NEW FILMS

CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (12A)

Director: Jacques Rivette

Starring: Juliet Berto, Dominique Labourier

Julie (Dominique Labourier) is a shy librarian who begins to pursue Celine (Juliet Berto) after she sees her rush past her park bench and drop a number of items, including a boa and a scarf. This tale of pursuit is mixed in with inserts that appear to be from a movie set in an apparently haunted house. These inventive elements are the nub of this 193-minute chain of cinematic delights, which was made in 1974 by Jacques Rivette. He never quite found the audiences of his flashier nouvelle vague comrades, such as Godard and Truffaut, but it's possible to see his influence in recent US films such as Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou David Thomson, an Independent critic, lists Celine and Julie (right) among his top 10 films.*****

CONFETTI (15)

Director: Debbie Isitt

Starring: Martin Freeman, Jessica Stevenson, Simon Carr, Robert Webb

Three couples fight it out to win Confetti magazine's competition for the most original wedding of the year. Debbie Isitt, a film- maker from Coventry, has been lucky enough to have her improvised British comedy picked up by Fox Searchlight, partly on the strength of its comedy cast. It's well worth a look for its brisk sense of the grotesque.***

FATELESS (12A)

Director: Lajos Koltai

Starring: Marcell Nagy, Aron Dimeny

Lajos Koltai, a notable Hungarian cinematographer, directs this harrowing Second World War tale, focusing on the Nazi concentration camps. It's a coming-of-age tale about a 14-year-old boy (Marcell Nagy) living in a place of ineffable horror. Unsurprisingly, the cinematography is superb.***

THE DEVIL & DANIEL JOHNSTON (12A)

Director: Jeff Feuerzeig

This documentary about the writer-musician Daniel Johnston, apparently a musical genius laid low by his bipolar tendencies, is quite fascinating. However, the romance it weaves around the notion of the "mad" artist is often troubling in itself. Still, it's an absorbing collage of recent footage and Super-8 movies. Johnston's fans include Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons.***

BLACK SUN (N/C)

Director: Gary Tarn

In 1978, Hugues de Montalembert, the French artist and film- maker, was attacked and blinded in his New York home. He subsequently wrote a book about his lack of vision, and now a film has been made. Unfortunately, this has a slightly ponderous tone.***

RUSSIAN DOLLS (15)

Director: Cedric Klapisch

Starring: Romain Duris

Cedric Klapisch returns to his characters from L' Auberge Espagnole, his 2002 hit. Poor Xavier (Romain Duris) is on the cusp of 30 and needs tips from a lesbian on picking up women. Klapisch fans will lap up this verbose French comedy-drama. Others may feel we've seen this tale too many times before.**

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III (12A)

Director: J J Abrams

Starring: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman

A plan to save a kidnapped agency operative, held by the evil Philip Seymour Hoffman, goes wrong in this latest portion of the billion-dollar franchise. If your taste is for slick corporate film- making, and the sight of Tom Cruise doesn't make you gag, you'll like this latest version of the same story.**

LOVE + HATE (15)

Director: Dominic Savage

Starring: Samina Awan

This Romeo and Juliet-ish tale, of an apparently racist white boy who falls for a Muslim girl, is crude and manipulative.**

THE MAGICIAN (15)

Director: Scott Ryan

Starring: Scott Ryan

A less-than-stellar mockumentary about an Australian hitman.**

THREE (15)

Director: Stewart Raffill

Starring: Billy Zane

Three survivors of a fire on board a yacht wash up on a desert island and start fighting. It should have been called Beached

Copyright 2006 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
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