nicholas-salerno

Squint Your Eyes (Zmruz oczy), Poland, 2003, d. Andrzej Jaminowski, 87 m. When Jasiak, a retired school teacher, decides to act as custodian of a deserted farm in the Polish countryside, he finds the easy life more than he bargained for. To begin with, the farm's owners neither want nor need a custodian. Then his solitude is broken by one of his former students, a young girl who's had it with her materialistic parents. And by some con artists, some cyclists, at least one self-proclaimed poet, the girl's parents, the farm's owners, and ultimately the police. So much for lazy-ing around in the hazy countryside. You might call Squint Your Eyes a provocative, philosophical comedy.—Nick Salerno

Grand Ecole (Famous School), France, 2004, d. Robert Salis, 110 m. Grand Ecole is a stunning evocation of contemporary life among rich young people is an exclusive French school. While Paul (Gregori Baquet) is ostensibly the film's focus, the narrative is actually constructed around a group of characters all equally important and all of them beautiful. It's a sort of French version of Friends, but with fewer laughs, more talk, and much more sex. The sex is hetero-, homo-, and bi-. Paul loves Louis-Arnault and Agnes and Meclir (a younger Arab boy). Grand Ecole is complex and extremely erotic, a French take on sexual and religious politics and on class distinctions. It would probably be rated R for strong sexual situations and nudity—Nick Salerno

Tasuma (The Fire), Burkina Faso, 2003, d. Daniel Kollo Sanou, 90 m. In French and More. Tasuma is an absolute winner, an utterly charming rumination on French colonialism; and on the role of elders, women, and children in small African communities. Sogo Sanon has been trying to claim his military pension for decades; his plight reminds us the French military filled its ranks with Blacks from numerous French colonies in Africa. Finally assured that his pension will arrive "tomorrow," Sogo Sanon buys a mill to lighten the burden of the village women who must grind their grain, by hand, on a daily basis. Of course, the pension does not arrive. In what seems like a turn towards the violent, Sogo Sanon takes a hostage and forces him to write a letter to the long-dead General Charles de Gaulle. Never fear. All is resolved when the women and children mount a crusade in support of the village elder. The songs are wonderful and make a major contribution to the feel-good tone of a film you may want to see more than once.—Nick Salerno