Main Page
Alphabetical Menu
Chronological Menu
The "R" Menu

Regular Lovers (Unrated)





Release Date: January 19th, 2007 (Cinema Village) by Palm Pictures.
The Cast: Louis Garrel, Nicolas Bridet, Mathieu Genet, Clotilde Hesme, Julien Lucas, Eric Rulliat, François Toumarkine.
Directed by Philippe Garrel.
In French with subtitles.

BASIC PREMISE: Rather than joining the military during the Paris riots of 1968, François (Garrel) hides out in Antoine’s (Lucas) apartments while spending time with his new girlfriend, Lilie (Hesme).

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: During the opening scenes, François and his friends run amok on the streets of Paris and set cars on fire while other youngsters report to military duty as required. The only real conflict is that he must avoid getting in trouble with the riot police. He stays at the home of Antoine, an elderly drug-addict and befriends Lilie, a beautiful girl, at a party. During the rest of the film, they just sit around, talk, smoke and drink together. The screenplay by co-writer/director Philippe Garrel doesn’t bring any of the characters to life and the dialogue lacks wit. However, there’s no real chemistry between François and Lilie, so it’s not easy to care about what happens to them as a couple or as rebellious youths who gradually stop rebelling. Watch The Edukators if you want a truly entertaining, surprising and even humorous film also about rebellious youths. Director Philippe Garrel films in black-and-white which does add some visual style, but eventually feels pretentious and it’s not nearly enough to keep you awake. Also, his decision to have white subtitles on white and gray backgrounds makes them very difficult or, in some cases, impossible to read. Meandering, dull and sleep-inducing, Regular Lovers doesn’t have an engaging enough plot or interesting characters to hold your attention for its seemingly endless running time of 3 hours.

SPIRITUAL VALUE: Unfortunately, none.

INSULT TO YOUR INTELLIGENCE: Meandering and dull.

NUMBER OF TIMES I CHECKED MY WATCH: 12

IN A NUTSHELL: Pretentious, meandering, dull and seemingly endless. A possible cure for insomnia.

RECOMMENDED WAY TO WATCH: TV (insomniacs only)


Main Page
Alphabetical Menu
Chronological Menu
The "R" Menu


______________________________________________________
Avi Offer
The NYC Movie Guru
themovieguru101@yahoo.com
Privacy Policy