Malandrin brothers’ Hand of the Headless Man hits screens
While the blockbuster season has not yet officially begun (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will be released next week), US productions are nonetheless flooding the Belgian market this week, with four films on no less than 106 screens.
Alongside this US fare, three European films will compete for the title of surprise pre-summer hit. Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s French family comedy So Happy Together [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (following the success of their previous film Those Happy Days [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) will try to attract audiences with its impressive cast. Victory Productions is launching the title on 15 screens.
This week will, however, be dominated by Belgian films, with two productions by La Parti on the line-up. Guillaume Malandrin’s name also appears in the credits of two very different films, which share a certain taste for the absurd.
Perfectly acclimatised to their adopted country, the Malandrin brothers (director Guillaume and screenwriter Stéphane) like to give their films surreal titles. After I Don’t Care If Tomorrow Never Comes, they return with their second feature Hand of the Headless Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], whose release was shelved for a long time due to untimely and successive cancellations.
Encouraged by the laudatory response from certain French critics and the undeniable buzz, the team at the not-for-profit association Un soir… Un grain (who head the Brussels Short Film Festival and BE Film Festival) thus decided to distribute the film, but have a hard job ahead of them with only three prints for the entire territory.
The task should be easier for Cinéart, who are launching the by-now-almost-cult A Town Called Panic [+see also:
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interview: Stéphane Aubier and Vincen…
interview: Stéphane Aubier & Vincent P…
film profile], directed by Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier (and co-written by Guillaume Malandrin) on a 19-print-run, in both Flanders and Wallonia. Fed by the anticipation of fans of the TV series, who have been able to follow the film’s step-by-step creation online, the buzz has grown after Cowboy and Indian’s Cannes appearance, and the film should find its audience.
(Translated from French)
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