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What if Jacques Tati made a film noir? The Falling Star offers a commendable answer to this question, though the final result does not quite live up to such expectations. This is the fifth feature from Belgium-based filmmaking duo Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon, and an ambitious one at that.

The basic premise concerns Boris (Abel), an activist-in-hiding at a local watering hole who’s finally discovered by a vengeful gunman with a mechanical arm (Bruno Romy). Despite a hilariously bungled assassination attempt, Boris needs to go into hiding once more. Boris, his partner Kayoko (Kaori Ito), and good friend Tim (Philippe Martz) conveniently stumble upon Dom (also Abel), a loner who is Boris’ spitting image. Meanwhile, Fiona (Gordon) is a shy private eye and slightly estranged wife to Dom, burdened with a fracturing marriage and a case of a missing dog. Her emotional distractions spell the dog’s doom.

The official poster and trailer for The Falling Star have been released (check them out above and below). The film will be released in New York on August 30, 2024! Kino Lorber is pleased to present The Falling Star, the enchanting new caper from Dominique Abel & Fiona Gordon that parodies film noir with their signature deadpan wit and quirky, colorful whimsy.

Synopsis: An official selection of the Telluride and Locarno Film Festivals, the latest caper from Abel & Gordon filters the language of film noir through their characteristically colorful palette to create a series of deceptively minimalistic set pieces that recall the best of Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton. Abel plays Boris, a former activist hiding from his dark past, keeping in the shadows as a barkeeper until a one-armed vigilante finally hunts him down. The fortuitous appearance of a double – the depressive recluse Dom (also played by Abel) – seems to offer the perfect decoy.

"Boris, tell them what you did!" Kino Lorber has revealed an official trailer for an indie comedy called The Falling Star, the latest creation from the Belgian filmmaker duo known as Abel & Gordon - best known as Dominique Abel & Fiona Gordon. This first premiered last year at the 2023 Locarno, Telluride, Thessaloniki Film Festivals. Kl is "pleased to present The Falling Star, the enchanting new caper from Dominique Abel & Fiona Gordon that parodies film noir with their signature deadpan wit and quirky, colorful whimsy." The story follows a former activist who's been a fugitive for 35 years, and works as a bartender now. Boris' past finally catches up with him when a mysterious stranger appears at the bar, armed, and wanting his revenge. Starring Abel & Gordon, along with dancer Kaori Ito, Philippe Martz, and Bruno Romy. This film is described by critics: "unique and poetic... a symphony of primary colours, scenes composed as if paintings,...

Next time someone wistfully insists, “They don’t make ’em like they used to,” why not point that nostalgic cinephile to the work of Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon? The Belgium-based creative couple are almost single-handedly keeping the classic burlesque tradition alive on-screen — if the word “single-handedly” can fairly be used to describe a near-silent comic duo with four hands between them, plus a growing company of collaborators (including dancer Kaori Ito) and a prosthetic arm with a mind of its own.

In “The Falling Star,” Abel and Gordon bring their old-school comedic sensibility to what could loosely be described as a detective story, told in a film noir style punctuated with flashes of color: a red dress, a tiny green car, a bright yellow scooter. Centered on a tiny Brussels bar, the pair’s relatively minor new project features a missing persons investigation, a sorta-kinda kidnapping, a fugitive couple...

“Lost in Paris” directing duo Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon have shared a first look at their new film “The Falling Star,” which premieres at this year’s Locarno Film Festival.

Abel and Gordon also star in the film, which follows Boris (Abel), a former activist who works at a bartender at the Falling Star. According to the film’s official synopsis, Boris’ “guilty past resurfaces when a victim finds him and wants revenge. The appearance of a double, the depressed and solitary Dom (Abel), provides Boris, his resourceful partner Kayoko and their faithful friend Tim with the perfect escape plan. But they haven’t accounted for Dom’s ex-wife (Gordon), a suspicious detective on their trail.”

The new clip sees Gordon, as Dom’s ex-wife Fiona, going to great lengths to transport a tall sunflower stalk. She arrives at a graveyard and, after delivering the sunflower to a particular grave,...

L’Étoile filante

After an output with Bruno Romy on their first three features the Belgian tandem of Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon moved into their fifth feature film last July. Dubbed as a darkly comic mystery thriller, L’Étoile filante (The Falling Star) will once again showcase the two in front of the camera. Dancer Kaori Ito is also cast. Very much in the whimsical Tati vein, the pair have premiered at several major film festivals over the years even netting a surprise world premiere invite at the Telluride Film Fest back in 2016 for Lost in Paris.…...