RELEASES France
Happiness Distribution releases Back to Stay
by Fabien Lemercier
18/07/2012 - Contrary to a serious lack of film releases in some other European countries this summer, in France they continue to be diverse and aplenty. Eleven new films out in cinemas this Wednesday. The most notable among these is Back to Stay [trailer, film focus] by Milagros Mumenthaler, a film that won in Locarno last year and has been praised by French critics. It is co-produced by Switzerland, Argentina, and the Netherlands, and has been released in France by Happiness Distribution on 15 copies.
There have also been good reviews for the caustic A.C.A.B (All Cops Are Bastards) [trailer, film focus] by Italian filmmaker Stefano Sollima, distributed by Bellissima Films on 34 copies, and the critics have defended Canadian-French co-production Laurence Anyways [trailer] by the very young and very ambitious Xavier Dolan, a film discovered at the Certain Regard in Cannes this year (review - MK2 Diffusion in 74 cinemas) and for which Suzanne Clément won an acting award. Finally, another co-production of note is also out: Found Memories [trailer] by Julie Murat, co-produced by Brazil, Argentina, and France (distribution: Bodega Films in 5 cinemas).
This week’s 100% French productions are comedies, and include a fight against the closure of a maternity ward in Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar’s Bowling [trailer] (read more - Pathé Films in 433 cinemas) and the misadventures of Alice Taglioni as a Woody Allen fan in Sophie Lellouche ’s Paris-Manhattan [trailer] (review - distribution: SND in 263 cinemas).
Despite American animation blockbuster Ice Age 4 still massively dominating the box office (4 million admissions in 19 days), results are also good for French comedies Happiness Never Comes Alone [trailer] by James Huth (1.1 million admissions in almost three weeks) and Granny’s Funeral [trailer] by Bruno Podalydès (489,000 admissions in three weeks). English director Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share [trailer, film focus] has done extremely well with 385,000 admissions in 19 days (results only dropped by 18% during the third week), as has Frank Gastambide’s brilliantly funny Porn in the Hood, a comedy that attracted 352,000 cinema-goers in five days with a very high average per copy.
(Translated from French)
