OSS 117: CAIRO,
NEST OF SPIES
Directed by Michel Hazanavicius
France, 99 mins.
Comedy/Adventure/Foreign
Friday, 3:45 PM, The Grand Theater
France’s answer to Maxwell Smart meets James Bond is Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, code name OSS 117. In the hilariously deadpan OSS 117: Cairo, Nest Of Spies, our suave secret agent is sent to Egypt to investigate the death of fellow sleuth Jack Jefferson, and the charming albeit culturally clueless big shot slips into his cover as head of a Cairo poultry firm with gusto. A fetching and brainy secretary naturally comes with the territory. Current comic fave Jean Dujardin is enormously entertaining in his forays with exotic foreign women and in his attempts to squelch a fundamentalist revolution, thereby orchestrating peace in the Middle East. Washed with beautifully grainy, toned down hues that compliment the décor, the retro score and 50's flair almost make you wish you had a cocktail – shaken, not stirred.
Filmography: Mes amis (99); Echec au capital (97)
Awards: Seattle International Film Festival Golden Space Needle Award; Tokyo International Film Festival Tokyo Grand Prix
Showing with the short film
I Hate Musicals
Directed by Stewart Schill
United States, 20 mins.Can Brad overcome his hatred of musicals for the sake of his relationship with his Broadway-bound girlfriend, Melissa? Sometimes a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.
