The New Republic

The Beaches of Agnes. A unique autobiography. Agnes Varda, pioneer of the French New Wave, looks back at her life and films now that she's eighty and makes of them a charming film in itself. Full of the joy and some of the sadness of her career. (Reviewed 7/15/09)

The Beaches of Agnes. A unique autobiography. Agnes Varda, pioneer of the French New Wave, looks back at her life and films now that she's eighty and makes of them a charming film in itself. Full of the joy and some of the sadness of her career. (Reviewed 7/15/09)

Lorna's Silence. Jan-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the Belgian brothers who in twenty years have established themselves as masters, offer a film whose only fault is that, though it is very good, it is not up to their best. A sharp, morally incisive account of the way that citizenship-through-marriage is now exploited in Belgium.

Quiet Chaos. Nanni Moretti, world famous outside the U.S., plays a television executive suddenly widowed who withdraws from the world into the company of his ten-year-old daughter. Moretti's quiet chaos reverberates in the viewer. (8/12/09)

Seraphine. Exquisite in its directing and acting, this biopic recounts the life of a woman (died 1942) who was a servant and drudge and who painted secretly in her room. Her work now hands in museums, and there are books about her. (7/1/09)

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