grieving her dead husband who goes back to school and makes new friends, with sexy results. I feel like you could add "with sexy results" to the description of any French film -- "Two low-lifes discover a gigantic housefly... with sexy results." Okay maybe not every French film. Anyway Dedienne is hella cute right?

Jérémie Renier in Slalom -- I have already posted about this movie! The shots of our beloved Renier doing his thing in this film (and by "his thing" I mean "getting naked" of course) made their way onto the internet back in October of last year, and obviously, just as we would with Jérémie, we jumped right on it. This movie has the legendary Belgian slash blond sexpot playing the creepy ski coach to a teen girl... and yes, "with sexy results" applies, although obviously that comes with several dozen asterisks given the subject matter.

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Phew! What a bunch, huh? "Rendez-Vous with French Cinema" runs on FLC's virtual platform from March 4th through 14th; tickets go on sale on February 19th (or earlier on Feb. 12th for FLC Members). You should have little fear that you won't hear more from me on this series, as I love covering it every year, so stay tuned. I'll throw their whole press release, with word on every single one of the films screening, right here after the jump...

Vincent Lacoste Six Times

Oh what a happy surprise, some photos I had forgotten about -- Sorry Angel angel Vincent Lacoste here was photographed for The Last Magazine back in June (read the interview here) when Christophe Honoré's movie On a Magical Night got released and I saved the shoot to my computer and then forgot about them, like wham, probably worrying about the world dying its last gasps or whatever, no big whoop. Anyway now that new photoshoots are few and fewer between these are sure hitting the place! Hit the jump for the rest...

Good Morning, World

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I was hoping I could do a great big and proper "Good Morning, Gratuitous Vincent Lacoste" post this week since Christophe Honoré's magnificent and slyly devastating gay romance Sorry Angel is out tomorrow (along with a special Valentine's Day screening tonight at The Quad) but it turns out if you google Vincent Lacoste you don't uncover the kind of volume one of those posts entails. 

I found a couple dozen photos of note (including this swimming scene from 2016's Tout de suite maintenant) but I guess we're still on the front-edge of this infatuation. He has been making movies for a decade, but he's only 25 -- we got time. He's also kinda goofy-looking, to be honest -- before I saw him in Sorry Angel I wouldn't have immediately thought to swoon. But he's all Timmy-levels kinds a'charming in this movie and I don't know how anyone could make it out the other side not wanting to nuzzle with this goof. 

I'm going to be out of town for the weekend and it's kind of driving me nuts that I have to wait until I get back next week to see this movie a second time. I have a feeling a second viewing is going to make me unravel, in the greatest of ways. Anyway my point is, for the fiftieth time, go see Sorry Angel the second you can, folks. It's the kind of stuff that the movies were made for.

KJ Apa Two Times

It took two excruciating days but Lacoste has finally revealed a couple of the photos from the KJ Apa underwear campaign that the Riverdale actor teased on Wednesday -- please don't think I am complaining but I hate (okay yes I am complaining) those weird smooth cup things that underwear brands insist on making their models wear, don't you? Give us VPL or give us death, Lacoste!

Good Morning, World

Now here is a sentence I am sure all of you have been dying to hear -- looks like Taylor Zakhar Perez is maaking a sneak attack from behind! I should just leave it there right? You've already fainted. But as you come back to here's my point -- when Red White and Royal Blue came out it felt like Taylor's co-star Nicholas Galitzine was getting most of the press, given he had roles in other buzzy projects (the gay princeling show with Julianne Moore, the wonderful comedy masterpiece that is Bottoms). Meanwhile Taylor hasn't even acted in another project? Which is obviously bullshit -- and forgive me if I side-eye his supposed (if not quite open) queerness as the cause of that nonsense. But that's thorny since he's been quiet on that front (especially given the rumor he's been married to a man for several years now), so I won't wade into that. 

But while Galitzine is off blowing himself up like a hot air balloon for the really doomed seeming He-Man movie, Taylor's spent the last several weeks showcasing his spectacular self for Lacoste underwear (see our previous post here) and I dunno about you but it's sure pushed him to the front of my mind, personally speaking. (And no I still haven't even watched RW&RB haha.) Not that it's a competition between these two actors. But if it were. Taylor's on top! That's all I'm saying! And this new batch of Lacoste photos (for Flaunt) is a firm underline of just that. Hit the jump for them...

