Film Shapes

I've been thinking recently about some of the films that are hovering around the gate to my favourite films paddock. The top ten that sits to the right of this post shall remain sacrosanct (though some films have crept in or out over my lifetime) but I sometimes happen upon a great film that has the temerity to challenge them. Here are some of those crackers in no particular order: Tell No One ( Ne le dis à personne) This 2006 French thriller has so many attributes, it's hard to know where to start. From the word go we're gripped, due in no small part to the lead, Francois Cluzet. He's a bit like a middle-period Dustin Hoffman (think Tootsie or Rain Man ), in looks and intensity. Cluzet is the perfect piece of casting in a film with countless great performers - Kristin Scott Thomas, Jean Rochefort and Gilles Lellouche all shine in parts of varying length or importance. After an initial, important back-story, the pace doesn't let up with the different thread...