A near-classic comes to Blu-ray: Véra Belmont's crass 'n classy MARQUISE

Among those famous French actresses who, down the decades, barely seem to age, Sophie Marceau runs a very close second to the champion, Isabelle Adjani. You can now view Ms Marceau -- whose grace and beauty has always surmounted her acting skills, though she is certainly a decent enough performer -- in a 1997 comic/historical costume melodrama entitled MARQUISE.

Based (somewhat loosely, I'm sure) on the life of dancer/actress Marquise-Thérèse de Gorla, the movie opens delightfully/naughtily as the theater troupe of a certain M. Molière arrives in a small town, where the female performers desperately need to find a loo. A lovely and innocent-looking young child leads them to the public toilet and makes some good money for her trouble -- in a surprising manner.

As directed and co-written by the French filmmaker Véra Belmont, shown right, with whose work TrustMovies is completely unfamiliar, the movie is an eye-popping delight to view regarding costumes, production design and all else visual, thanks to Ms Belmont and her cinematographer (Jean-Marie Dreujou).

As they wander the town, Molière (brought to fine life and a rather remarkable facial resemblance by Bernard Giraudeau) and one of his best comic actors, Gros-René (the film's standout performance and its emotional center, Patrick Timsit), come upon a very attractive young woman dancing on a platform before a spellbound crowd. When it begins to rain, the crowd disperses, but not our two guys. Tracking down the dancer, they find that her father whores her out for money, and before you can say, "Come to Paris with our little troupe," she is married to Gros-René and is finding her way to fame and fortune.

Along the way, she and we meet the likes of cultural icons from Molière to Racine (Lambert Wilson, below, center), Lully (Remo Girone), and the aging actor Floridor (played by Lambert's dad, Georges) -- all vying for the favor of the ruling monarch Louis XIV (Thierry Lhermitte, below, left) who is, along with everyone else, smitten by our Marquise.

The ups and downs/ins and outs of our dancer-and-soon-to-be actress' rise are both believable (relatively) and entertaining (very), and by the time we get to the poisoned chocolates and some 17th Century All About Eve conniving, you should be properly amused and perhaps even moved.
I certainly was.

Running 116 minutes and released to DVD and Blu-ray by Film Movement Classics, Marquise (a French/Italian/Spanish co-production) hits the street this coming Tuesday, March 12 -- for purchase and (eventually, one hopes) streaming rental.

The splendid Catherine Frot in Xavier Giannoli's not-quite bio-pic, MARGUERITE

On the basis of the three films of his I've so far seen -- The Singer, In the Beginning and now MARGUERITE -- Frenchman Xavier Giannoli (shown below) has become one of my favorite filmmakers. This writer/director takes his ostensible subject, quite different from film to film, and then opens up what can seem like the entire world in the process of telling his particular and always absorbing stories.

His films are rich in the most wonderful of ways: They make you stop and consider so many things, and they never smash home their moral. In fact, it's rather difficult to spot villains in his movies, so full are they with folk just trying to make their way along. Yet what Giannoli repeatedly uncovers about us humans and our often odd behavior makes us seem at once amazing and mysterious. This was true of In the Beginning, which, like The Singer, I caught at past Rendez-vous With French Cinema outings (they were never released theatrically here in the USA), and it proves more so, and more subtly, with Marguerite.

If you've heard of the almost-famous Florence Foster Jenkins, she of the miraculously off-key voice, you'll have a good idea of the fictionalized title character -- played by the hugely undersung on these shores, at least, Catherine Frot (shown above and below) -- on whom the film is very loosely based. (That fine director Stephen Frears will have a movie coming out later this year about Ms Jenkins starring Meryl Streep.)

M. Giannoli's movie uses Marguerite -- her character and her voice -- to explore our love: of music, opera, art, life and each other. In the process, we come upon everything from politics and economics to Dadaism and medical science; philosophy and Colonialism to the multitude of ways we humans can use and abuse each other (often simultaneously).

Marguerite is being billed as something of a comedy, over here in the USA, at least, and indeed there is enormous humor in hearing the incredible caterwauling of this voice from hell. Yet the film is so rich in odd incident and strange, provocative and mysterious characters whom we come to care about more than we would expect that, by its very moving finale, it has opened up even greater mysteries.