7 Off My Head: France In My Pants

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First and foremost everybody say hello to the actor Thimotée Robart -- another Thimotée, who knew? Anyway while I don't particularly consider myself a Francophile -- I don't speak French, and I don't really have much desire to visit France, except maybe their portion of the Alps -- I always question that stance when this time of year comes around. This time of year is when FLC here in New York announces their annual "Rendez-vous with French Cinema" series  -- which will run from March 5th to March 15th this year -- and I inevitably find myself wanting to see a dozen at least of the titles they're premiering. You can see 2020's entire line-up at this link, including New Thimotée's movie which looks interesting and is called Burning Ghost. Below I'm going to share several I'm personally jonesing for.

On a Magical Night 

(dir. Christophe Honoré)

I literally just posted about my love for Honoré's previous film, the gay love story Sorry Angel with Vincent Lacoste, so it shouldn't be surprising that I'm fairly psyched to see Honoré's new film, which also stars Lacoste. I've even posted about this one before! 

Proxima

(dir. Alice Winocour)

Winocour's last film was the marvelous Disorder with Matthias Schoenaerts (my review) -- already I'm sold on the strength of that. But this movie stars my beloved Eva Green! Eva Green, so brutally under-appreciated, playing an astronaut! Eva in Space! Bring it on! 

Who Do You Think I Am // The Truth

(dir. Safy Nebbou / Hirokazu Kore-eda)

A Juliette Binoche double-feature! The Truth is the opening night movie and is from Shoplifters director Kore-eda -- I didn't love that movie quite as much as most people did (I love me some melodrama, but that movie was a little soppy for me) but with a cast that also includes Catherine Deneuve and Ethan Hawke and Ludivine Sagnier I'm curious. 

I'm admittedly a little more curious about Binoche's other movie at the fest (and PS she'll be there for both of these movies!) though, which has the greatest actress in the world creating a cat-fishing profile on Facebook. The movie co-stars François Civil -- we are definitely fans, as this gratuitous post attests -- and Nebbou's last movie In the Forests of Siberia with Raphaël Personnaz had this scene in it (cue Tex Avery bulging eyeball effect) so yes please, we want to see this. 

Deerskin

(dir. Quentin Dupieux)

Quentin Dupieux once made a movie about a murderous car tire, and I've followed him ever since. (Read my review of his last film Keep An Eye Out here, which I saw thanks to this series last year.) Anyway I thought that Dupieux working with his new leading man The Artist Jean Dujardin would be plenty to get me excited, and it was, but then I saw that their leading lady is Portrait of a Lady on Fire marvel Adèle Haenel, and I really rocketed right over the moon on this one. Per usual with a Dupieux movie I really have no idea what to expect from this thing's plot summary, which has Dujardin becoming obsessed with a new deer-skin jacket.

Perfect Nanny

(dir. Lucie Borleteau)

This sounds basically like an upscale re-do of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, and I am a sucker for that shit. Will it probably be a little classier? Maybe. Who cares? Bring on the crazy nanny! It also co-stars Antoine Reinartz from BPM as the bedeviled daddy.
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Joan of Arc

(dir. Bruno Dumont)

John Waters had this movie on his best of 2019 list.

I mean so did Cahiers du Cinéma but really... John said.

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Tickets for this year's "Rendez-vous With French Cinema" series go on sale on February 20th -- again you can see the entire line-up at FLC's website and I recommend you do, there are even more titles I didn't even get to that look exciting. I mean I didn't even talk about the Vincent Cassel movie, or director Claude Lelouche doing a sequel to his 1966 classic A Man and a Woman with original stars Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimée. Imagine the nerve.

Rendezvous Ourselves Right Into the Weekend

I have spent most of today feeling like a train ran me down, and not the fun kinda train either, hence the truly inadequate posting -- I'd intended to get more reviews from the "Rendezvous with French Cinema" series, now up and running at FLC, posted! But my brain just hit a wall, stomped its little brain feet, and is refusing to participate with shit. And so I know sometimes I promise to post over the weekend and then I ghost y'all but really, check back over the next couple of days, I think if I allow myself a good veg out tonight and sleep in tomorrow I can catch myself back up. 

