‘Red Rocks’ Review: Weirdo, Cliff-Jumping Kiddies Are the Focus of Bruno Dumont’s Latest Experiment

The French director’s quasi-documentary hybrid sees rival gangs of tots run wild and play Romeo and Juliet in the Côte d’Azur.

By Beatrice Loayza

Beatrice Loayza

Latest

• ‘The Birthday Party’ Review: Hafsia Herzi and Benoît Magimel Have a History in Léa Mysius’ Lackluster Home Invasion Thriller 3 days ago
• ‘I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning’ Review: Clio Barnard Returns With a Clunky Social-Realist Weepie About Five Friends in Birmingham 3 days ago
• ‘A Girl’s Story’ Review: Judith Godrèche’s Assured Second Feature Tells a Bitter Tale of Sexual Initiation in 1950s France 1 week ago

From “The 400 Blows” to “The Florida Project,” kids have made fascinating cinematic subjects. Even if they’re working from scripts, there’s always the sense that they’re not entirely acting — that they can’t help but simply be themselves. The French director Bruno Dumont, a former philosophy professor who broke into Cannes nearly 30 years ago with his stark feature debut “The Life of Jesus,” has gravitated towards the raw naturalism of youngsters in the past. See “Li’l Quinquin” from 2014, and his musical curios about France’s patron saint “Jeannette,” (2017) and “Joan of Arc” (2019), all three of which find a strange, startling profundity in ragtag rugrats, say, debating theology or blankly witnessing acts of violence. 

Related Stories

'Daredevil' Boss on Matt's Finale Reveal, the Defenders Reunion in Season 3 and When 'Punisher: One Last Kill' Takes Place