Product Details

• Actors: Gregoire Colin, Alex Descas, Mati Diop
• Directors: Claire Denis
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Language: French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Cinema Guild
• DVD Release Date: April 20, 2010
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0036F76NK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,374 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Its warmth lingers in the heart, January 24, 2010

By 

Howard Schumann (Vancouver, B.C.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 35 Shots of Rum ( 35 rhums ) ( Thirty Five Shots of Rum ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ] (DVD)

In French director Claire Denis' 35 Shots of Rum, the world becomes, in author Sharon Salzberg's phrase, "transparent and illuminated, as though lit from within". It is a film of infinite tenderness in which the characters lives are delicately interwoven to build a tapestry of interconnectedness that signals life's inevitable passages. Reminiscent of Hou Hsiao-hsien's Café Lumiére with its intimate depiction of city life and the coming and going of trains, 35 Shots of Rum pays homage to Yasujiro Ozu in its story of the relationship between Lionel (Alex Descas), a train conductor of African descent whose striking features convey a sense of stoic dignity and his student daughter Josephine (Mati Diop) who is eager to assert her independence.

Like the relationship of Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara in Ozu's films, the focus is on the mundane occurrences of everyday life, the quiet intimacies in which meaning is revealed only by implication. While the characters are black, their lives are comfortably middle class and the only suggestion of racial issues is a classroom scene where Jo talks about how "the global South" is indebted to the industrial north. Set to a lovely score by the British band "Tindersticks" and gloriously choreographed by cinematographer Agnes Godard, the film opens with a ten minute montage of the crisscrossing of trains of the RER, the system that connects Paris to its suburbs.

Interspersed are close-up shots of Josephine, Lionel, and his co-worker René (Julieth Mars Toussaint) whose immanent retirement signals a depressing change in his life. As the scene shifts to a small Paris apartment, like a married couple, Lionel and Josephine settle into a domestic routine of cooking, cleaning, and showering, their relationship of father and daughter not made clear until we see a photograph of a younger Jo and her German mother. This initial opaqueness seems to pervade a film that relies on the viewer to fill in the blanks. It is clear from the outset, however, that Lionel is dependent on his daughter and fears her eventual departure.

Although he tells her reassuringly, "Don't feel I need to be looked after...Just feel free", he also lets her know her that "We have everything here. Why go looking elsewhere?" His happiness is threatened by upstairs neighbor Noé (Gregoire Colin), a scruffy-looking young man who lives with his cat and does not hide his feelings for Jo even while vowing to move to Gabon for a job. We are also introduced to Gabrielle (Nicole Dogué), a taxi driver who is attached to Lionel and may have been his lover. This unlikely quartet form an extended family and their deep seated feelings for each other are revealed in an illuminating scene in a café after their car breaks down in route to a concert.

Lionel's conflicted feelings about his daughter's growing up become apparent when the intimate dance between father and daughter to the song "Night Shift" by the Commodores is interrupted by Noé who cuts in and immediately ups the romantic ante. Lionel's jealousy is also reflected by Gabrielle shortly afterwards as she watches Lionel dancing with the café's attractive hostess. In an unexpected trip to Germany to visit a friend (or sister) of Jo's late mother's, the inner lives of the characters and the bonds that hold people together are further explored although little happens on the surface.

To say that 35 Shots of Rum is a film of mystery belies the fact that it is also quite accessible though in a very rich and subtle way. Its achievement lies in its ability to create memorable characters and fully involve us in their lives without relying on extended conflict, outward displays of emotion, or even a coherent narrative, drawing its power from its creation of magic through silences, glances, and a loving warmth that lingers in the memory. It is one of Denis' best films.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A shot of life..., May 28, 2010

By 

Andrew Ellington (I'm kind of everywhere) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: 35 Shots Of Rum (DVD)

Over this past decade I've had the privilege of adopting a new term when describing certain films; pure. Not very many films can achieve this specific title, because it takes something extra special to tap into that very human quality needed to display moments of such purity. This isn't to be confused with another term I enjoy bestowing upon deserving films, `organic', which is similar but not the same thing. No, this decade I can think of very few films that deserve to be defined as `pure'. `Lost in Translation' and `Once' instantly come to mind.

You can add '35 Rhums' to that list.

