News

Le Monde reports that Pierre Étaix, the Oscar-winning French comedian and filmmaker, has died at the age of 88. He’s best known for his acclaimed short- and feature-length films in the 1960’s, all of which were tied up in rights disputes for over 20 years until their eventual restoration and revival in 2012, courtesy of Janus Films. These films include “Le Grand Amour,” “As Long as You’ve Got Your Health,” “Land of Milk and Honey,” “Rupture,” “The Suitor,” and “Yoyo.”

Read More: A Comic Master Gets His Due

Étaix began his career as a designer before meeting director Jacques Tati in 1954 when he worked as a gagman and assistant director on his film “Mon Oncle.” His apprenticeship with Tati eventually led to his collaboration with Jean-Claude Carrière, whom he wrote his short film “Happy Anniversary,” which won the Oscar for Best Short Subject in 1963. Étaix and Carrière would collaborate on the...

Each week, the fine folks at Fandor add a number of films to their Criterion Picks area, which will then be available to subscribers for the following twelve days. This week, the Criterion Picks focus on the brilliant French comedian: Pierre Étaix.

Now re-discovered and restored after decades suppressed by distribution red-tape, enjoy “greatest hits” from this clever, warm-hearted clown’s directorial oeuvre and highlights from his acting career.

If you’ve never seen any of his films, this is a perfect opportunity watch some of his finest work. Don’t have a Fandor subscription? They offer a free trial membership.

Order the Pierre Etaix Blu-ray collection from Amazon, currently only $31.99 (47% off)

As Long as You’ve Got Your Health

In this endlessly diverting compendium of four short films, Pierre Etaix regards the 1960s from his askew but astute perspective. Each part is as technically impressive as it is riotous:...

Above: Japanese poster for Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, USA, 2012); Designer: unknown.

Since I’ve now been running the Movie Poster of the Day Tumblr for a year and a half I thought it was high time I did another six month round-up of the most popular posters on the blog.

For some reason this Japanese poster for Zero Dark Thirty—an even more striking version of the American teaser—which I posted three months ago recently went semi-viral, racking up over 1,400 “notes” to date, making it by far the most popular (in as far as likes and reblogs really gauge popularity) in the history of the blog which now has, according to Tumblr, over 198,000 followers.

I’m especially pleased with the popularity of the second and third ranked posters: a couple of quite eccentric pieces of Eastern European illustration for lesser known films. It’s probably no surprise that...

In theaters my week included Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig's excellent Frances Ha, Iron Man 3 (read my review here) and Star Trek Into Darkness. At home I watched Pierre Etaix's Yoyo, The Suitor and two of his short films -- Rupture and appy Anniversary -- as I continue to make my way through Criterion's latest Blu-ray release, which I've already mentioned this week with my "Pierre Etaix pour Quentin Tarantino" post and I'll hopefully have a full review for you next week. At home I watched a little of the NBA Finals and on Friday night, just before bed, I watched an episode of "Arrested Development" for the first time in a long time and, of course, I watched the latest episode of "Hannibal" on Hulu. Interestingly enough, "Hannibal" will no longer air on the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City. The local station, Ksl, posted on their Facebook page,...

Last night I watched Pierre Etaix's Yo Yo and the first thing I thought of was Quentin Tarantino's foot fetish (for more on that click here). Strangely (to me at least), the scene actually is a little sexy. Etaix's Yo Yo is now on Criterion Blu-ray in a box set of Etaix's films including The Suitor, As Long as You've Got Your Health, Le grand amour and Land of Milk and Honey. For more information click here or pick up a copy for yourself amazon asin="B00B2BYXQI" text="right here".

News.

The lineup for the 52nd Semaine de la Critique as well as the 2013 Selection for Quinzane des Réalisateurs in Cannes have been announced. Also from Cannes: Kim Novak is set to be a guest of honour to mark a screening of the recently restored Vertigo. Above: The omniscient Twitter has revealed the first image behind the scenes of Abel Ferrara's new film featuring Gérard Depardieu as Dominique Strauss-Kahn. David Cronenberg has begun casting his next project, Maps to the Stars. The first names involved? Julianne Moore, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson and Sarah Gadon. Two of Mubi's very own are in different (early) stages of realizing film projects. Ignatiy Vishnevetsky has started shooting Ellie Lumme (production pictured above), having partly funded it via GoFundMe. Also head over to Vishnevetsky's blog for updates. Meanwhile, Kurt Walker (co-director of programming for Mubi Canada, Australia & New Zealand) is crowd-funding over at Indiegogo...

Pierre Etaix (Criterion Collection) My familiarity with Pierre Etaix is virtually zero. I only just received this brand new collection of the French director's five films a couple of days ago and only last night was I able to begin screening any portion of it, watching 30 minutes of Yo Yo, and taking in the zaniness for the first time. I watched his introduction to the film, him talking about the death of his father, his love of the circus and of Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 and I knew there was going to be something of a kinship here, but I can't give you a full report just yet. This Criterion set includes all of Etaix's films including five features -- The Suitor,Yoyo, As Long as You've Got Your Health, Le grand amour and Land of Milk and Honey -- and three shorts -- Rupture, the Oscar-winning Happy Anniversary and Feeling Good.

