Cannes' Labyrinth
By ALAN JONES
What were my favorite films in Cannes this year? The first is a guilty pleasure and one of the year’s biggest French box-office hits. Michel Hazanavicius’ OSS 117 is the Gallic AUSTIN POWERS, albeit subtler, more sophisticated, very funny and ’50s- period perfect with back-projection to match. Based on the still-popular Jean Bruce international espionage stories (five films produced in the post-007 ’60s), it stars current French superstar Jean Dujardin as the dapper spy, up to his racist colonial neck in Cairo fleshpots. The mambo lounge soundtrack is fabulous, and I don’t think CASINO ROYALE will be half as much fun.
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