MACADAM STORIES 6th September 2019



Macadam Stories

Rating: M
Length: 100 mins
Cast: Gustave Kervern, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Isabelle Huppert, Michael Pitt
Director and author Samuel Benchetrit brings much of his autobiographical book Asphalt Chronicles to the screen as Macadam Stories, a series of interconnected vignettes set in a public housing complex on the outskirts of Paris.
With a focus on six characters, we meet the penny-pinching loaner Sternkowitz (Gustave Kervern from In The Courtyard – Festival 2015), who forges an unlikely relationship with a night nurse (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi). In another thread, inquisitive adolescent Charly (the director’s son Jules Benchetrit) and Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert), an ageing movie star, form a bond that changes them both for the better. In the final instalment, American astronaut, John McKenzie (Michael Pitt) accidentally lands on the apartment of a migrant, Mrs Hamida, and the pair communicate through fractured French while NASA busily stages a cover up.
Deadpan and often droll, the film recalls the entertaining style of Jim Jarmusch, with an undercurrent of quirky and satisfying sight gags.  from Alliance Francaise Film Festival

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