'LOVE SONGS': LOTS OF SINGING IN THE RAIN.Byline: >Bob Strauss The latest film by French New Wave aficionado A Spanish word that means fan, devotee, enthusiast, etc. There are loyal aficionados of every subject in the computer field. Christophe Honore pays structural tribute to Jacques Demy's "Umbrellas of Cherbourg," but beyond that, similarities are few. Set in a perpetually rainy blue-gray modern Paris, "Love Songs" charts a fun and flirty menage a trois ménage à trois n. A relationship in which three people, such as a married couple and a lover, live together and have sexual relations. [French : ménage, household + à, for with intriguing underlying tensions. Whenever Ismael (Louis Garel from Honore's "Dans Paris"), Julie ("Swimming Pool's" Ludivine Sagnier) or Alice (Clotilde Hesme) have trouble expressing their feelings, they unselfconsciously shift into warbling Alex Beaupain's emotionally brutal, carnally car·nal adj. 1. Relating to the physical and especially sexual appetites: carnal desire. 2. Worldly or earthly; temporal: the carnal world. 3. graphic and quite beautiful songs. Tragedy strikes about halfway through and a number of well-etched peripheral characters lend their melancholy voices to the aching, searching chorus, but Honore retains a playful touch even as moods grow dark and gnarly (jargon) gnarly - /nar'lee/ Both obscure and hairy. "Yow! - the tuned assembler implementation of BitBlt is really gnarly!" From a similar but less specific usage in surfer slang. . Somehow, he also retains an overriding natural tone despite all the singing and the occasional New Wave formal flourish. And while the filmmaker succeeds at keeping it real most of the time, a blazing romanticism informs the whole oddly engaging endeavor; as, of course, it should. LOVE SONGS - Three stars >Not rated: language, sex, nudity 1 hr. 35 min. In French with English subtitles sub·ti·tle n. 1. A secondary, usually explanatory title, as of a literary work. 2. A printed translation of the dialogue of a foreign-language film shown at the bottom of the screen. tr.v. . >Playing: Playing: Music Hall, Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. . CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Ismael (Louis Garel) and Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) share a tender moment in "Love Songs." |
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