FAVORITES OF THE MOON     1984
(Les favoris de la lune)
Directed by Otar Iosseliani
101 minutes
In French with English subtitles
Director Otar Iosseliani made films in his homeland of Georgia, under Soviet rule back in the 60s. He eventually moved to France and continued to unleash his unique vision of cinema, carrying over his own Georgian humor and crafted surrealism into a French setting. 

This movie is largely visual, and consists of a long string of seeming random situations that occur throughout Paris. In the course of the film we follow a patchwork of scenarios that range from the chic high-art world to tramps living on the street to the dark underworld of terrorists. The link between them all are two objects... an 18th-century chinaware set, and a 19th-century nude portrait. The director himself called this elliptical journey "an abstract comedy" and indeed it is a movie that speaks to the imagination rather than stereotyped storytelling. This is an example of free cinema, where anything can happen. It takes its title from Shakespeare’s description of thieves.. “Diana’s foresters, gentlemen of the shade, favorites of the moon.” 

Since it drifts in and out of so many lives and events, and because of its beautifully kaleidoscopic story line, this particular movie has often been compared to Luis Buñuel, Jacques Tati and Robert Altman. And because of its openness, it can be watched as either a wild trip, or as a commentary on the senselessness of our modern society that respects objects more than life itself. This film was winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 41st Venice International Film Festival. Starring Mathieu Amalric.