Giannoli's accomplishment here is immense, but so quietly achieved that I suspect that it will not be fully appreciated -- for awhile, at least. Classics generally take their time to cement. One thing that should register immediately is how amazing Ms Frot is (as always). Last seen as that no-nonsense, hands-on chef for François Mitterrand in Haute Cuisine, the actress here transforms herself into a wealthy woman who wants desperately to sing, as well as have her husband care about her. (The actress won the French César award last week for this performance,)

To this end she is abetted by a host of folk who need things of her -- from her philandering husband (André Marcon, two photos above) and the professional music group she has funded to an on-the-skids opera star (Michel Fau, below) who now must double as Marguerite's teacher, a young journalist with a career to jump-start, and a pretty, upcoming singer with a lovely voice (Christa Théret, above, center left).

Perhaps the most mysterious character is Marguerite's accompanist, chauffeur and jack-of-all-trades (Denis Mpunga, at piano below) who may possibly be the most abusive of all and yet has provided our heroine with much that she has needed for years now.

As I say, this movie is full of mysteries, which you will probably savor and explore for a long time to come. Certainly the film is worth more than one viewing. I can't wait until it's available on Blu-ray, where the (also award-winning) costumes, production design and sound will set your eyes and ears ablaze.

From Cohen Media Group and running 129 minutes, Marguerite opens this Friday, March 11, in New York City at the Paris Theater and Angelika Film Center and in Los Angeles at The Landmark. Over the coming weeks it will open all across the country. Here in Southern Florida look for it on April 1 in Miami at the Tower Theater, in Boca Raton at the Regal Shadowood, and at the Movies of Delray and the Movies of Lake Worth. Click here to view all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters shown.

YOUNG & BEAUTIFUL: Ozon's newest tracks a teenage prostitute & creates a stunning new star

"Ohhhh... she's beautiful!" my spouse whispered as the camera lingered over the gorgeous and leggy new actress (whom we'll bet becomes an overnight star), Marine Vacth, who plays and quite well, the lead in François Ozon's new movie YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL (Jeune & jolie). M. Ozon handed me my favorite film of 2013, In the House, so I suppose one cannot expect a filmmaker as prolific as he to come up with something that good every time. (He's made 17 full-length films in as many years, plus myriad short movies.) Though it will not be my favorite film for 2014, still, this one is plenty good enough: thoughtful, stylish, intelligent, well-acted by all concerned and with a theme -- teenage prostitution -- that should certainly corral a portion of the arthouse crowd.

Ozon, shown at right, is up to his usual tricks here by not insisting on what point is being made. He lays it all out, very well, very intelligently and artfully, and lets us make of it what we will. This does not mean that he is fudging or waffling, however. He's just not a filmmaker who likes to drive his points home. His movie bears more than passing resemblance to a film made for French TV and known over here as Student Services (Mes chères études), by Emmanuelle Bercot, about a college student who hooks on the side to help pay her bills. In Young & Beautiful, however, our heroine is getting paid for sex not out of necessity but more, perhaps, for the sense of power, control and occupation the trade allows her. She is also exploring what sex is and means, for both her and her partners, whilst separating it rather thoroughly from any emotional content.

It's that latter point that will, down the road, present the most trouble for Isabelle (the character played by Ms Vacth, above), who begins the film while on a family vacation by getting involved with a slightly older German student (Lucas Prisor) and losing her virginity with barely so much as a goodbye. She evidently felt nothing pleasurable or otherwise -- as I suspect lots of young girls these days experience with their first time (and maybe always have). With the young, everything is rushed.

Yet Isabelle knows that this sex thing is marketable with men, and soon she is surfing the web, posting availability and finding partners who will pay (though not always as much as was promised). We see her engaged in various couplings with men quite different in type and age. Her favorite partner, in fact, is the older man, Georges, played by Johan Leysen (above); the rest are all just johns.

What happens in the film is both expected (in the ways society handles this sort of thing) and not (in the manner that Ozon handles his characterization of Isabelle). Thanks to his quietly probing but never insistent viewpoint and to Ms Vacth's very believable characterization -- not exactly confused but certainly exploring: Isabelle is only 17, remember -- we end up with an unusual film that offers a hot-button topic done coolly and credibly.

