faubourg 36 (2009)

christophe barratiers follow up to the chorus is perhaps the most staggeringly beautiful film i have had the pleasure of seeing so far this year. the highly stylised paris that stands as the films backbone looked beautiful in the 70mm print that i saw the film shown on over the weekend. alas i wasnt able to stay for the entire film, so cant really comment on the whole piece, but will say that the first hour was really good, with barratier recycling much of the cast of his earlier film. i look forward to seeing the rest of the film as soon as possible.

the chorus (2004)

christophe barratier's multi-oscar nominated 2004 effort proved to be reliable middle of the road euro-fare. the story of an inspirational teacher at a school for delinquent boys is an inspirational affair, following the sort of inspirational teacher lines that one has come to expect in the likes of dead poets society.

formidable comedy actor gérard jugnot leads the impressive enough cast as clément mathieu, the inspirational teacher in question. he straddles the line between affable bufoon and subtle listener very well, and manages to draw a surpising amount of emotion from the role and project it upon the viewer.

the biggest problem with the chorus is simply that its ''fine''. its never particularly outstanding, but its not terrible. its occupies a strange junction between the two, which is all well and good, but dictates that its not particularly memorable or even interesting as a result. im seeing barratier's follow up at the end of the week, which i hope fares much better.