IT’S NOT ME (C’EST PAS MOI) Luminaries

In IT’S NOT ME, Leos Carax, the visionary auteur of ANNETTE, HOLY MOTORS and THE LOVERS ON THE BRIDGE, playfully and provocatively revisits his own oeuvre and the history of cinema itself, interrogating its imagery and its power. The enfant terrible who burst onto the scene in 1984 with BOY MEETS GIRL has remained enigmatic across the 40 years of his career, with oddball short films and music videos filling the long gaps between increasingly daring and triumphant features. Narrating in his raspy voice and adopting a montage of text and image clearly inspired by one his great influences, Jean-Luc Godard, Carax presents a cinematic self-portrait of sorts, revisiting and recombining choice images from his past work. But Carax gives equal weight to seemingly mundane home movie footage and clips from classic silent films. He shows us something of himself, but also suggests reasons to doubt it, all the while seeking the next arresting image. Fans of Carax’s most recent feature, the Sparks musical ANNETTE, will be delighted by the film’s finale, featuring baby Annette dancing to David Bowie’s “Modern Love.” –Todd Hitchcock