As is often the case with Ozon, there are bonuses aplenty, starting with the appearance, late in the film, of Charlotte Rampling, in a small but wonderful role that the actress fills to the brim. There is also a lovely, sad chapter around mid-way that explores Isabelle' relationship and love/sex life with a boy her own age (Laurent Delbecque, above). The difference in maturity between the genders, along with the characterization of the girl's inner life against the boy's outer has rarely been shown so clearly and pointedly.

Isabelle's family, too, is shown in all its ravaged glory. Mom (Géraldine Pailhas, above, left) is divorced, but step-dad (the ever-present and always fine Frédéric Pierrot) is a decent guy, while (Fantin Ravat) is everything you'd want and expect in a kid brother -- and twice as adorable. Yes, this family has its problems, but because it is made up of relatively decent people, you can't look to it for anything approaching a full explanation of Isabelle's unusual behavior.

In fact, considering some of Ozon's visuals of Paris (such as the one above), you might more helpfully look at society, media and culture for explanation. In any case, Young & Beautiful -- from Sundance Selects/IFC Films and running 95 minutes -- opens here in the USA this Friday, April 25, in New York City at the IFC Center. I can't find it playing anywhere in the Los Angeles area -- that's surprising -- but as it will appear on VOD simultaneous with its theatrical release, you should be able to view it in practically all major markets across the USA.

FIAF's CinemaTuesdays in January present Vive la jeunesse! -- Young French Directors

What with MyFrenchFilmFestival.com coming up in a week or two and then the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual and hugely popular Rendez-vous with French Cinema in March, we can expect a lot of France-on-film soon. And while both of the above often highlight some new, young filmmakers, neither series is especially devoted to this.

Which makes this month's CinémaTuesdays at FIAF such an unusual pleasure. Not only are we seeing la jeunesse on screen and behind the camera, we're getting a look at some filmmakers that we might not have previously noticed. (FIAF's series are curated by the ever-alert Marie Losier and Clementine Gallot and so reflect the mindset and taste of these women.)

This months CinémaTuesdays -- January 8, 15, 22, 29 -- I think, are especially interesting ones, featuring a wide range of films, mostly short, the longest of which, Goodbye First Love, already received a national release and was chosen by The NY Times' A.O.Scott as one of this past year's best. Of the remainder, TrustMovies had neither heard of any of the filmmakers nor seen any of their work. But now, having viewed the entire series via press screeners, he can vouch for the success of January's films.

Here's the complete scheduled, in order of appearance

Vive la jeunesse! 

Young French Directors

Tuesday, January 8: three showings 

of a short and a feature film.

U.S. PREMIERE:  WITH NEITHER DRUM NOR TRUMPET (Sans tambour ni trompette) Tuesday January 8 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm.  Directed by Zoé Gabillet, 2011. Color. 10 min. With Elsa Pasquier, Mahault Mollaret, Johanna Landau. In French with English subtitles.

It's only ten minutes long (including two minutes of credits), but this utterly delightful and actually quite sophisticated short follows a group of moviegoers standing in the ticket line (to see Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid) and also shows us some of the cinema's employees until the moment the lights go down and the movie begins. For maybe the first time, it's us -- the audience -- up there on the screen in all our disparity, charm and annoying qualities. And this first-time filmmaker captures a lot, ending with an inspired moment of perfect transition between the movie that's about to be shown and the movie we've just seen.  SPECIAL NOTE: You can meet the director in person on Tuesday, January 8, at 7:30pm, when Ms Gabillet will present her short film, followed by a Q&A.

GOODBYE FIRST LOVE (Un amour de jeunesse) Tuesday January 8 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm. Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, 2011. Color. 110 min. With Lola Créton, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Magne-Håvard Brekke. In French with English subtitles.

Ms Hansen-Løve's third full-length film falls somewhere between the level of her pretty good first try (All is Forgiven), and her extraordinary second feature, The Father of My Children. Her latest is terrific at showing us the thrilling, obsessive quality of young love, as well as its all-or-nothing appeal. You can read my complete review of the film, at the time it opened early last year, by clicking here.

