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Jonathan is a world traveller, one of the most knowledgeable cinephiles I know, and a great screening buddy on those rare occasions when he can drag himself up to L.A. from San Diego. Here are his fascinating journal entries from his recent trip to Paris. -Doug

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By Jonathan Takagi

Zatoichi (Takeshi Kitano)
UGC Les Halles

If youíre ever watching movies in Paris, the big chains like UGC offer a great deal if you go to the early show. Zatoichi started at 9:45 a.m. and was only 4.50 euros. There were quite a few …

The eye-candy movie of the year has arrived, which is fitting since the film has virtually no dialogue whatsoever. Directed by Silvain Chomet with animators in Paris, Belgium, and Quebec, The Triplets of Belleville (2003) is an eccentric and sprawling adventure that begins in a nostalgic, mid-century Paris and progresses to a mythical metropolis, mixing endearing characters with bits of dark humor, foot-tapping jazz, and a hodgepodge of film genres (home dramas, sports movies, fantasy quests, and gangster films, for starters).

While the film’s humor has a more sardonic edge to it (it’s not geared for younger children), the movie …

In addition to filmjourney, one of my side projects includes co-administrating robert-bresson.com, a tribute site to Robert Bresson (1901-1999), perhaps my favorite of all filmmakers.

Two years ago, Peter Becker of the Criterion Collection mentioned their acquisition of Bresson’s quiet masterpiece, Diary of a Country Priest (1950), and I’ve been filled with anticipation ever since. Diary is Bresson’s third feature film and the first film where his mature, inimitable style blossomed in full form. And in addition to Criterion’s recent release of his earlier Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945), this will only be the second Bresson …

Continuing my bout of screenings with filmmakers in attendance, I wrapped up last week with the UCLA Film & Television Archives’ showing of acclaimed documentarian Errol Morris‘ new film, The Fog of War. But unlike Charles Burnett’s and AgnËs Varda’s down-to-earth interactions, Morris proved to be a showman at heart. When the sound system assailed us with a shrill reverb and technicians scrambled to fix it, Morris suggested they simply shut the whole system off. Then he announced that he preferred to stand and rose from his chair, his interviewer quickly following after him. He spoke in a …

Why expanding kids’ cinematic knowledge isn’t always a good thing:

(My nephew, Sheldon, is seven years old now, and my brother just sent me these comments on their recent Lord of the Rings viewing.)

Sheldon has really enjoyed the background features. I think it is opening a new world to him, in that movies are made, not simply captured from real life. We had one bad experience though . . . they talked about the cave troll in the first movie and said they deliberately wanted it to be stupid and pitiful, not evil. [Director] Jackson said he told

This past week, AgnËs Varda made the rounds to various Los Angeles sites as part of this year’s On Set with French Cinema series, picking up USC’s first Eisenstein Award along the way for her “visionary and distinguished contributions to the cinema.”

I’ve blogged about Varda before, the “grande dame of the French New Wave,” but I managed to catch up with her in person at the American Cinematheque, where she screened her latest film, a 12-minute short entitled Le Lion volatil (2003), as well as her acclaimed Jacquot (Jacquot de Nantes) (1991), a dramatization of the early years in …