Cinéma de minuit

This past week, I've been watching Bertrand Tavernier's marvellous eight-hour documentary, Journeys Through French Cinema, usually one episode a day with my morning coffee and Tim Horton's cereal. (An in-depth review of this film will follow in the near future.) I love movies about movies, which offer new worlds of cinema history that I still need to explore in depth. A film like this proves that you never stop learning. Case in point- in one of his addresses to the camera, M. Tavernier (who passed away earlier this year) mentioned a (new to me) French television program entitled Cinéma de minuit, hosted by Patrick Brion.

To be sure, it has showcased a lot of acknowledged cinematic classics (not just from France but from abroad), yet this show has also brought a lot of underseen, lesser-appreciated films back into public conscience, which therefore allowed for Tavernier and other film enthusiasts to re-evaluate the works of artists who may not necessarily be household names, including some of the lesser-appreciated French filmmakers that appear in this documentary. As of this writing, the show has entered its 45th season (!!) and is still hosted by M. Brion.

Patrick Brion is also an author of numerous film books, including works on Richard Brooks and Clint Eastwood. In commemoration of Cinéma de minuit's 40th anniversary, he published this mammoth book, seen above, which details over 2000 films seen on the program. I haven't been able to "preview" any of the text, but I imagine it also contains a wealth of information on the very under-appreciated films that Tavernier likewise champions in his documentary. A new door is opened. It's on Amazon for about 80 bucks used. I'm tempted, but I'll have to sell some more copies of Grit first.