Moviefone's Blu-ray of the Week "Jurassic Park 3D" What's It About? God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs... Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth. Why We're In: It's "Jurassic Park 3D" from the comfort of your home. What more do you need? Moviefone's New Release of the Week "The Impossible" What's It About? Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor star as the parents of a vacationing family that gets separated from each other during the devastating 2004 tsunami of Southeast Asia and struggle to locate each other and their missing children. Why We're In: Watts earned an Oscar nomination and it's easy to see why; as harrowing as the story can be at times, it's an incredibly moving, and even more remarkably, true tale that will keep you captivated. New on DVD & Blu-ray "Any Day Now" What's It About? Alan Cumming stars in...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: April 23, 2013

Price: 3-Disc DVD $49.95, 2-Disc Blu-ray $59.95

Studio: Criterion

Nicole Calfan and Pierre Étaix snuggle in Le Grand Amour.

A French master whose comedy films went unseen for decades as a result of legal tangles, director-actor Pierre Etaix and his movies have been rediscovered in recent years.

Pierre Etaix’s work can be placed in the spectrum of physical comedy with that of Jacques Tati and Jerry Lewis, but it’s also undeniably his own. The films, influenced by Etaix’s experiences as a circus acrobat and clown and by the silent film comedies he adored, are delightfully deadpan, but as an on-screen presence, Etaix radiates remarkable warmth. This collection includes all of his films, led by the following five feature-length efforts:

The Suitor (1962) • A shy young man who must get married within a few days in order to inherit a fortune.

Yoyo (1965) • In the 1920s, a...

Above: André François’ poster for L’humeur vagabonde (Edouard Luntz, France, 1971).

Two weeks ago, in my post about the work of Pierre Etaix, I mentioned Etaix’s admiration for the cartoonist, painter and sculptor André François, who designed a number of posters for Etaix’s films. This got me searching for more of François’s work.

Born in 1915 in Austria-Hungary—in what is now Timisoara, Romania—André Farkas, as he was then known, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest before moving to Paris in 1934 where he worked with the great French poster designer A.M. Cassandre, became a French citizen and changed his name. By the 1940s he was already a popular and prolific illustrator, working for satirical magazines in France and Britain. In his New York Times obituary, Steven Heller wrote that François’ “biting satires of the human comedy influenced a generation of American editorial illustrators...

Above: The Suitor (Pierre Etaix, France, 1962). French double grande poster (63" x 94.5") by André François

Film Forum’s retrospective of the films of Pierre Etaix, which starts today, brings belated recognition to a filmmaker, writer and comedian who is beloved in France (where he is regarded as the French Buster Keaton) but has too long remained unknown in the States. I was shamefully unaware of M. Etaix (although I would have seen his appearances in such disparate films as Pickpocket and Henry & June) until I saw him in Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre last year and someone—une Française naturally—told me of his renown. When I started to look into him I was bowled over to discover that not only had Etaix—who, at the age of 83 will be appearing at Film Forum tonight—been a close confidante of Jacques Tati in the mid 1950s, but had also designed...

The celebrated 'French Buster Keaton' has finally won his battle over distribution rights to get his films shown again

Pierre Étaix is back, by popular demand. Jerry Lewis acclaimed him as a genius and Terry Gilliam is a devoted fan, but until very recently, the 83-year-old Étaix, a comedian, magician and clown who Paris-Match called "the French Buster Keaton", was in danger of being forgotten entirely. His films are timeless treasures of whimsical, physical comedy, but copyright difficulties meant that his movies had not been distributed, let alone released on home video, for decades. Étaix's signature on a disastrous distribution contract cast his films into oblivion, but 56,000 more, including those of Jean-Luc Godard, David Lynch and Woody Allen, on a petition in 2009, have rescued them for posterity. The end to this long-running legal dispute should be a cause for celebration among film fans, even though many, quite understandably, will never...

George Clooney, Pierre Étaix and Tilda Swinton

to receive Silver Medallion Awards Over twenty-five new features plus revival programs

and unique programming from Guest Director Caetano Veloso will be presented as part of the 2011 exhibition

Telluride, Co (September 1, 2011) . Telluride Film Festival (September 2-5, 2011), presented by the National Film Preserve, announces its program for the 38th Telluride Film Festival. Featuring diverse programming from around the globe, Tff once again sets the stage for some of the year.s most highly anticipated films.

Tff opens its 38th year with over twenty-five new feature films plus special artist tributes, Guest Director programs selected by Caetano Veloso, Backlot programs, classics and restorations, shorts, student films, seminars and conversations, each introduced or proceeded with a Q&A by its filmmaker, actors, writer or producer. Telluride Film Festival opens Friday, September 2 and runs through Labor Day, Monday, September 5.

The .Show.

38th Telluride Film Festival is proud...