Tuesday, January 15: three showings 

of a short and a feature film.

THE SHADY SAILOR (Le marin masqué), Tuesday, January 15 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm. Directed by Sophie Letourneur, 2011. B&W. 35 min. With Sophie Letourneur, Laetitia Goffi, Johan Libéreau. In French with English subtitles.

A weekend for two childhood friends from and in Brittany opens the door to the past, present and maybe future, as the young women involve themselves in crepes and constipation, sex and sun, family and friends -- and lots of talk about it all. This lively film is shot in good, sometimes grainy black-and-white and provides a sweet, slice-of-life shot through with interesting little stylistic touches (above). The filmmaker, who has made several short and feature films, also knows how to write and direct herself, as she plays one of the leads. The always-hot and always-working Johan Libéreau plays the title character.

DEAR PRUDENCE (Belle Épine) Tuesday, January 15 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm Directed and co-written by Rebecca Zlotowski, 2010. Color. 80 min. With Léa Seydoux, Anaïs Demoustier, Agathe Schlenker. In French with English subtitles.

One of the best-known young French stars of the moment, Léa Seydoux (Farewell My Queen, Midnight in Paris, Largo Winch) is excellent, as usual, in this sort-of coming of age tale about a teenager who has just lost her mother trying to come to terms with life, family, and approaching adulthood. Libéreau appears again as one in the gang of bikers our heroine falls in with. "Jewishness" plays a big part in this film, and there's a sparkling scene around the dinner table with dialog that fairly crackles.

Exteriors are shot beautifully in this film, but there are times one wants a little more interior life. Fortunately, as the movie rolls along, this begins to happen. This is a dark movie -- literally, rather than metaphorically -- as much of it takes place at night. Two particular scenes toward the finale help us understand this young girl, one real the other fantasy (or remembrance), and so does the fine performance from Seydoux, who consistently proves special and versatile in every role she tackles.

Tuesday, January 22
three showings of two long "shorts"

WHAT WE'LL LEAVE BEHIND (Ce qu’il restera de nous) Tuesday, January 22 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm. Directed by Vincent Macaigne, 2012. Color. 40 min. With Thibault Lacroix, Anthony Paliotti, Laure Calamy. In French with English subtitles.

This series' biggest surprise, for me, is the discovery of a fellow named Vincent Macaigne, the director of this film, and the lead actor in the film discussed just below -- both, fortunately, on the same program. What We'll Leave Behind begins with a fellow at a bar asking just this question, and then we cut to two young men, one of them raging like hell against -- what? -- while the other appears to be a follower. Then suddenly, Mr. Rage needs a hug. Clearly, we're on unstable ground. Turns out these two are brothers whose dad has just died. And they possess quite the love/hate thing for each other. One is married, and his wife, as we soon discover, is an equally problemed person.

By the end of the film we seem to be firmly in Bruno Dumont territory -- but without much religious feeling (though I've long suspected Dumont's faith is fake). But I must admit that this is that rare movie about which you realize that murder/suicide is the only possible answer for the characters on view. (Yes, I'm kidding -- but only by half.) There are pleasures along the way, the biggest of which comes from seeing a gorgeous actor named Thibault Lacroix full-frontal, bathing, peeing, and carrying on something fierce. This is not your everyday screen fare, and Lacroix carries it off with a great body, beautiful face and more than a little style. The other two actors are fine, as well, though the paces they are run through can't quite measure up to Lacroix's. In any case, like it or not, this is a film you'll probably remember for some time.

A WORLD WITHOUT WOMEN (Un monde sans femmes) Tuesday, January 22 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm. Directed by Guillaume Brac, 2012. Color. 57 min. With Vincent Macaigne, Laure Calamy, Constance Rousseau. In French with English subtitles.

M. Macaigne (above, left) takes the lead role in what is actually two films, the first a precursor to A World Without Women, in which a bicyclist has a flat tire near the town in which our "hero," Sylvain, who offers him a lift, lives, and over that evening and into the next day, the two bond and then break. Our bicyclist has some problems of his own regarding women, it seems, so this 24-minute opener sets the stage for the nearly hour-long title feature, in which Sylvain, who turns out to be the landlord of a very nice beachfront cottage, rents out same to a mother-daughter team (below)with whom he becomes friendly.

