Thursday - Movies
The Age
Thursday May 29, 2008
The Beat that My Heart Skipped (2005)
SBS, 10pmWhile it is understandable the French should get nervous about Hollywood directors remaking their movies (most, we surely all agree, are dire), the Americans also get very nervous when the French redo their movies, especially thrillers. Here is a case in point. Little-known cult director James Toback made a breakthrough first feature, Fingers, in 1978. It stars Harvey Keitel as the tortured son of a gangster father and concert pianist mother. It suffered censorship problems at the time, impossible to understand then and now, and is one of the few films to star Tisa Farrow, daughter of Australia's John Farrow. This spirited remake is from Jacques Audiard, the justly acclaimed director of Read My Lips and A Self-Made Hero. It stars, as does almost every French film these days, Romain Duris. For some this will be off-putting, but Duris is electrifying as a troubled man trying to make a new life, his performance sitting confidently alongside Keitel's bravura turn. The ending is a particularly moving resolution to the opposing forces of violence and beauty. Toback has publicly stated how much he admires Audiard's film. -- SCOTT MURRAY
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