LES HERBES FOLLES (WILD GRASS)

Written by Alex Reval and Laurent Herbier

Directed by Alais Resnais

Starring Andre Dussollier and Sabine Azema

French filmmaker, Alain Resnais, is a legend.  He was a key figure in the French “new wave” cinema period that emerged in the 1950’s and 60’s.  Classics like HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR and LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD are not only some of the most influential films of all time but also personal favorites of mine as well.  The man is also almost 90 years old.  As impressive as it is that he was able to put a new film together at all, Resnais seems to have completely lost the plot.

His latest, LES HERBES FOLLES, starts promising enough.  A woman (Sabine Azema, Resnais’s live-in girlfriend) is about to have a seemingly meaningless experience that will go on to change her life drastically.  She buys some shoes she doesn’t need and has her purse stolen on her way home.  A man (Andre Dussollier) finds her wallet discarded in a parking lot sometime later and returns it to the police.  When the woman calls to thank the man for returning her wallet, he is disappointed that she does not want more from this exchange.  He then stalks her and she in turn responds to his charming yet illegal advances. If this seems a stretch, that’s because it is.

LES HERBES FOLLES, is being lauded as a dreamlike experience that is as insightful as it is visually stimulating.  Compliments like these characterize his earlier work perfectly but feel entirely misguided to me when applied to this new film.  New wave films didn’t have to make sense at the time.  They were just trippy, visual feasts that you could formulate your own opinions on as to what they were essentially saying.  The effect does not work though in a contemporary setting.  Watching these characters make move after senseless move is not only confusing but incredibly infuriating.

Black Sheep @ The Box Office

It is of no surprise to me or no one else I'm sure that TOY STORY 3 held on to the top spot at the Box Office with nothing but mediocre challengers for the crown.  The $59 million haul is a reasonable 46.5% drop off considering sequels tend to drop steeply in their second weeks.  At $226.5 million, it has amassed almost as much in two weeks as SHREK FOREVER AFTER has in its entire six week run.  The Adam Sandler ensemble comedy, GROWN UPS, did solid business in second place.  This opening is on par with previous Sandler summer comedies like CLICK or YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN and $10 million shy of the entire domestic take of his last film, FUNNY PEOPLE.  Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz managed some mild returns for the action-comedy, KNIGHT AND DAY.  The response is certainly not overwhelming and could throw the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise into serious question going forward.

Outside the Top 10, two Black Sheep favorites continue to perform well.  The $2 million drama, WINTER'S BONE, has now hauled in over half its budget with another solid week of expansion.  The week's big indie success again though is CYRUS, from the Duplass brothers.  It pulled in over $17K per screen on just 17 screens for a 65% increase over last week.  This weekend I caught COCO CHANEL AND IGOR STRAVINSKY.  The review is coming later this week but the film itself may not make it there, pulling in only modest returns, $4K per screen on 20 screens.  Another review coming later this week is for Alain Resnais's festival hit, WILD GRASS.  The French film, which drove me insane while I watched it, only earned about $7K on five screens limiting its expansion plans.

NEXT WEEK: Those pouty little vampires are back as THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE roars into 4000+ screens on Wednesday for what will certainly be one of the biggest hauls of the year.  M. Night Shyamalan's THE LAST AIRBENDER opens on 3000+ screens, including some 3D screens to help boost what I think will be a pretty mild gross.  And Taylor Hackford, LOVE RANCH opens on the art house front.

Source: Box Office Mojo

Black Sheep Previews: TIFF 2009

First of all, I am loving the new TIFF logo. The Toronto based film festival is rebranding itself and taking on its acronym as its actual name and intends to encapsulate the commitment to film that TIFF promotes all year round and not just during the festival. With the construction of the Bell Lightbox theatre, specially designed for the festival itself, underway, TIFF is looking to the future like never before. And speaking of the TIFF future, they have announced a handful of galas and special presentations for this year's programme and they have got this sheep very excited for what's in store. Now, all they have to do is let me in! Here is a peak of what's in store ...


TIFF has decided to open their festival with the world premiere of a controversial film, CREATION, from director, Jon Amiel. Paul Bettany stars as Charles Darwin and Jennifer Connelly co-stars as his devoted but deeply religious wife. Creationism is not a popular topic and therefore this is certain to draw attention. Meanwhile, TIFF is drawing a different kind of controversy for their decision. The opening film is ordinarily a Canadian production and I can see no Canadian tie to this film, especially if you compare it to last year's opener, Paul Gross's PASSCHENDAELE. Still, I don't mind one way or the other; I just want to see what the fuss is about.


Three of the announced galas are highly anticipated works, one of which is making its world premiere at TIFF. Steven Soderbergh's THE INFORMANT! stars Matt Damon as the aforementioned informant himself. After exploring the high class sex trade in his last film, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, Soderbergh takes on the agricultural monopolies in this awards season hopeful. Jane Campion, (the Academy Award winning writer and nominated director of THE PIANO) brings her Cannes success, BRIGHT STAR, to North America. The film stars Ben Wishaw (I'M NOT THERE) as 19th century poet, John Keats, and explores his relationship with girlfriend, Fanny Brawn (Abbie Cornish) that was cut short by his early death at 25. And, after receiving the Audience Award, Grand Jury Prize and Special Jury Prize at Sundance earlier this year, the Oprah Winfrey/Tyler Perry backed PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE makes its way from Cannes to TIFF for its Canadian debut. A gala presentation at TIFF certainly puts this downer of a picture on track as a potentially serious contender at this year's Oscars.


And here's an intriguing selection ... French Nouvel Vague director, Alain Resnais, most famous for the classics, HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (1959) and THE LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (1961), brings us his latest, LES HERBES FOLLES (WILD GRASS), as part of TIFF's Masters series. The film stars Mathieu Almaric (THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY) and centers around a wallet that is lost and then found. The one who lost it and the one who found it are now intrinsically linked.

More TIFF titles are to be announced shortly. For more information, be sure to check out the TIFF wesbite.