Author Archives: rarefilm

Vendredi soir / Friday Night (2002) Claire Denis, Valérie Lemercier, Vincent Lindon, Hélène de Saint-Père, Drama, Romance

Vendredi soir (2002)
Having packed up her possessions to move in with her lover, Laure is more unsettled than she appears. Needing to get out and have a change of scenery, she jumps in her car to go to have dinner with friends–only to become stuck in a terrible traffic jam. Laure completely forgot about the mass transit strike that has thrown the city into chaos. But Laure feels good in her car, the only place she has for herself right now. As she takes in the sights and sounds around her–the blare of horns and arguments, the shimmer of lights and camaraderie–Laure notices a calm and self-assured stranger, Jean, approach her car. Soon thereafter, she opens her car door door to the man who–that night–will change her life.
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Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970) Don Siegel, Clint Eastwood, Shirley MacLaine, Manolo Fábregas, Adventure, Comedy, War

Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
Set in Mexico, a nun called Sara is rescued from three cowboys by Hogan, who is on his way to do some reconnaissance, for a future mission to capture a French fort. The French are chasing Sara, but not for the reasons she tells Hogan, so he decides to help her in return for information about the fort defences. Inevitably the two become good friends but Sara has a secret..
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Un homme et une femme, 20 ans déjà / A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later (1986) Claude Lelouch, Anouk Aimée, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Richard Berry, Drama, Romance

Un homme et une femme, 20 ans deja (1986)
Jean-Louis and Anne have had their fling and separated. Now 20 years have passed. He is still dating various women. She is now a big time director whose most recent film was a very expensive bomb. She comes up with the idea of making a romance based upon her fling with Jean-Louis. She contacts him to gain his permission. Jean-Louis is still in racing and goes away for a desert rally while she begins filming. She finds the mood of their romance difficult to recapture in her film.
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We Don’t Live Here Anymore (2004) John Curran, Mark Ruffalo, Laura Dern, Peter Krause, Drama, Romance

We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004)
The movie is set in the Pacific Northwest; specifically, Washington state. We know this from a glimpse of a license plate, the craftsman architecture of the two houses, and the mature, rich landscapes in between. The setting, like the scrutiny of the four main character’s lives, is defined by the narrowness of the camera’s field-of view. The one commercial street in town is only seen in the reflection of a store window, a shot of a non-descript auto-yard, or the tunnel of a tree-lined suburban sidewalk. The lush, wooded landscape is understood as an immediate presence in the domestic and professional lives of the characters; a steep hill, railroad tracks, a rushing stream, and a path over an old steel bridge are revisited again and again by the characters in their capacities as lovers, parents and friends.
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