35 Shots of Rum (2008) Reviews

Basically, it was once again one of these rather obscure French flicks that I watch once in a while. To be honest, I'm not exactly a huge fan of Claire Denis's work but there is always something intriguing in her movies and this one was a perfect example. Indeed, the whole thing was pretty enigmatic, even concerning the title, the characters have 2 short conversations about the topic but we are never near an explanation and this cryptic quality is what makes this movie work but it makes the whole thing also rather frustrating to watch. Indeed, there was barely any dialogues and when the characters spoke, it was never really clear what they actually meant as they often spoke in riddles. And yet, it was nice for once to have some real characters, with some real jobs living a real life instead of the artificiality provided by your average Hollywood production. Also, you were not spoon-fed what the characters were thinking or what you should think about what's going on, you had to make those conclusions on your own. To conclude, even though I wasn't completely blown away by the whole thing, it was still an interesting watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.