A lightly and fondly sarcastic, self-irreverent mockery of movie making, The Ice Rink (La Patinoire) takes place behind the scenes on a location shoot for an inflated French art film about a goalie and a beautiful girl (who dies on the ice during a game). The accident-prone film (nobody knows how to skate) hits snag after hilarious snag, as the actors' (Bruce Campbell and Dolores Chaplin) egos run rampant and the director lands in the hospital after being clobbered with a hockey puck. Writer-director Jean-Philippe Toussaint (Monsieur) finds a constant source of humor in the minutia of filmmaking, turning The Ice Rink into a lampoon rhapsody for anyone even a little familiar with the stress, egos, unforeseen catastrophes and absurdities that go into making a feature film. Recommended. (R. Blackwelder)
The Ice Rink
Kino, 80 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, VHS: $79.95, DVD: $29.95, July 24 Vol. 16, Issue 4
The Ice Rink
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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