Faces Places

French New Wave pioneer Agnès Varda, who made her first film in 1954, is now 89 and as warm and vital as ever, even if her eyesight is fading. Working with acclaimed 34-year-old French photographer/muralist JR, she shares her lifelong passion for images in this personalized, pastoral, Oscar-nominated documentary. The two are odd couple vagabonds in the best sense—short, stocky Varda with her assortment of colorful sweaters, and long, lanky JR with his porkpie hat and hipster sunglasses—who visit France's villages, farms, factories, and beaches in JR's van, which doubles as a photo booth for making giant pictures and is painted to look like a camera. Along the way they encounter ordinary working-class citizens, listen to their stories, and craft oversized portraits. These enormous artistic works are exhibited on houses, barns, storefronts, and trains, documenting their subjects' humanity, while also serving up a unique glimpse of contemporary life. About dockworkers' wives in the port city of Le Havre, Varda says, "It's good to see women standing tall," as large-scale black-and-white pictures are plastered against a massive tower of shipping crates. In an amusing act of defiance, the pair reenact the exhilarating running-through-the-Louvre scene from Jean-Luc Godard's Band of Outsiders with JR pushing Varda in a wheelchair. After JR pastes a photo of Varda's friend Guy Bourdin onto a collapsed Nazi-era bunker on a Normandy beach, he realizes that tides will soon wash this commemorative away; it's a melancholy moment, one that recognizes the universal nature of mortality. An irresistibly restorative road trip documentary, this is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include “Chance is the Best Assistant” with filmmakers Agnés Varda and JR (47 min.), and the production segments “Letters” (4 min.), “Cabin” (4 min.), and “Music” (4 min.). Bottom line: a solid extras package for this excellent Oscar-nominated doc.](S. Granger)