What happens to genius and complex filmmakers once they reach old age? Agnès Varda at 89 is one example. She maintains an interest in the same deep questions but portrays them in a casual way – basically tries to have a little more fun with things. She finds a friend in JR, a young artist with a truck that prints large portraits. Together they go around French villages (the French title is “Visages Villages”), connecting with locals and printing their photos on murals. Their interactions are researched, but not worked. In fact, they are deeply improvised. Because of this and because the movie is structured in an episode format, it will completely disarm you. And when you least expect it you will be met with long-lasting takes on mortality, loss, but also gender, the environment and the evasiveness of life and art.
"Anecdote and history converge wondrously and insightfully in this playful yet painstaking collaboration between the octogenarian director Agnès Varda and the thirtysomething photographer and muralist JR."
— Richard Brody
"As JR explains, the project is about him and Varda expressing their imaginations on people's terrain, and they do it graciously and with good cheer."
— Jonathan Romney
Director Agnès Varda and photographer/muralist JR journey through rural France and form an unlikely friendship.
Other
1 nomination
Can’t say I agree with the vouch % of this movie. I found it too worked. There were a couple of interesting moments but I couldn’t get over the feeling I was being talked to as if I were a 3-year-old.