'35 Rhums' is not a film for everyone. As I can see from some reviews (here and on other sites as well), the nature of this film is not one that will appeal to everyone. It is slow and there doesn't seem to be a definite plot (since this is far more of an internal and emotional film than one needing any defined structure). I think too, this is such an exclusive theme that one kind of has to be a part of it to understand it fully. Now I have not seen the 1949 Asian film from which this film was inspired (Ozu's `Banshun' or `Late Spring') but I am intrigued now and will certainly attempt to get my hands on it. That film, as well as '35 Rhums', deals very particularly with the father/daughter dynamic.

In '35 Rhums' we are introduced (rather casually, as is the nature of this beautiful film) to Lionel, an aging train conductor who is a widower and currently residing with his daughter, Josephine. The film basically lays right there, allowing the audience to observe them as they interact and as situations within their lives move them to grow as individuals. Lionel needs to let go and allow his daughter to gain some independence. This is something that will be difficult for Lionel, but through interactions with others he comes to an understanding of the importance of the eventualities of life.

What is so amazing about this film is that nothing is really defined. We gather the dynamics of the relationship between Lionel and Josephine through pure observation. Nothing is outlined and or fed to us. I think that is also the biggest complaint for many people. They have to really pay attention to understand the layers of this film. Because nothing is made `black and white' for us, it could be easy to dismiss this film as pointless, but that would be a grave misunderstanding.

It is life at its purist.

That isn't to say that there are no indications of the films central theme and moral. Director Claire Denis beautifully weaves in clues as to the emotional contemplations of her characters. By subtly yet profoundly weaving in a storyline concerning a retired co-worker of Lionel's, she underlines the loneliness that comes from aging; that separation from those around him and the fear that it instills.

The performances here are all beautifully connected. Every character understands their place. We are not given too much information about each person. We simply observe their relationships and draw our own conclusions, which is a nice change of pace from the average film. Alex Descas and Mati Diop are beautifully matched as father and daughter, showcasing a tender and affectionate relationship that hints at layers of frustration. While they are undoubtedly connected they also subconsciously understand that they are holding one another back. My favorite performance here comes from Nicole Dogue. Her handling of Gabrielle is just plain beautiful. She has the right amount of flirtatious concern that allows her to become that character we can never shake from our minds. We can feel the pain that brims under the surface as she realizes she can never be all that she aspires to become.

I urge you to take a look at this masterpiece. Breathe it in and let is rest on your heart. This is one of the most beautifully moving films I've seen this decade; a powerfully understanding film that continues to haunt me the more I think of it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A French slice of life worth enjoying, May 1, 2010

By 

Samuel McKewon (Lincoln, NE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 35 Shots Of Rum (DVD)

An elegant, sorrowful slice of working-class Paris, 35 Shots of Rum is director Claire Denis, one of France's great auteurs, trying the Mike Leigh template on for size and finding it fits her snugly. Train engineer Lionel (Alex Descas) and Josephine (Mati Diop) are father and daughter living comfortably - if not fully - in a boxy high-rise apartment. Taxi driver Gabrielle (Nicole Dogus) and world traveler Noe (Gregoire Colin) are close, long-time neighbors. Denis doesn't force a single moment between the four, who have been friends for years, but are now forced with confronting buried emotions that, once unearthed, buzz like an electric wire.

Descas is terrific as the brooding Lionel, who covets and judges and speaks more with his eyes than his . Originally from West Africa, he appears to have learned stoicism as a means of surviving in Europe. Josephine is the apple hanging close to the tree, both in temperament and worldview. Their scenes together are tender - with a hint of tension. It boils over one night at an African café as two characters dance to the Commodores. Later, father and daughter take a trip that serves as Lionel's admittance that Jo is smart, capable and pretty, and bound for a life apart from him.

Politics sit in the foreground - Jo is an economics student debating slavery reparations and the global economy - but Denis acutely juxtaposes those academic debates with captures of working-class life: A low-key retirement party for one of Lionel's suddenly-rootless co-workers; a bowl of hot soup at lunch; and the title scene, where Lionel drowns his happiness? pain? in quick gulps of cheap booze, to the tinkling of a jazz piano. Denis has crafted a rarity in recent cinema: An eminently comfortable film that's equally soothing and sad.