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02/19/07
Games of Love and Chance (2005)
76 %
Reviews Counted: 17 Fresh: 13 Rotten:4 Average Rating: 6.8/10
Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins
Synopsis: Abdel Kechiche's second feature, after the celebrated BLAME IT ON VOLTAIRE, firmly establishes the actor-turned-director as a major presence in world cinema. A grittily realistic portrait of life in a downtrodden Parisian housing project, GAMES OF LOVE AND CHANCE exhilaratingly... [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Osman Elkharraz, Sara Forestier, Sabrina Ouazani, Nanou Benahmou
Reviews
1 - 18 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top Critic
Viewers here can't help but respond to the raw emotions and acting ability of the largely nonprofessional cast.
03/01/07
Abdellatif Kechiche's beautifully observed tale of high-school kids in the projects outside Paris... plays like a Cassavetes project in a fresh, young mode.
10/14/05
It is a provocative and potentially rich premise, to be sure, but the execution here is somewhat lacking.
09/16/05
Top Critic Top Critic
Games of Love and Chance plays like a French version of Jim McKay's Our Song. But, unlike McKay's superior American version, Kechiche is unable to transform the everyday lives of his characters into something meaningful.
09/01/05
This graceful and sympathetic look at how the lives of teenagers intersect with a work of literature won several César awards in France.
08/31/05
Top Critic
Kechiche extracts breathtakingly disciplined performances from all of his first-time actors, and truly magical ones from Forestier as the prematurely full-blown diva Lydia and Sabrina Ouazani as Frida, her motor-mouthed partner in theatrical crime.
08/31/05
Reading between the cuss words, the movie glimpses a sunny teen innocence just before it darkens irreversibly into adulthood.
08/30/05
the positive messages of The Game... make it worthwhile, especially for younger auds with a spirit of adventure to see something not created for the multiplex
07/05/05
expertly evokes these kids' world, where a cell phone is an all important possession, hip hop slang the language of the day and their couplings the main topic of conversation.
06/22/05
An innovative romantic coming-of-age tale set in a tough ghetto area outside Paris populated mainly by Muslim kids from North Africa.
03/29/05
This isn't La Haine, it's more like Raising Victor Vargas, another surprisingly positive-minded film about urban youth.
03/21/05
L’Esquive consistently teeters on the brink of tragedy but dares to end on a chipper note.
03/21/05
Has a lot of promise, but despite two raw, excellent performances L'esquive does not deliver.
02/16/05
1 - 18 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Related Forums
Games of Love and Chance has been reskedded to open August 31st at the IFC Center!!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 4/23/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 4/23/06
Games of Love and Chance has been reskedded to open August 31st at the IFC Center!!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 4/23/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 4/23/06
Games of Love and Chance has been reskedded to open August 31st at the IFC Center!!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 4/23/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 4/23/06
Games of Love and Chance has been reskedded to open August 31st at the IFC Center!!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 4/23/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 4/23/06
GAMES OF LOVE & CHANCE brings the suburbs of Paris to America on August 26, 2005!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 8/9/05
by: REEL_REVIEWER 8/9/05
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