Sunday, August 20, 2017

La Fille Inconnue (The Unknown Girl), by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne

There's no music during the closing credits of La Fille Inconnue by the Dardenne brothers. Only the lancinant noise of cars driving by on a slightly wet road on a gray day in Lièges. There's nothing to it.  A car and then nothing. Another car and again nothing. Someone going somewhere. How come then, that it's the most touching scene of the movie?

It's because the Dardenne brothers are virtuosi at showing the inner guts of an insignificant moment. They tell us a plain story, with plain people, busy with their tough routines. Trying to get by. The movie centers on a murder and feels like a thriller. Yet, when the doctor (played by the talented Adèle Haenel) finally learns the truth she was so determined to find and reaches some emotional release, she immediately has to take care of an old patient waiting for her. She helps her walk down the stairs, painfully slowly. That's when the genius of the Dardenne brothers strikes you: they show you an anodine moment like we all experience and reveal its unbelievable beauty. The beauty emerges from the emotions that our imagination inhales on the moment.

Cézanne used to say "La nature est à l'intérieur" (Nature is inside). The Dardenne brothers show that time too is inside. The superficial boredom of their scenes, mostly consisting of uninspired interactions between uninspired people, dissimulates a radical focus on raw poetry.


A comment on the editing. The cuts are sometimes pretty brutal. The doctor is walking across her office and suddenly she's sitting in a police station. Often there are several seconds before the dialogue, which we catch in the middle, moves forward. The physical movement before the cut is still present in our mind after the cut, and makes us feel the inner turmoil of the character.

Le Fille Inconnue was in competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Find it on the French iTunes!

Friday, September 23, 2016

Filmster on Apple TV

Filmster is now available on Apple TV!



Browse through selections of movies from the best film festivals in the world:

- Cannes Film Festival
- Venice Film Festival (Mostra)
- Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale)
- The Oscars (Academy Awards)
- Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)
- Sundance Film Festival
- César Awards

Explore top movies selected by international experts and directors:

- Cahiers du Cinéma: Annual Top 10 Movies
- Cahiers du Cinéma: Top 100 Movies of All Time
- Sight & Sound: Greatest Movies of All Time (Critics)
- Sight & Sound: Greatest Movies of All Time (Directors)
- Sight & Sound: Greatest Documentaries of All Time

Enjoy many beautiful films!

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Golden Globes 2015

The 73rd Golden Globes Awards were held on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills. Lucky winners include:


  • Best Drama: The Revenant, by Alejandro G. Iñárritu
  • Best Musical or Comedy: The Martian, by Ridley Scott
  • Best Director: The Revenant, by Alejandro G. Iñárritu
  • Best Actress (Drama): Brie Larson in Room
  • Best Actor (Drama): Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant
  • Best Actress (Comedy): Jennifer Lawrence in Joy 
  • Best Actor (Comedy): Matt Damon in The Martian 
  • Best Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin for Steve Jobs
  • Best Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul by László Nemes


Lady Gaga also got an award for Best Performance in a Television Film, which scared Leonardo out of his jocosity:



Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Movie-recommendation app Filmster launches FilmsterOnline.com

Filmster finds the best movies on iTunes and Netflix, based on their selection by international film festivals and award ceremonies.

Cinephiles' beloved app Filmster announces the launch of FilmsterOnline.com. Movies available on iTunes and Netflix are listed according to the awards that they won at top film competitions: Cannes Film Festival, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, Sundance, The Oscars, Césars Awards. Novelties include polls of the Greatest Movies of All Time by the magazine Sight & Sound, and TV series nominated for Emmy Awards.




Finding a good film on iTunes or Netflix can turn into an ordeal for true movie-lovers. Standard search options focus on popularity rather than quality, which often disagree. Filmster's philosophy is to offer new ways of finding the most interesting films available on iTunes and Netflix. Main search criteria are film competitions and award categories. Filmster can for example find films that won Best Director awards at the Cannes or Venice Film Festival. There are also annual top 10 lists by French magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, All Time lists by Sight & Sound, and favorite films of famous directors (Coppola, Kubrick, Scorsese, Tarantino, and more). It has never been easier to find a great movie to watch.

"Filmster allows cinephiles to discover all the movie-gems buried in the vast catalogues on iTunes and Netflix." -- Maxime Gabella, creator of Filmster


Press release

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Great movies recently added to iTunes

Here are some of the best movies that have recently appeared on the US iTunes Store (as of October 2015):

These great recent movies should be available to Rent, Buy, or Pre-Order.

Find many more delectable films on FilmsterOnline.com!


Wednesday, September 9, 2015

FilmsterOnline.com - find the best films on iTunes

You can now use Filmster on your computer at FilmsterOnline.com and find the finest movies on iTunes. If you are looking for a great movie to download and you are not satisfied with algorithmic recommendations, check out Filmster's selection, from top film festivals - Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto - and from the Oscars and Césars Awards. In addition, you will find gems among the annual top 10 lists by the prestigious French review Cahiers du Cinéma, the 2012 polls by Sight&Sound for the top movies of all time, and famous directors' lists of their favorite films. FilmsterOnline.com is the best way to discover exciting films to watch with your friends!

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Cecilia Music - Best Albums on iTunes

Cecilia is the music counterpart of Filmster. It finds the best albums on iTunes and Apple Music, as selected by the Grammy Awards, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Consequence of Sound, the Gramophone Awards, Diapason d'Or, and Down Beat. There are 3000 fantastically good albums for you to discover!