“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” by Marielle Heller (2019)

Good script, personages, music, content (8)
Excellent dialogues, images (9)
Top direction (10)

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,2
Metascore 8,0
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 9,0
IMDB 7,8
Average critics 8,3
Average public 8,4

As she did in her previous movie “Can You Ever Forgive Me,” Marielle Heller takes us to visit a famous personage and creates a very original movie in the way she mixes the personages as well as the settings (even intelligently using the fact that the celebrity lives in Pittsburg and not in New York as Lee Israel did)
Extraordinary performance by Tom Hanks!

Cast: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Chris Cooper, Susan Kelechi Watson, Enrico Colantoni, Maryann Plunkett, Tammy Blanchard
Director: Marielle Heller
Screenplay: Noah Harpster, Micah Fitzerman-Blue
Director of Photography: Jody Lee Lipes
Editor: Anne McCabe
Original Music Composer: Nate Heller

“Place Publique” by Agnes Jaoui (2018)

The films of Agnès Jaoui (4/4)

Good script (8)
Excellent dialogues, humor, images, music (9)
Top personages, direction (10)

Agnes Jaoui’s most accomplished film with a host of strong and entertaining characters defined by pungent dialogues and brought together by a scenario structured around the three unities of the classical tragedy (action, place, time)
Smart (diegetic) use of music

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,0
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,2
IMDB 5,9
Average critics 6,0
Average public 6,1

Cast: Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Léa Drucker
Director: Agnès Jaoui
Writers: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnès Jaoui
Music by Fernando Fiszbein
Cinematography by Yves Angelo
Film Editing by Annette Dutertre

“Let It Rain” (Parlez-moi de la pluie) by Agnès Jaoui (2008)

The films of Agnès Jaoui (3/4)

Good personages, dialogues, direction, images, music (8)

Identical to Jaoui’s two previous features, but giving her personages different professional activities gives Agnes Jaoui the possibility to talk about politics and feminism / How to deal with success remains a recurrent theme

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,4
Metascore 7,2
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,0
IMDB 6,0
Average critics 6,8
Average public 6,0

Cast: Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jamel Debbouze
Director: Agnès Jaoui
Writers: Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri
Cinematography by David Quesemand
Film Editing by François Gédigier

“Look at Me” (Comme une image) by Agnes Jaoui (2004)

The films of Agnès Jaoui (2/4)

Good images (8)
Excellent script, personages, dialogues, direction (9)

Agnes Jaoui’s characters remind me of bumper cars: they change direction every time they run into someone!
As in her first feature, Jaoui manages to stage successive repressed relational situations without sinking into heaviness
Excellent musical score perfectly integrated!
“The thing about a movie like this is, the characters may be French, but they’re more like people I know than they could ever be in the Hollywood remake.” [Roger Ebert]

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,6
Metascore 7,9
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,2
IMDB 6,8
Average critics 8,1
Average public 7,0

Cast: Marilou Berry, Agnes Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Laurent Grevill, Virginie Desarnauts
Directed by Agnès Jaoui
Written by Agnes Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri
Music by Philippe Rombi
Cinematography by Stéphane Fontaine
Film Editing by François Gédigier

“The Taste Of Others” (Le Goût des Autres) by Agnes Jaoui (2000)

The films of Agnès Jaoui (1/4)

First Feature

Good personages, content (8)
Excellent script, direction (9)

A good comedy about how we all are victims and sources of prejudice
Another underlying aspect shows the complex relationship artists have with success, which sharply contrasts with how an industrial relates to it.
“One of the delights of “The Taste of Others” is that it is so smart and wears its intelligence lightly.” [Roger Ebert]

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,9
Metascore 7,8
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,8
IMDB 7,2
Average critics 7,7
Average public 7,5

Cast: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Anne Alvaro, Christiane Millet, Agnes Jaoui, Gerard Lanvin
Directed by Agnes Jaoui
Written by Agnes Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri
Music by Jean-Charles Jarrel
Cinematography by Laurent Dailland
Film Editing by Hervé de Luze

“Working Woman” by Michal Aviad (2018)

International update (10/10)

Good dialogues, humor (8)
Excellent direction (9)
Top score: gender (10)

Adding a facet to the story of women facing sexual abuse in Israel (see her previous movie Invisible), Working Woman is a powerful movie on the many challenges a young woman faces when she wants to combine family life and career.

Cast: Liron Ben-Shlush, Menashe Noy, Oshri Cohen
Director: Michal Aviad
Writer: Michal Aviad, Sharon Azulay Eyal, Michal Vinik
Cinematographer: Daniel Miller
Editor: Nili Feller

“Breaking News” by Iulia Rugina (2017)

International update (9/19)

Good personages, direction (8)

Heavy drama in a colorless world

Cast: Dorin Andone, Valeriu Andriuta, David Blaj
Director: Iulia Rugina
Writers: Ana Agopian, Oana Rasuceanu
Cinematography by Vivi Dragan Vasile
Film Editing by Catalin Cristutiu