In appearance M. Macaigne has the schlubby quality of a Gallic Jon Lovitz but without the pushiness. He makes an adorable, root-for-him-with-all-your-might hero, and the two women are equally impressive as characters and performers. So, in fact, are a few of the townspeople we meet. Each is given such specific and real qualities by the co-writer/director Brac and his screenwriter collaborator Hélène Ruault, and brought to such alternately charming and troubled life by the actors, that the movie takes on that quality that only the best and most believable films can manage. Quiet and deeply felt, nothing much happens here and yet by the finale, the whole world seems to be opening up. I'll want to see this one again in a few years.  Right now, I'm thinking it might just be a short classic of sorts.

Tuesday, January 29

three showings of two long "shorts"

U.S. PREMIERE: SONG SONG, Tuesday, January 29 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm. Directed by Gwendal Sartre, 2012. Color. 40 min. With Alain Bouckaert, Jeanne Roche, Cyprien Parvex De Collombey. In French with English subtitles.

We turn a good deal more "arty" with this week's pairing, particularly the first of the two. According to the press info supplied by FIAF, Song Song "is the story of a composer in search of inspiration," but I watched the film without reading about it first and so felt mostly flummoxed by what I saw. This includes an old man, his home and possessions; a sound studio where an artist warms up on a violin; back home again, where a young woman appears (imaginary? Someone from his past? who knows?). The film has almost no dialog (except in one very short scene, which explains little), but it is full of ambient sounds, including a teapot whistling, tapping on a windowpane, and a ringing in the man's ears that finally, thankfully, goes away.

The cinematography is gorgeous, inside and particularly out -- where the lush, verdant greenery is nearly tactile. Our hero, I believe, is played by Alain Bouckaert, who has no IMDB Profile as yet but has a great, camera-loving face (above), which helps matters immensely, as eventually there is no sound at all. Does this indicate the onset of deafness?  Dementia? Creativity? Who knows, and by then, who cares? According to the credits, five people collaborated on the film's scenario, which brings to mind the old too-many-cooks theory. My response to this one -- as lovely to look at as it is -- finds not nearly enough about the artistic process, either in front of the camera or behind it. I used to have a term for failed art films -- fart films -- and this one strikes as a tad closer to that moniker than I would have preferred.

U.S. PREMIERE: NIGHT DRIFTERS (La nuit remue), Tuesday, January 29 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm. Directed by Bijan Anquetil, 2012. Color. 47 min. With Hamid Jan, Sobhan Sardari. In Farsi, Dari with English subtitles.

If nothing else, 2012 gave us two films (maybe more) produced and created  totally via camera-phones: the racy, funny, nasty King Kelly and now this combo narrative/documentary oddity about immigrants in France from Afghanistan who explain their situation to each other's camera-phones, even as this is linked together by camera-phone shots of groups of immigrants protesting, on the move in secret, and what have you. This transition from up-close-and-personal and maybe narrative footage to fuzzy, pixilated, washed-out "documentary" footage makes for an interesting, if distancing 45 minutes.

First-time filmmaker Bijan Anquetil gets points for originality but loses some for content- and character-building. You would hope to know these men a little better after 45 minutes, so perhaps more time might have been spent with them and less with the washed out groups shots. Still, at the end the filmmaker manages a wonderful coalescing as his two styles suddenly mesh and bring us into a moving few moments when this sad twosome becomes part of something larger and greater. This film won Best First Film prize at the Festival International de Cinema de Marseille.

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About FIAF 

FIAF's mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas and promote cross cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression.

Thank You/Merci ! 

Special thanks to Clémentine Gallot.

Cinema programs are made possible by Institut français, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

CinémaTuesdays is sponsored by American Airlines, The Official Airline of FIAF; Lancôme, Nespresso, and TV5MONDE.

FIAF would like to thank the following winter season sponsors:

American Airlines, the official airline of FIAF; the Cultural Services of the French Embassy; Florence Gould Foundation; Institut français; New York State Council on the Arts; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, and Robert de Rothschild.

