movie hereThe tragic story of French naïve painter Séraphine Louis aka Séraphine de Senlis (1864-1942), a humble servant who becomes a gifted self-taught painter. Discovered by prominent critic and collector William Uhde, she came to prominence between the wars grouped with other naïve painters like Henri Rouseau only to descend into madness and obscurity with the onset of the Great Depression and World War II.
"Seraphine" explores the relationship between the painter and an art collector. To make ends meet, Seraphine works as a maid for Madame Duphot, who rents an apartment to Wilhelm Uhde, a German art critic with an interest in modern and primitive arts.
movie hereThe Sniper
With budgets scaling back and the independent and social realist mini-industries gaining currency with their subject matter, the nonsense of films like "The Killer" has fallen by the wayside. "The Sniper," though, is a return to the roots that put Hong Kong's contemporary films on the map.
It must be said that there is a salacious element to "The Sniper" that will help it with local boxoffice. Co-star Edison Chen last year was embroiled in a sex-photo scandal (tame by standards anywhere but Asia) and was promptly driven from Hong Kong. His notoriety -- and absence from screens -- will generate buzz in Asia, but the film will probably remain a regional curiosity as far as theatrical release goes. Genre festival interest isn't out of the question.
