To win the affections of the gay dad she’s never known, Frédérique (Valérie Lemercier) dresses up as a boy. But her country upbringing was short on cultural savvy, and her clubby clothes and mincing walk are the sort of queer clichés that make her father squirm. He and his boyfriend (Dieudonné) work hard to keep their affair out of the public eye, and Frédérique’s gay act embarrasses rather than pleases. Lemercier’s second film as director and actress is a very funny, sometimes burlesque, tale, which refreshingly casts homosexuality as a norm from which its straight characters deviate. Visual gags, a witty script and colourful sets are married to warm performances that are nuanced enough to be both hilarious and touching. (In French.)
Monthly Archives: October 2008
Cinekid 99
An annual film, television and new media festival for children between the ages of four and 16. There are nine days of screenings of children’s films and TV shows from around the world, along with play-stations where children can experiment with the latest computer games and education programmes. Not to be missed.
Alien Factory 1st Birthday
Trance is not usually a big thing in France, with dready fractal chic and polo shirts mixing suspiciously at best, but the funky, regular Alien Factory events have a virtual monopoly on what little scene there is. Just about every trance DJ in Paris worth his salt (all twelve of them) will give it all during this 12-hour non-stop birthday bash, stretching from midnight to midday at the flagship Gibus.
Astrud Gilberto
Back in 1964 Brazilian chanteuse Astrud Gilberto turned the world on to bossa nova with her iconic hit ‘The Girl from Ipanema’. Since then, she’s recorded with all and sundry, from the cheesy James Last to uber producer Quincy Jones, and made a name for herself as one of the great jazz vocalists of our time. Despite the fact that her salad days are over, Gilberto isn’t just reprising the glory days. Her most recent album was released only a year ago – ‘Talkin’ Verve’, recorded with pianist Gil Evans.
Gottfried Honnegger + Radi Designers + Douglas
Swiss artist Gottfried Honnegger has been pursuing a rigorous investigation of form and colour for 50 years. His ‘Ma Métamorphose’ uses geometry and colour in 3D, in an assembly that extends through the glass facade of the Fondation Cartier to two elements standing in the garden. Radi Designers is a group of six young designers from Europe and Japan, who like to rethink everyday objects – here an appealing installation of standard lamps with whirring butterflies and gems. Canadian Stan Douglas’ 14-minute film ‘Pursuit, Fear, Catastrophe: Ruskin BC’ is a black and white movie that parodies both silent crime flicks and racism, and shows how close many video artists are now getting to cinema.