Quick Facts
What: FIAF presents Vive la jeunesse ! Young French Directors
When: Times and titles detailed above.
Where: FIAF - Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street (between Park and Madison Avenues) Admission: $10; $7 students; Free for FIAF Members
Tickets: www.fiaf.org | Phone: 800 982 2787 Information: www.fiaf.org | 212 355 6160
Directions & Transportation: Subway - 4, 5, 6, N, R and Q to 59th Street & Lexington Avenue; F to 63rd Street & Lexington Avenue; E to 53rd Street & 5th Avenue Bus - M1, M2, M3, M4, Q31 to 59th Street; M5 to 58th Street

Heads up! Last chance to catch one of the best unreleased movies of the year--FREE!

The below is re-post of TM's take on a film first seen at Rendez-vous with French Cinema this past March. I and many of my compatriots loved the movie and imagined that it would be picked up for U.S. distribution (films by Robert Guédiguian usually are). No such luck. But thanks to The Cultural Services of the French Embassy and its yearly program of Films on the Green, New Yorkers have at least one more chance to see the movie. It plays tomorrow night, Friday, June 8, at 8:30 (admission is free but get there early and bring food and drink) -- in Washington Square Park, just below the end of Fifth Avenue by that big faux French arch.

Enjoy!

It's not Hemingway. No, it's better than that. The great strength of writer/director Robert Guédiguian is how he tells his stories from so many points of view, not in some stylish, what-is-truth? Rashomon manner, but intuitively, organically, from the inside out and so that we come to see how the people involved on all sides of a given situation understand that situation and will gain or lose from it. With THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO, the filmmaker has outdone himself. (I can't think of a better film from him, in a raft of very good ones.)  Snows takes a layoff of workers in a shipyard as a starting point for exploring responsibility -- to oneself, one's family, friends, co-workers and even beyond.

The events that spin outward from this layoff (above) are both expected and not, and how the pivotal, negative and lawless post-event changes everything -- but not just for the worse -- turns the film into one of the richest, most intelligent and moving experiences in all of this year's Rendez-vous. Guédiguian is a political filmmaker, and a left-leaning one, I believe. But he never shies from showing us the other side -- not the right-wing one -- but the side that takes our beloved shiboleths and turns them inside out, forcing us to struggle with right and wrong from new angles. Yet the filmmaker is also a supreme humanist who never allows a principle to trump a person. That's what makes his work such a joy: the people are deep and real, and the life around them is, too.

In Snows, that life is lived by husband & wife Michael & Marie-Claire -- the "greats" Jean-Pierre Darroussin (above, left) and Ariane Ascaride (above, right) -- oft-used by this filmmaker. We get to know them, their best friends, and their children (in all, including the elderly woman taken care of by Marie-Claire, we see four generations here). We also come to know one of those laid-off workers, Christophe -- played by one of France's fine, up-and-coming new stars Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (below, center, of Love Songs: click and scroll down) and The Princess of Montpensier). How these people connect and what happens subsequently is the stuff of great storytelling.

Along the way, we meet everyone from a delightful waiter with an eye for Marie-Claire (the terrific Pierre Niney of this Rendez-vous' 18 Years Old and Rising) to Christophe's mom (played exceedingly well and nastily by Karole Rocher, who was also the mom in this Rendez-vous' Last Screening and the recently released Polisse: She's cornering the market on bad moms!). Ms Rocher has a scene with Ms Ascaride that had me so angry I wanted to slap her face and shout, "Then have your tubes tied, bitch!"  (Really, this is so unlike me.) But it's a stunner of a scene that, again, allows you to see things -- appallingly irresponsible as they are -- from the viewpoint of this exceedingly selfish woman who has managed to connect herself to some even worse men.

By the time The Snows of Kilmanjaro concludes, you'll have lived through a lot and come out of it with greater understanding of how our lives are shaped by so many opposing forces. It's a wise movie, and Guédiguian's a wise movie-maker.  Don't miss this one -- which as yet, shockingly, has no U.S. distributor so far as I know. Maybe some enterprising distributor will show up at Film on the Green in Washington Square Park tomorrow night -- Friday, June 8 -- at dusk, watch the film, note the audience response, and take a chance on it.  We can hope.  (Click here to view this year's entire Films on the Green program.)