Tell No One (Ne le dis à personne) (France 2006)
Directed by Guillaume Canet
With François Cluzet, Marie-Josée Croze, Kristin Scott Thomas, et al.
French with English subtitles.

Well, you know from the title in English or in French (Ne le dis à personne) that we are in thriller territory here. And French cinema thrills like no other. As you might expect, the thrill is centred on a romantic liaison, this time a young, adorable sweetheart of a couple for whom things suddenly go terribly wrong. One of them is murdered and the other becomes a suspect, generating a pretty wild set of chases and plot complications, clues and surprises, the way any good thriller ought to be. Tell No One won four Césars, the French Oscars, and was nominated for five more, and made a huge hit across Europe, but yet was only recently distributed in North America. Word on the street is that the complicated plot was too demanding for audiences on this side of the pond. Donnez moi un break! If Hitchcock had been French this is the kind of movie he'd have made - sizzling with intrigue, gorgeous characters, mystery and meaning. Ooh la la all around.

Check out the video review from the LA Times.

Tell No One plays Thursday, February 5, at 7pm at Empire Theatres, Avalon Mall, as part of the MUN Cinema Series Winter Program. All films are open to the public. MUN Cinema sets up a table near the Empire Cinemas' box office about an hour before the screening where tickets and passes may be purchased. Admission is $10 / $9.

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Synecdoche, New York (USA 2008) 124 min.
Directed by Charlie Kaufman
With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson, et al.

Today, any movie conceived and directed by self-proclaimed neurotic Charlie Kaufman is a hype magnet. And any movie starring the staggering genius of Philip Seymour Hoffman (have you seen Doubt?) is well worth the price of popcorn. Here, he is the oddly named Caden Cotard, a theatre director who ages from 40-80 in the course of the film: that's supposedly the stretch of a mature adult life, the period where our identity finally settles in for the long haul. Typical of Kaufman's scenarios (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind), the only reality we—or his characters—have is the one we play in our heads, the conversations we have with ourselves, the illusions, delusions, dreams, and denials. If you have trouble understanding what's going on in Synecdoche, New York, then you need to remember that. Look inside. Some critics claim you need to see it twice, at least. Now that's a challenge worth testing. Start now.

Synecdoche, New York plays tonight, January 15, at 7pm as part of the MUN Cinema Series Winter Program. All films are open to the public. MUN Cinema sets up a table near the Empire Cinemas' box office about an hour before the screening where tickets and passes may be purchased. Admission is $10 / $9.

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