For now I previewed the series right here, and yesterday I did review two films that are now playing -- read my thoughts on My Donkey My Lover and I right here, and read my thoughts on Red Soil right here. Hopefully over the weekend I will share my thoughts on some others I have seen (all the titles are over there >>> in the right-hand column in my "Watched" list now in case you're curious), including the one called Faithful, which stars our fave Vincent Lacoste, seen up top. Hi Vincent! "Rendezvous" runs through March 14th!

5 Off My Head: It's Rendez-vous Time Again!

An annual fave here in NYC has just gifted us with something to look forward to -- Film at Lincoln Center has announced 2022's line-up for the "Rendez-vous with French Cinema" series, running from March 3rd through 13th they'll be screening 23 films including new ones from luminaries like Claire Denis, Francois Ozon, Arnaud Desplechin, Jacques Audiard, Mathieu Amalric, and Christophe Honoré! Oh and only the world's greatest actress Juliette Binoche will be here in NYC in person for a couple of screenings! Sacré bleu! (Pictured up top is actor Sandor Funtek, who's in the film Authentik.) I've got the full press release with every title listed down below but I wanna highlight the ones that I am personally most interested in seeing, because this is my site and that's what I do here. Oui? Oui. (Here I'll give you the film titles and directors and my brief reasons for wanting to see them, but if you want the plot specifics scan down to the press release.)

5 Rendez-vous Titles to Rendez-vous With

Fire directed by Claire Denis 

This one's the Opening Night film and stars Juliette Binoche (both Binoche and Denis will be here in person for the screening) and really, what more do you need to know? It is Claire Denis' new movie with Juliette Binoche. Oh how about the fact that Juli's co-star is Vincent Lindon, who just gave the performance of his life in Titane last year? HOW ABOUT THEM APPLES?

Guermantes directed by Christophe Honoré

I contemplated not even writing these paragraphs describing why I want to see these five movies and just listing the titles, because all but one of them come down to the name of the director making the film. Sorry, I'm an auteurist slut! Honoré has a lifetime pass from me thanks to his gay romance Sorry Angel in 2018. I'lls ee all of his movies forever now! (That said no I still haven't watched Love Songs, I keep forgetting! It's a happy treat I am saving for myself, basically.)

Everything Went Fine directed by François Ozon

Ozon always switches things up between films so this one appears to be very different from last year's extremely gay Summer of 85 -- that said I've seen 90% of Ozon's movies and pretty much loved every single one, even if they're the less gay ones.

Paris, 13th District directed by Jacques Audiard

And yes still speaking of directors I trust implicitly -- Audiard I trust more than any of these names I have listed so far. This is the man who made A Prophet and Rust and Bone and The Sisters Brothers, for god's sake. Just a long line of masterpieces in his wake.

Lost Illusions by Xavier Giannoli

Weirdly I was just tweeting about this movie!

Don't mind me I have just fallen down a Vincent Lacoste and Benjamin Voisin looking adorable together hole (anybody seen Lost Illusions, the movie they have been promoting?) pic.twitter.com/p3buoikfjM

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) February 8, 2022

I didn't even know it would be playing the fest when I tweeted that, but sign me up! (Also a reader who's seen the film alerted me to lots of Voison --who you should recognize from the just-mentioned Summer of 85 -- nudity. As if I needed more reasons!)

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Plots and all of that boring stuff can be perused down below, after the jump -- tickets for the fest will be on sale on the 15th for FLC members and the 18th for everybody else on their website. Can't wait to check these out!

The Lost Summer Boys

I went looking for photos of Lost Illusions actors Vincent Lacoste and Benjamin Voisin because that César-winning movie -- I shared the trailer right here -- is out this weekend here in NYC (at Film Forum) and in L.A. (at the Royal) as well. But instead I found the above image (via) of a bearded Voisin with his Summer of 85 co-star Félix Lefebvre and... uhhhh... obviously I had to take the bait. Man I loved Summer of 85 -- I wrote up thoughts back when at this link -- y'all have seen that by now right? I think it's one of Ozon's best and sexiest films, which is saying plenty obviously. (And coincidentally Amazon has the blu-ray on sale for 24 bucks right now!) Anyway I can't speak to Lost Illusions yet because I haven't had a chance to watch it yet but by all accounts it's a very good movie, so if you're in the neighborhood clearly go stare at the cute French boys! What better is there to possibly do? The Jurassic movie blows! Here's your alternative -- be adventurous, with the French boys.

