(Les amours d’Astrée et de Céladon, 2007) Eric Rohmer, who turns 89 in April, says that this will be his last film as director. He’s still mad for mad love: working from a seventeenth-century novel by one Honoré d’Urfé about fifth-century France, Rohmer’s final statement is filled with purple and foolish passages, but wins with its glorious embrace of the ideal of perfect love. Partially shot in bucolic, painterly tableaux and with an almost diffident approach to pacing, Rohmer’s film stop-starts for philosophical contemplation that underlines his essential conservative view of society. It’s not on the level of his six Moral Tales, but this “Romance” holds stalwart ideals. And, as to be expected of any young cast chosen by Rohmer, there’s prettiness that outshines the landscape. 109m. 35mm. (Ray Pride)
Seeing The Elephant: A Review Of Babylon The boisterous, brawling yet melancholy "Babylon," is a variation on film history, but more drawing for drama. It's gaudy and mean, celebratory and sorrowful.
Heart: A Review of Soul The real world is soulful, too, in Pixar's bountiful life of the mind.
Uncanny Ally: A Review Of M3GAN "M3GAN" sells itself in its first handful of seconds in how it introduces the handiwork of roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams, "Get Out") and her present product, PurrPetual Petz from Funki.
