Favorites of the Moon

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, this offbeat comedy from Russian expatriate filmmaker Otar Iosseliani serves up a deadpan satire of modern life and social hypocrisy featuring rich and poor characters from a Paris suburb whose lives crisscross and tangle. Played by an ensemble cast that includes a young Mathieu Amalric, characters include a pompous police chief who spies on citizens and plays at high-society sophistication, a jealous weapons expert who fixes handcuffs for Paris policemen and sells bombs to terrorists (when he's not stalking his girlfriend), a robber who is teaching his young son the business, and a schoolteacher with a streak of anarchy, as well as assorted prostitutes and hobos. These people are also connected by objects, specifically a painting and a set of fine 18th-century porcelain dishes that are sold, stolen, and otherwise passed around during comic episodes. No central story really emerges here, merely a busy set of activities that circle back and mirror one another in a film that is somewhat reminiscent of Luis Buñuel's later work. Favorites of the Moon is also a mostly wordless film in which the action plays out as cheeky silent comedy. Extras include audio commentary by critic Phillip Lopate, and a booklet. Fans of foreign cinema who also have a taste for the whimsical will enjoy this. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)