Next Year Starts Now

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Now that I've finally finished my awards for 2018 (see below) I can finally move on to newer things -- I'm straight up like a Botox commercial with all of this freedom of expression! And the rest of the world will be here too after the Oscars spit our their own nonsense this Sunday, thank goodness. I'm not making any Oscar predictions because christ on a cracker I don't really care, but I will no doubt be drunkenly live-tweeting the things, same as every time around, so make sure you follow me on Twitter if you don't already. We can be drunk and angry together, what fun. Otherwise there's nothing new worth seeing in the cinemas this weekend so I'm gonna try to make it to see my beloved Sorry Angel (starring Vincent Lacoste, pictured above) one more time -- so should you! When you can, I mean. It's good. Bye!

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Good Morning, World

It looks like Riverdale actor and what-rhymes-with-orange KJ Apa is about to be the brand Lacoste's new bulge ambassador, as he 'grammed out this sneak peek underwear vid yesterday afternoon with the promising promise of "Coming Soon" -- and I will hold you to that, KJ. 

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Rubber (2010)

Lieutenant Chad: In the Steven Spielberg movie "E.T.," why is the alien brown? No reason. In "Love Story," why do the two characters fall madly in love with each other? No reason. In Oliver Stone's "JFK," why is the President suddenly assassinated by some stranger? No reason. In the excellent "Chain Saw Massacre" by Tobe Hooper, why don't we ever see the characters go to the bathroom or wash their hands like people do in real life? Absolutely no reason. Worse, in "The Pianist" by Polanski, how come this guy has to hide and live like a bum when he plays the piano so well? Once again the answer is, no reason. I could go on for hours with more examples. The list is endless. You probably never gave it a thought, but all great films, without exception, contain an important element of no reason. And you know why? Because life itself is filled with no reason. Why can't we see the air all around us? No reason. Why are we always thinking? No reason. Why do some people love sausages and other people hate sausages? No fuckin' reason.

In this house we worship director and birthday boy Quentin Dupieux, who's never made a bad movie yet -- I recommend every single one. Granted I haven't seen them all, but I've seen more than I bet most of you have, having seen seven of his eleven full-length features to date. Including the just-recently-released (typically) bizarro superhero comedy Smoking Causes Coughing with Vincent Lacoste and Gilles Lellouche and a few others as Power-Rangers-esque do-gooders who spend more time bickering over nonsense than they do fighting rubber-monsters.

It's a lot of fun but I loved Incredible But True even more, which also came out in the past year -- that one's about a couple who buy a new home that they discover has a time-portal in it, which leads to, yes, even more nonsense. Nobody is doing goofy surrealism like Dupieux is today...

... you get the feeling he just lets his little ideas take him where ever the hell they want to go, saying "and next" and "and next" as he writes the scripts, with nothing off-limits. It's absolutely invigorating. I come out of his itty-bitty small-budget always-90-minute movies feeling the limitless nature of imagination far more than I even have from a single MCU or DC film. Go watch something like Deerskin or Mandibles and tell me that's not truly living!

10 Off My Head: NYFF Highlights

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After a couple weeks of teasing us with their Opening Night film (The Favourite from Yorgos Lanthimos) and their Centerpiece film (ROMA from Alfonso Cuarón) and their Closing Night film (Julian Schnabel's Vincent Van Gogh bio-pic At Eternity's Gate with Willem Dafoe) our hometown film festival the New York Film Festival has revealed the full line-up for their Main Slate of movies and it's looking like another stellar bunch of pictures to me.

So much so that as I scanned through the 30 titles they have now announced the list I decided to make of the 5 I'm most looking forward to quickly became impossible - no it needs to be 10. And 10 is difficult! But we'll keep it to 10. (Leaving off the three big titles that were already announced.)

