Bittersweet.
35 Shots of Rum (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:37
Fresh:35
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7.8/10
Consensus: This slow-moving French family drama is rich, complex, subtle and emotionally eloquent.
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Sep 16, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: “The warmth radiating from 35 Shots of Rum, smoother than the finest liquor, reminds viewers how rarely movies capture the easygoing love embodied in a functional family, with all its support and... “The warmth radiating from 35 Shots of Rum, smoother than the finest liquor, reminds viewers how rarely movies capture the easygoing love embodied in a functional family, with all its support and tenderness.” – Jay Weissberg, Variety. Claire Denis, long known for her subtle, fluid and intriguing movies (Beau Travail is best known to U.S. audiences), sets her story in a Paris suburb: a widowed metro conductor, approaching retirement, lives with his beautiful grown daughter – the object of a neighbor’s romantic interest. The man’s former girlfriend also lives in their building and plays a role in their closely-knit lives. 35 Shots of Rum considers the mysterious complexities that surround evolving relationships, whether romantic or parental. It is that rare movie in which the plot is driven by what people say and what they hold back, the meaningful pauses between words, a significant glance, a sexy outfit, a thoughtful gift. In other words, it holds a mirror up to life as it is actually led. --© Film Forum [More]
Starring: Alex Descas, Mati Diop, Nicole Dogue, Gregoire Colin
Starring: Alex Descas, Mati Diop, Nicole Dogue, Gregoire Colin, Julieth Mars-Toussaint, Adele Ado, Jean-Christophe Folly, Ingrid Caven, Thomas Murviel, Jacqueline Andrieux
Director: Claire Denis
Director: Claire Denis
Screenwriter: Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau
Producer: Bruno Pesery
Composer: Tindersticks
Studio: Cinema Guild
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Reviews for 35 Shots of Rum
I liked these characters, and suddenly not having them in my life anymore, simply because Denis has decided to start the closing credits, devastated me.
Understated, beautifully acted, and with an exacting soundtrack, 35 Shots of Rum goes down easily but packs a subtle kick.
Several sequences have little to no dialogue but give us a rich, ambivalent view of the characters and their feelings ... . It's a directorial risk that pays off with an indelible experience.
Claire Denis returns with a relatively simpler, more narrative-based feature, though without sacrificing any of her unique flow.
Denis -- who has called the film a tribute to the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu -- keeps dialogue to a minimum as she delicately examines how immigration is changing the face of France.
35 Shots of Rum is a quiet and lovely new film by the French director Claire Denis.
French director Claire Denis is one of the most magical filmmakers in the world.
Perhaps as a result of channeling Ozu, Denis's incipient humanism comes through more directly than in her existentially forbidding The Intruder or even her acclaimed, baroque Herman Melville remix Beau Travail.
To fall in love with it, viewers only have to be receptive to a movie that examines the ties that bind with grace, wit and depth.
Precisely, rigorously, technically, 35 Shots of Rum is a masterpiece.
This deep devotion to physicality and wordless expression has been part of Denis' repertoire for some time but it has never been so soulful and seductive.
Depicts everyday details and conveys overarching emotional upheavals with a compassion and gentleness that's quietly devastating.
All families do face life changes: children grow up, parents grow old, desire waxes and wanes. I've rarely seen a film which captures the joy and sadness so well.
The smallest detail is given due weight, and we feel we begin to know these people. The cast seldom puts a foot wrong. Denis has never made a more resonant film.
Denis magically evokes a liberal meditation on family, harmony, loyalty and belonging and their corollaries – loss, transgression, loneliness and separation – and achieves a sweet unity.
Claire Denis has assembled a simple yet achingly touching little drama. On the surface it looks as if hardly anything's happening, but submit to the gently fluid style and it turns out everything is going on.
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