35 Shots of Rum

A sort of ballet of emotions, executed with weightless grace and poise.

Claire Denis, an acclaimed French director, makes films that defy the rules of Hollywood.

It's a beautiful picture but very quietly so, and definitely not for the ADHD set.

Modest in scope but very sure, Rum goes down smoothly indeed.

Celebrated French filmmaker Claire Denis is a master of atmosphere and immersion.

These people feel one hundred percent real, as well-written and completely defined as those living in the apartment next door to you right now.

35 Shots of Rum would seem to be a radical departure for director Denis, a warm, intimate, minor key domestic drama which borrows much of its internal plot mechanics from Ozu’s masterful Late Spring. A closer examination reveals that not to be the case.



The result marks one of [Claire] Denis's smaller films--and one of [Alex] Descas's best and most subtle performances.

Said to be an homage to Ozu, 35 rhums comfortably slips in to the universality of human conditions. Paper lanterns in Germany, rice cookers in an African household in France are completely in harmony with their surroundings. It's a beautiful film.

It's a remarkably nice picture, with people who are for a change not out to make each other's lives deliberately miserable.