French Suspender

Juste Avant La Nuit (Just Before Nightfall) is a superb, adult drama from the French master of suspense, Claude Chabrol (the so-called "French Hitchcock"). Dealing very maturely with the consequences of an extra-marital affair that ends in murder, the film is subtle but grips from start to finish due to its growing emotional and moral complexity. The acting is very impressive throughout.


I picked up the film on DVD as part of an 8-disc set of Chabrol's films, currently available at an absurd bargain price (~£13) from Amazon UK. Arrow Films, who produce the box, is a quality outfit. Highly recommended!

Public Service Announcement for Lovers of Brazilian Music

Heads up! A bunch of very nice CDs of Brazilian music, published by What Music, are available right now at ridiculous clearance prices via various Amazon UK Marketplace Sellers. Ridiculous as in from less than £1 each... and, no, there is no catch (except that shipping to the UK will add ~ £1.20 to the price of each CD - more to other destinations, of course).




Go to the Amazon.co.uk homepage, mouse over "Music, DVD & Games", then click on "Music". Click on "Advanced Search". In the Label field, enter "What Music", then click on "Search now". When you get the search results, sort by "Price: Low to High", and behold.

I can recommend the following:

"O Som do Black Rio" - Dom Mita (£0.20 and up!)
Sweet revival of the classic 70's Brazilian Soul sound, the titular Sound of Black Rio.

"Gosto Tanto" - Edson & Tita Lobo
Modern acoustic Bossa Nova by two accomplished veterans of the genre, with some special guests. Lovely.



Also, "Ana Mazzotti", "Bambu" - Marcos Ariel, "Semuta" (all groovy fusion) and (from Argentina) "Chivo Borraro Quarteto en Vivo" (jazz).

Try before you buy... check out sound samples for each album at the What Music website: http://www.whatmusic.com.

Don't delay, these clearance deals will not last forever.