Connecting French to an original thriller
Film combines Gallic content with grit of Friedkin’s classic
The Connection: Even those movie fans who consider The French Connection one of the best crime flicks ever made have to admit it just isn’t that French. I mean, not once does Popeye Boyle walk up to the counter of a café and order a Pastis while humming a Charles Aznavour song.
With the help of a sideburn-wearing cast led by The Artist’s Jean Dujardin, director Cedric Jimenez has corrected this problem with a new thriller that combines the grit and panache of William Friedkin’s classic with all the Gallic content an audience could ever demand.
The Connection, which premiered at TIFF last fall and opens for a run at the Royal this weekend, stars Dujardin as a Marseilles magistrate who takes on the crime boss whose heroin export empire extends all the way to New York. This time, the action stays on the coast of France, where the magistrate’s efforts to hobble the Mafia’s operation prompts a steep rise in the local murder rate and the exposure of corruption within the police force.
Unfortunately, Dujardin’s white knight does not join forces with Popeye Doyle, who himself travelled to France for The French Connection II. But Gene Hackman’s tough guy would’ve found his European counterpart to be a worthy ally in the fight against Gauloise-smoking heavies in wide-collared shirts.
The Connection run begins Friday at the Royal.
Outdoor screenings galore
The alfresco movie season heads into high gear with the launch of two of the most popular programs this week. Harbourfront Centre’s Free Flicks begins a slate of films about the foibles of family life with Raising Arizona on Wednesday. On the same night at 7:30, TIFF hosts the first of many 40th anniversary festivities at David Pecaut Square, the site of its regular TIFF in the Park program — Strictly Ballroom follows at 9:15 p.m. Viewers who’d rather stay closer to Bloor can enjoy the Christie Pits Film Festival — to mark the beginning of its season on Sunday, the fest has invited Del Bel to provide a live score for F.W. Murnau’s silent classic Nosferatu. Of course, music is at the heart of two outdoor movie series already up and running. On Tuesday, City Cinema at Yonge-Dundas Square features a Mos Def double bill of Be Kind Rewind and Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. On Wednesday, the Open Roof Festival at 99 Sudbury combines the spooky hit It Follows and a gig by Jessica Maxwell.
She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry A new documentary by director Mary Dore that opens at the Bloor this weekend, She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry celebrates the women who took to U.S. streets to fight for equal rights in the 1960s and ’70s. Featuring archival footage and new interviews with many of the movement’s principal figures, Dore’s suitably spirited film is an invaluable reminder of all that was achieved and all that’s left to be done. The director participates in Skype Q&As at the screenings on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. and Sunday at 8:45 p.m. The Bloor presents more showings all July.
ReelHeART
Now in its 11th year, ReelHeART not only showcases a wide range of shorts, features and docs from Canada and abroad Monday to July 11 at the Carlton and the AGO’s Jackman Hall. The festival offers audiences a preview of movies that aren’t actually made yet with its slate of live readings of the top three winners in its screenplay competition. Screenwriter Nika Rylski also leads an intensive workshop on July 11. See reelheart.org for more details.
Grateful Dead live on the big screen: If you were one of the hundreds of thousands of Dead fans who tried and failed to secure a ticket to the band’s reunion/final show at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Sunday, you still have a chance to enjoy the tie-dyed festivities with hordes of other Deadheads. On Sunday at 8 p.m., a simulcast of the show will be screened at the Scotiabank Theatre, the SilverCity Yonge Eglinton and several more Cineplex locations. You know Jerry would’ve wanted you there.
In brief
This week’s bounty of newly refurbished marvels in TIFF Bell Lightbox’s Dreaming in Technicolor series includes Anthony Mann’s 1953 western The Naked Spur (Sunday, 3:30 p.m.) and Powell & Pressburger’s nuncentric 1947 masterpiece Black Narcissus (Tuesday, at 6:30 p.m.).
Pleasure Dome presents a cool night of sounds and images by Montreal video artist Sabrina Ratté at the Drake Underground on Monday — Ratté also does a workshop and talk at CineCycle on Tuesday.
The Royal’s Neon Nights program of wicked cool oldies continues with Martin Scorsese’s After Hours on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. jandersonesque@gmail.com