SUMMER HOURS = Stunningly Crafted Cinema
If you do not enjoy gentle, human storytelling through cinema, then avoid this absolutely ravishing new film by France's Olivier Assayas. It's an intelligent, sumptuously photographed and fully realized drama of a family comnig to terms with the division of the recently deceased matriarch's estate which includes a valuable art collection and a breathtakingly beautiful French contryside house. Juliette Binoche gives a subtly nuanced performance as the middle sibling who vetos along with her younger brother over the elder's (a stalwart Charles Serbling) desire to keep all in the family. Many vignettes over the year that passes bring to exquiste light the intertwining stories of the extended family members and how they are all uniquely affected by the death and denoument of their mother's passions. Simple, lovely, gorgeous movie that obviously most American audiences find difficult to digest when seeking CGI-ed explosions and cardboard characters. This movie is for true lovers of cinema!!