New digital restoration!

An eye-popping digital restoration — the sumptuous colours alone make it an imperative — of "the most joyous hymn to the glory of art in the history of cinema" (Andrew Sarris). French Cancan marked Jean Renoir's return to French cinema after an absence of fifteen years, and his joy is palpable; he floods the screen with affection for all things Parisian. In this high-kicking account of the founding of the Moulin Rouge in the 1880s, Jean Gabin plays a dance-hall impresario who turns a laundress into the star of his new cancan show. Full of backstage stratagems, onstage frivolity, and all-round exhilaration, the film is at once a loving evocation of fin-de-siècle Paris — the world of Renoir's famous father, Auguste — and a moving meditation on the relationship between art and life. Referring to a previous re-release, Vincent Canby wrote: "Anyone interested in the career of Jean Renoir, which must include anyone who's interested in the possibilities of film past, present, and future, can't afford to miss the revival of this glorious homage" (The New York Times). With this latest restoration, make that double.