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FILM

Danish ‘pornographer of violence’ in Cannes spotlight

Denmark's Nicolas Winding Refn, whose supermodel horror story "The Neon Demon" premieres Friday at the Cannes film festival, is a divisive filmmaker whose genre-bending, violent work has earned him a cult following.

Danish 'pornographer of violence' in Cannes spotlight
Refn at the opening of the Lumiere Grand Lyon film festival in October 2015. Photo: Robert Pratta/Scanpix
After dropping out of his country's National Film School, he scored a surprise hit at the Danish box office in 1996 with his debut “Pusher”, a low-budget drama about Copenhagen's drug scene.
 
The film also launched the career of Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, who rose to global fame as the Bond baddie Le Chiffre in “Casino Royale”.
 
Mikkelsen's place on this year's Cannes jury may have put Refn and his film about cannibalism on the Los Angeles fashion scene in a difficult spot.
 
Refn once said that when he and Mikkelsen work together “it's like we're united as one person”.
 
However, it's a purely work-based relationship. “We do not see each other if we're not working,” Mikkelsen said in a 2012 documentary.
 
“I mean he can only, and I say only, talk about films. And I can almost only talk about sports,” he added.
 
With his thick-framed glasses and hipster cardigans, there is little about the soft-spoken Refn to suggest he is a self-confessed “pornographer” of violence.
 
“We humans are physically created to exert violence. Since we are forced to repress our violent tendencies, we get a need to see images of violence,” he once told a Swedish newspaper.
 
Viewed by many as Denmark's first real gangster movie, “Pusher” showed the violent underbelly of the country's picturesque capital: the central Vesterbro district's flourishing drug trade and those who control it.
 
Filmed with a handheld camera in chronological order, Mikkelsen has claimed it inspired Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg who founded the avant-garde filmmaking movement Dogme 95 — “even though they will never admit it,” he said.
 
While promoting 'The Neon Demon' on Friday, Refn had some choice awards for von Trier. 
 
“Lars is Lars. He’s done a lot of drugs,” Refn said. 
 
“The last time I saw Lars he asked my wife if she wanted to have sex. He found some other slut,” Refn said, adding that von Trier is “over the hill”.
 
The Neon Demon trailer – story continues below
 
 
From flop to 'Drive'
Refn's position at this year's Cannes festival is a far cry from where he stood after writing and directing his first English-language film, “Fear X”.
 
His first attempt to make it in Hollywood flopped so badly it pushed him into bankruptcy and forced him to return to Denmark, where he made two “Pusher” sequels and even directed a “Miss Marple” episode to make ends meet.
 
The “massive failure” of his first international production “still haunts me to this day” but knocked “some sense into me”, he said later.
 
It wasn't until 2008 that he ventured overseas again, with “Bronson”, which tells the story of one of Britain's most notorious criminals, Charles Bronson.
 
He finally cracked Hollywood in 2011 with “Drive”, starring heartthrob Ryan Gosling as a stuntman who moonlights as a getaway car driver, earning him the best director award at that year's Cannes festival.
 
“We're very similar in many ways,” he said of the actor in a 2013 interview with Britain's The Guardian. “We're both mama's boys. We both worship women as goddesses.”
 
Their second collaboration in 2013 fared less well. Blood-spattered revenge tale “Only God Forgives” was booed at a press screening in Cannes and left many in the auditorium wincing or unable to watch.
 
In one scene, Thai actor Vithaya Pansringarm — playing an ex-cop on a mission to purge Bangkok of sleaze — pins a man to an armchair with knives and stabs him through the eye.
 
“The movie is so devoid of emotion that its ritualised gore acts as a narcotic,” The New York Times wrote in a review.
 
“Three words should suffice: pretentious macho nonsense,” it added.
 
Online giant Amazon has acquired the distribution rights to “The Neon Demon” and will release it in US cinemas as well as on its video streaming service.
 
“The day that television was invented, cinema changed,” Refn told the Deadline Hollywood website in February.
 
“Now it's a screen in (a) stadium Imax, but it's also an iPhone and both are equally as important,” he added.

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FILM

French films with English subtitles to watch in November

As days get shorter and temperatures drop, November is a great month to enjoy a warm and comforting moment at the cinema. Here’s a round up of the French movies with English subtitles to see in Paris this month.

Cinema in France
Photo: Loic Venance/AFP

The cinema group Lost in Frenchlation runs regular screenings of French films in the capital, with English subtitles to help non-native speakers follow the action. The club kicks off every screening with drinks at the cinema’s bar one hour before the movie, so it’s also a fun way to meet people if you’re new to Paris.

These are the events they have coming up in November.

Friday, November 5th

Boîte Noire – What happened on board the Dubai-Paris flight before it crashed in the Alps? In this thriller Matthieu, a young and talented black box analyst played by Pierre Niney (star of Yves Saint-Laurent among other movies) is determined to solve the reason behind this deadly crash, no matter the costs. 

The screening will take place at the Club de l’étoile cinema at 8pm. But you can arrive early for drinks at the bar from 7pm. 

Tickets are €10 full price, €8 for students and all other concessions, and can be reserved here.

Sunday, November 14th

Tralala – In the mood for music? This new delightful French musical brings you into the life of Tralala (played by Mathieu Amalric), a 48 years old, homeless and worn-out street singer, who one day gets mistaken for someone else. Tralala sees an opportunity to get a better life by taking on a new personality. He now has a brother, nephews, ex-girlfriends, and maybe even a daughter. But where is the lie? Where is the truth? And who is he, deep down?

The night will start with drinks from 6pm followed by the screening at 7pm at the Luminor Hôtel de Ville cinema. There is also a two-hour cinema-themed walk where you’ll be taken on a “musicals movie tour” in the heart of Paris, which begins at 4pm.

Tickets cost €10, or €8 for students and concessions, and can be found here. Tickets for the walking tour cost €20 and must be reserved online here.

Thursday, November 18th

Illusions Perdues – Based on the great novel series by Honoré de Balzac between 1837 and 1843, this historical drama captures the writer Lucien’s life and dilemmas who dreams about a great career of writing and moves to the city to get a job at a newspaper. As a young poet entering the field of journalism, he is constantly challenged by his desire to write dramatic and eye-catching stories for the press. But are they all true?

The evening will kick off with drinks at L’Entrepôt cinema bar at 7pm, followed by the movie screening at 8pm. Tickets are available online here, and cost €8.50 full price; €7 for students and all other concessions.

Sunday, November 21st

Eiffel – Having just finished working on the Statue of Liberty, Gustave Eiffel (played by Romain Duris) is tasked with creating a spectacular monument for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris. It’s ultimately his love story with Adrienne Bourgès (Emma Mackey) that will inspire him to come up with the idea for the Eiffel Tower.

After a first screening last month, Lost in Frenchlation is organising a new one at the Luminor Hôtel de Ville cinema, with pre-screening drinks at the cinema bar. 

Tickets cost €10, or €8 for students and concessions, and can be found here

Thursday, November 25th

Les Héroïques – Michel is a former junkie and overgrown child who only dreams of motorbikes and of hanging out with his 17-year-old son Léo and his friends. But at 50 years old, he now has to handle the baby he just had with his ex, and try not to make the same mistakes he has done in the past. 

The film will be followed by a Q&A with the director Maxime Roy who will discuss his very first feature. 

Tickets cost €10, or €8 for students and concessions, and can be found here.

Full details of Lost in Frenchlation’s events can be found on their website or Facebook page. In France, a health pass is required in order to go to the cinema.

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