Check It. A Prophet on DVD.

I wrote about Un Prophete back in the spring when I caught it in the theater, just after it swept the Cèsar Awards. Today it's on DVD, and is definitely worth watching if you missed it on the big screen. It's long--which was why I was happy to be part of a captive audience for the duration, but honestly it was so enthralling, I wasn't even hoping it would end (like I am in most films that go past the two hour mark).

Also on DVD today: Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer (Ewan McGregor), and indie drama Children of Invention.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo credit: wherediditallgoright.com

Check It. A Prophet.

A Prophet--the film that swept (won nine of 13) France's equivalent of the Academy Awards, the Cesar Awards, Saturday night in Paris, is an Academy Award contender for Best Foreign Film ... and is definitely worth seeing.

An IMDb user review simply says "Best. Movie. Ever."

I don't want to create too much hype, but from someone who usually gets quite frustrated with films that have a running time much over two hours, each minute of the the two hours and forty minutes of A Prophet was enthralling and necessary.

Tahar Rahim, the 28-year-old French star of the film, was really amazing. His transformation from start to finish definitely put him in award territory. Writer/director Jacques Audiard (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) has something to be really proud of here--a film about prison, crime, race, and inmate hierarchy that's as moving as it is intriguing.

A Prophet is playing at the Landmark (West L.A.), the ArcLight (Hollywood) and Laemmle Theatres in Encino and Pasadena.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo credit: www.enjoyfrance.com