Movies playing in English at Chamonix Cinema Vox
Here's our run-down of the latest films showing in English (V/O) with French subtitles at Chamonix Cinema Vox from 7th-17th July, please click on the website link for times and prices.
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Director Woody Allen's latest film, which premiered in Cannes this year, is a romantic comedy about a family travelling to Paris for business, including a young engaged couple. Our hero, one half of the couple, is unhappy, but not entirely sure how to amend his malcontent. During his rambling evening walks, our hero finds that he is transported to 1920's Paris every night at midnight when he stands at a certain place in the city. In this other age he meets many of his heroes, such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dali, Bunuel, Picasso, Man Ray and Gertrude Stein. During these visits, our hero is forced to confront his illusion that a life different from his own is better, even as he also finds that some elements of his dreams are worth pursuing in his ‘real' life.
This film is not one of Allen's greats – Manhattan or Annie Hall or even The Mighty Aphrodite – but it is the best of recent years and absolutely worth watching. That said, it's not a film for everyone because of its literary and artistic references as well as its subtext of existentialism, but that's not to say that it's ‘high brow' or overly intellectual at all.
Ultimately, Woody Allen's film is homage to creativity and dreams as a reality rather than as an illusion. This reviewer left the cinema after watching this film feeling that “all things are possible.”
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: Part II
The final chapter begins as Harry, Ron, and Hermione continue their quest to find and destroy Voldemort's three remaining Horcruxes, the magical items responsible for his immortality. But as the mystical Deathly Hallows are uncovered, and Voldemort finds out about their mission, the biggest battle begins and life as they know it will never be the same again.
The cosy trimmings of previous Harry Potter films – trains to school, lessons, quidditch matches – are not evident in this film, which is darker than the rest of the movies. Even as it doesn't rate as one of the best Harry Potter films, the lead actors are fine and it's another adventure in the popular series with the familiar characters. A must see for Harry Potter fans.
THE DEBT
It's 1997 and shocking news reaches retired Mossad secret agents Rachel (Helen Mirren) and Stefan (Tom Wilkinson) about their former colleague, David. Their country has revered these three agents for a mission they accomplished in 1966 in which they tracked down a Nazi war criminal in East Berlin – but was their mission actually successful?
An espionage thriller that creates suspense across two different time periods, with two different casts, with surprising action, and startling revelations - well worth an evening at the cinema.
THE TREE OF LIFE
The film premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it won a Palme d'Or, and was met with rave reviews from critics but was actually booed at the screening (a tough reaction particularly as the filmmakers and actors are present).
Depending on who you speak to, the sci-fi meets surrealist themes and imagery were seen as either imaginative and independently minded, or pretentious and boring. This reviewer finds that the fragmented and non-linear narrative actually is how memories are remembered, and as it's a story told in the present about the past, this seems appropriate and interesting. In a world of films that appeal to the lowest common denominator and rely on frenetic images and action, this nicely paced, philosophically-light film is refreshing.
Malick has taken his time with his films, working on this one for decades and ‘only' having made seven films in a 35-year career, but his films Badlands and Days of Heaven are two of the most beautifully filmed movies of all time and this one is gorgeous, too. Lightly existential, this is a great film to watch when you're in the mood to consider your life, your family, and the world you live in, without delving too deeply into any of it.
