Review: La tourneuse de pages / The Page Turner (2006)

One summer, a young work experience student, Mélanie (Déborah François), becomes a live-in baby sitter for Tristan, son of wealthy lawyer Jean (Pascal Greggory). Jean's wife, Ariane (Catherine Frot), a pianist for a small ensemble, takes a liking to Mélanie. When Ariane discovers that Mélanie has music training, she employs Mélanie to be her page turner during her performances. What the family doesn't know is that the innocent-looking Mélanie has revenge on her mind.

This drama from writer-director Denis Dercourt and co-writer Jacques Sotty is about revenge as a dish best served cold. For a while, it is somewhat fascinating to watch Mélanie exploiting Ariane's and Tristan's weaknesses to wreak her revenge on an event that happened many years ago. However, the premise is very far-fetched, and without any elaboration on Mélanie's character, it is hard to accept that anyone, let alone a teenager, could conceive or execute such an elaborate and complete plan.

French with English subtitles.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review: Blue Collar (1978)

Zeke (Richard Pryor), Jerry (Harvey Keitel) and Smokey (Yaphet Kotto) are three friends who work in the assembly floor of a Detroit car company. The work is hard, and Zeke, the youngest of the three, is frustrated with the unwillingness of the auto workers union to help their members, while his older friends are more equanimous. When Zeke runs into money problems, he convinces his friends to help him burgle the local union office, an act which starts a chain of violent events.

This film has a surprising and effective performance by comic Richard Pryor, sans moustache, in the dramatic role as the voluble and vocal Zeke, who uses colourful language to get his point across. His co-stars don't have such flashy roles: Yaphett Kotto's Smokey is a quiet ex-con while Harvey Keitel's Jerry is an established family man.

The beginning of the film is interesting because it sets the scene to explore some of the social issues of the working class in America, a topic that seems to be completely ignored by mainstream American films. However, once writer-director Paul Shrader and co-writer Leonard Schrader introduce an FBI investigation into union corruption, the premise is effectively forgotten and the film turns into an OK low-key thriller.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Between the folds (2008)

Origami, the art of paper folding, is often considered a minor craft to keep kids occupied. Vanessa Gould's documentary Between The Folds shows us what dedicated practitioners can really do with origami. This film takes a broad perspective, showing you models can require hundreds of folds and computer software to design, models that represent the real and the abstract, and linking origami with computational geometry.

Having dabbled with origami all my life, I found the models and demonstrations fascinating, and I am amazed at the possibilities stemming from a single sheet of paper and the act of folding it. Film maker Gould narrates her documentary, and unlike the images and interviewees, her text is rather prosaic and uninspiring, and there are occasions that the narration is redundant and just describes what is on screen.

3 out of 5 stars.