10 of NYFF '18 I'm Most Looking Forward To

Burning -- Word on this one from Korean director Lee Chang-dong was ecstatic out of Cannes - I've mentioned it a couple of times already thanks to its star Steven Yeun. It's a love triangle (of sorts, they say) turned thriller (of sorts, they say) based on the story "Barn Burning" by Haruki Murakami.

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If Beale Street Could Talk -- I'm surprised I hadn't posted the trailer yet so there that is - this is of course Barry Jenkins' follow-up to Moonlight, based on a book by James Baldwin, about a pregnant woman trying to prove the innocence of the unjustly accused father of her baby to be. I'm most excited about a showcase role for the always great Regina King.

Non-Fiction -- Yeah this is the new Olivier Assayas movie (his first since Personal Shopper in 2016, which I saw and reviewed at that year's NYFF although I will admit I like the movie a lot more now after a couple of viewings than I did at first) and it stars Juliette Binoche and Guillaume Canet so you know my ass is there. It's about two couples' intertwined lives set in the publishing industry.

Sorry Angel -- One of the few movies I bothered to post about when Cannes was happening (see right here) this gay love story set in the early 1990s stars Pierre Deladonchamps (so great in Stranger by the Lake) and Vincent Lacoste and deals with HIV, as any gay love story in the early 1990s must. It's from director Christophe Honoré and damn that reminds me I have to watch Love Songs already.

Her Smell -- Speaking of the early 1990s this movie has Elisabeth Moss playing the lead singer of an "Alternative" band who is unraveling and seeing as how Elisabeth Moss is probably the greatest actress working today yeah I said it I am totally, totally stoked, as the 90s kids would call it. This is the new film from Alex Ross Perry, who's given Moss tons to work with over the past few years with Listen Up Philip and Queen of Earth - the cast besides Moss is kinda nuts, with Cara Delevingne and Amber Heard opposite Eric Stoltz and Virginia Madsen? Okay. Also Dan Stevens and the extremely talented Lindsay Burdge, who's one to keep an eye on. (She blew me away in Thirst Street and to a smaller degree, because her role was smaller, in The Invitation.)

High Life -- I'm way more mixed on beloved French auteur Claire Denis than most are but she and I are on good terms after last year's Let the Sun Shine In, which positively frolicked in the face of Juliette Binoche, so I'm down to see her train her camera on that actress again and with Robert Pattinson along for the ride! Oh and it's a science-fiction film, and every shot I've seen so far has given my eyeballs a real good feeling about it. (I posted several previously right here.)

Transit -- Excited for this one based pretty solely on the director - Christian Petzold's last two films were Barbara and Phoenix, both showcases for the great actress Nina Hoss, and delivered as such. Hoss isn't around for this but the actor Franz Rogowski is - I have liked him in everything I've seen him in (the one-take wonder Victoria and Michael Haneke's Happy End) - alongside Paula Beer, who was fantastic as the leading lady in Francois Ozon's film Frantz. 

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs -- The Coen Bros latest, which has suddenly just recently turned from a Netflix limited series into an even more limited movie. It's a series of short films all bound together as the unrelated stories in a fiction book of Western Tales - the chapters star Tim Blake Nelson and Zoe Kazan and James Franco and Brendan Gleeson and Tyne Daly (!!!) and David Krumholtz and Ralph Inseon (aka the father from The Witch!) and on and on and on and on. It's the Coens, man. 

Long Day’s Journey Into Night -- I'm the vaguest on this one, from Chinese director Bi Gan, but purposefully so. I do recall people raving about its incredible strangeness when it screened at Cannes - there's supposed to be an insane hour-long 3D sequence -  and I'm gonna keep it at that. It's always good to be surprised about something, so tell me no more. 

Wildlife -- Uh I think we know why we're here:

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JAKE IS FINALLY COMING TO NYFF YESSSSSSSSS pic.twitter.com/xhTbmVQBuu

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) August 7, 2018

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Honestly I'm looking forward to every single film that they're screening - Louis Garrel's directorial debut! A fourteen-hour-long Argentinean epic! So y'all stay tuned, we'll once again be covering the heck out of it for The Film Experience as the fest runs from September 28 – October 14. Now you go glance through the whole list yourselves and make your travel plans accordingly.
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