WILD REEDS

This French film stars Elodie Bouchez from "Dreamlife of Angels". I would appreciate a review of this movie as well as its transfer on DVD. Thanks!

"Wild Reeds" is one of Andre Techine's better films. It is quintessentially French, a story about adolescence framed against the backdrop of the Algerian war in the 1960's. Like all Techine films, it is deliberately paced, with static shots, symbolic hues, and revelatory character development. The DVD is an early Fox Lorber release--very spare, no extras. I have seen some comments about the disc being "faded" or "showing signs of age", but the transfer is actually good (non-anamorphic), and the observed film "degradation" is actually a post-production effect used to make the film appear old in order to punctuate its nostalgic tone. I have this film in addition to "Ma Saison Preferee" (My Favorite Season) also by Techine, and I'm happy to have them. The only other film I would want to own by Techine (but is not available on DVD) is "Les Voleurs" (Thieves).

Thanks for the comments, RedShift. It's nice to see a fellow subtitle afficionado around here. Is there any thread in this forum that discusses other notable foreign-language films?