The Thousands

Ah the French Film Festival. Automatically there’s a high bar right? After all France is considered the birthplace of cinema, not just of stripy shirts and carbs.

This year’s festival pulls out the big guns as well, including one of the most anticipated biopics of the year: Gainsbourg – all about ol’ Mr Fistful of Gitaines himself. Jean Pierre Jeunet is back after a five-year absence with Micmacs, another beautiful-looking film, this time all about the arms trade – and it’s a comedy! The ‘French Woody Allen’ Emmanuel Mouret brings the lols with Please Please Me, an enjoyable ‘goofball gets all the good looking girls’ comedy which is sure to please all the goofballs out there.**Best of all, however, octogenarian and French New Wave big cheese Alain Resnais returns simply to give the finger to Hollywood and turn cinema inside on itself with Wild Grass. It’s a story about a chance encounter by two people who aren’t meant for each other but can’t stay apart. Which sounds simple enough but becomes a complete genre mash-up, which not only tests Resnais’ directing chops but also proves he’s still got them.