Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas)

[Stay Puft]

CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA
Dir. Olivier Assayas

http://i.imgur.com/aazJiUk.jpg

IMDb page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2452254/)

[Stay Puft]

I wish I had been taking more notes during TIFF or something because I saw this 7 months ago and it's obviously not terribly fresh in my memory now.

But, I liked it! It was good.

Yes.

[baby doll]

Minor Assayas, often terribly on the nose, but watchable enough.

[dreamdead]

On the nose, yes, but I feel like Assayas stands back far enough so that when characters are debating the virtues or flaws with modern cinema (as superhero trash), that we're allowed to assume either position (Valentine's or Maria's) and not merely consigned to Maria's revulsion for them. And while the Reverseshot (http://reverseshot.org/reviews/entry/1893/clouds_of_sils_maria)article is smart in interrogating how male directors often assume a study of Woman rather than a woman, I found this a film that doubled as a typically nice Assayas project on performance and authenticity, but often started midway so that we have to dig and figure out what's performative in the frame.

Both Binoche and Stewart are wonderful.

[Peng]

Not sure I understand all of it, but this could have been just a dry exercise of analyzing text and metatext (right in the moments of watching it nonethelsss). Instead it becomes a really fun, occasionally poignant hall of mirrors. Some entertaining comments on film industry, Assayas' lively direction, and two terrific performances from Binoche and Stewart. Liked it a fair bit.

[TGM]

So I was very impressed with this one. Very intriguing screenplay, and one where the timing of my watching it is almost bizarre, as much of it deals with an actress rehearsing for a role in a play. But yeah, as a filmmaker, the writing in this thing is pretty inspiring stuff, and it's one I can definitely see myself returning to and taking quite a bit away from more and more.

That said, it's not a perfect movie by any means. It has a lot of fades to black that feel really awkward and unneeded, sorta pulling me out of the movie, which coulda been avoiding by simply cutting directly to the next scene instead. Also, the movie feels like it reaches a natural conclusion, only to continue on into one last act that sorta drags on a little too long. But otherwise, this was gorgeously shot, very well acted, but the star of this thing is the writing, which I kinda loved about this thing. Lots of parallels, and some very interesting back and forth breaking down and debating various forms of media, from movies to plays and the such, which I just completely ate up.

Also, this is the movie where Kristen Stewart became the first American actress to win what is essentially the French version of the Oscars, and I can definitely see why. She puts on a commanding performance, so much so that you seriously feel her absence anytime she's not on screen. Anybody who says this girl can't act needs to watch this movie and promptly proceed to shut the fuck up on the matter once and for all.

Anyways, wrote a full review of the movie here: http://cwiddop.blogspot.com/2015/10/clouds-of-sils-maria.html

[Ezee E]

This is actually really good. You have to be in the mood for dialog, but Binoche absolutely kills it here.

My main gripe, and a big one, is that it should've ended before the epilogue. The hiking trail with the snake was a solid moment to end on, and the movie loses its steam once Stewart's out of the picture.

[Izzy Black]

Excellent. Saw this last year and it topped my list.

[baby doll]

Murder, Boff, Marry: Binoche, Stewart, and Mortez?