{image1}Thank God that Juliette Binoche stars in "Jet Lag," the new film from French writer and director Daniele Thompson, because without her acting prowess, this light as air romantic comedy would be so fluffy as to simply evaporate from our consciousness.
French native Felix (Jean Reno), who has lived in the U.S. for years, working as a successful chef, and now owns his own frozen food company, is on his way to Germany to attend the funeral of his ex's grandmother. He's obviously hoping that while he's there she'll consider getting back together.
But when his plane is forced by bad weather to land in Paris, where all flights are canceled, his plan may go awry.
In the meantime, Rose (Binoche) is waiting to board a flight for Acapulco, where she has found a seasonal job at a hotel as a means of escaping her mentally and physically abusive relationship in Paris.
Of course, through a string of mishaps and coincidences Rose and Felix keep bumping into one another and by the time they are sharing a room together at the Hilton, they can barely stand each other's company.
She leaves, but he goes after her. He leaves, but comes back. Why? Because he's again fogged in or because he can't bear to leave Rose, who he is coming to love? Their conversations lead him to reconsider some of the moves he's made in life, like when he left home, leaving behind -- and never returning to see -- his domineering father in Burgundy.
Will Rose give up on Mexico and Felix on his ex and end up together? Will Felix rebuild the burned bridges of his past?
With a cast of two and all action taking place at Charles De Gaulle Airport and its nearby Hilton, this is a film that's riding almost completely on the shoulders of the two stars, since the script is thoroughly hackneyed. Luckily, Binoche is an absolute master, imbuing even the most flaccid material with an emotional depth that is astonishing; she can express emotion with the most subtle facial twitch.
Reno is nearly as good and the pair manages to make a watchable "When Harry Met Sally"-style film.
"Jet Lag" opens Fri., July 25 at Landmark's Downer Theatre.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
