Coco Avant Chanel (2009)

Coco Avant Chanel is a French-language film about the life of world-famous fashion designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel before she was so famous. The story begins with her father dropping her and her sister off at an orphanage. From there it moves to her time working as a seamstress & entertainer to her living with millionaire Etienne Balsan and her hobby of wearing repossessed menswear and hat-making - the last bit being what helped push her into fashion.

Coco is played with great vigor by Audrey Tautou. As she scowls and trudges through Balsan's estate, you can see the beginnings of a designer who'll settle for nothing less than her own carefully constructed style. And when she finally smiles, it lights up her whole being and you see a woman who is truly passionate. While Tautou was lovable as Amelie, here she's admirable both as Chanel and as an actress who has clearly thought about the complexities of her character.

As good as she is, Tautou doesn't do it all on her own. She's given an interesting story to work with thanks to Coco herself as well as writers Anne and Camille Fontaine, who based their script (loosely I hear) on the book L'irregulaire by Edmonde Charles-Roux. Anne Fontaine directs as well, leading the rest of the cast into complimentary position around Tautou's Chanel and making everything float naturally into sequence. Meanwhile Catherine Leterrier's costumes provide the stage for Chanel's pieces to shine through the more complicated period costumes with simple beauty.

Instead of a common biography - how a woman turned into a fashion empire,we get the story of a woman who was who she was, worked hard and eventually the masses appreciated her work. And that leaves more hope for the rest of us.

Rating: 4/5
Recommended for: Those who realize the title is Coco Before Chanel

The Valet (2006)

Writer/Director Francis Veber created a sweet and highly amusing film with The Valet even with it's absurdity. Valet Francois Pignon is hired to portray the boyfriend of the highest paid model in the world, Elena, after he's caught in a paparazzi photo of Elena with billionaire Pierre Levasseur. Levasseur is trying to hide his affair with Elena from his wife, a majority stakeholder in all his businesses. Pignon has just been rejected by the woman he's loved his entire life, bookstore owner Emilie, so he's not really in the mood for pretending to have a fabulous supermodel girlfriend.

Part of the reason the absurdity works is because the characters acknowledge it themselves. Another reason is that behind it all, is a genuine portrayal of relationships which comes from a great combination of the script and the actors who all hold their own. Gad Elmaleh is incredibly sympathetic as the valet Pignon and he has great friendship chemistry with Alice Taglioni who plays the very Heidi Klum-esque (i.e. sweet and beautiful) supermodel. In fact, nearly every character is likable in some way. Kristin Scott Thomas, in beautiful fluent French, is fun to watch as the clever and strong wife of Levasseur.

Overall, it's a fun movie to watch with laugh out loud moments and appeal for American audiences despite the spoken dialogue being French.

Rating: 4/5
Recommended for: Anyone 12 and up (even if you hate the French).

Ladron Que Roba a Ladron (2007)

Much in the vein of Ocean's 11, this Spanish-language film is a clever caper that can easily keep your interest all the way through. Two thieves, Alejandro and Emilio, team up to rob Moctesuma Valdez, a man conning poor immigrants in America out of their money with fake health products. So of course to do that they must assemble a rag tag team. Where it sidetracks from the Ocean's 11 concept is the reason they don't expect to be caught; their team is comprised of immigrants and they figure no one pays attention to immigrants.

While members of the team tend to fill stereotypical roles, they're all endearing enough (and the bad guy's enough of a creep) that they're easy to root for. And what's even better, if you don't understand Spanish you still won't spend the whole movie with your eyes glued to the bottom of the screen. The story and performances are universal enough it's easy to understand. Plus, the whole thing is high-energy and fun.

While the story's not a ground-breaker in the caper genre, it's not often a film makes a serious statement about the life of immigrants while making you laugh. At the very least, you have to give writer JoJo Henrickson and director Joe Menendez props for that.

Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: Anyone looking for a rag-tag team to rally for.