Many folks look at summer as a time to indulge in cinema that is fun, thrilling and large. Unfortunately though, somewhere along the way this came to mean cinema that is fun, thrilling, large and NOT VERY GOOD. Our summer blockbusters, minus a few, have, in this blogger’s opinion, consistently been going downhill and also it seems, getting made at a much more rapid pace. Leaving us with a lot of crap to choose from for our frivolous summer movie fun. Not to mention that ticket prices are constantly on the rise, with a typical summer movie now costing 12 dollars here in New York City.
It is this disappointing trend that made me excited to read about a new French film over the past few days. Guillaume Canet’s Tell No One, is a thriller with twists turns and even some action, all the ingredients of a good summer movie, except in this case it seems the film is actually good. Coming out of nowhere to extremely positive reviews, Tell No One may be the one summer movie to actually tell folks about. Just read the opening paragraphs of Stephen Holden’s New York Times review:

In the shortcut language of a movie pitch, Guillaume Canet’s delicious contemporary thriller “Tell No One” is “Vertigo” meets “The Fugitive” by way of “The Big Sleep.” That is meant as high praise.

This French adaptation of Harlan Coben’s 2001 best seller is the kind of conspiracy-minded mystery almost no one seems capable of creating anymore, except David Lynch in his surreal way. Watching it is like gorging on a hot- fudge sundae in the good old days when few worried about sugar and fat. There are no bogus geopolitics weighing it down with a spurious relevance. Beautifully written and acted, “Tell No One” is a labyrinth in which to get deliriously lost. [NYTimes]

I’ll admit I haven’t read much more on the film as it’s a thriller and I don’t want any of it given away, but it seems there may be a summer movie out there that is intelligent, fun and full of all the toppings we like on our air conditioned trips to the theater.

Speaking of ice cream though (my second favorite summer treat) , takepart and learn how Haagen-Dazs is helping us save the honeybees.

Watch the trailer below and read on:

• They Wouldn’t Believe It, Anyway
• REVIEW | Best Kept Secret: Guillaume Canet’s “Tell No One”
• ‘Tell No One’ from the LA Times