Le Havre (2011)

A young African refugee (Blondin Miguel) hiding out in a small seaside town is befriended by an old Bohemian (André Wilms) who rallies the community to help the boy evade capture by the local immigration officials.

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From the perspective of history, film is a fairly new art form. While painting, dance, music, etc. have all existed for millennia, cinema has been around for little more than a century. Back when the French New Wave critics were writing for Cahiers du Cinema in the 1950s, it was even conceivable for an individual to attempt to watch the entirety of film history. Nowadays this would be a fool's errand to even attempt. Film is no longer a rich man's game. Nearly anyone can make a movie and nearly every country has its own film industry with its own stars and auteurs. There is just so damn much to see. As a result, curators have become increasingly important in this day and age. Like many cineastes, one of the first places I go for an opinion on film worth watching, is The Criterion Collection. Sure there are some Criterion titles that have me scratching my head over their inclusion (Armageddon), but how else was I supposed to know that a charming French fable, directed by a Finn, with a rhyming name (Aki Kaurismäki) is worth my valuable time? And now it's my obligation to let you know that this film is worth your valuable time. See how this works?