SUGAR CANE ALLEY Movie Review

Rue Cases Negres

An utter, unexpected delight. Euzhan Palcy's glowing coming-of-age story is set in Martinique in 1931, when much of the population toiled in the sugar cane fields under French colonial rule. Jose (Garry Cadenat) is an 11-year-old who lives with his wise and spirited grandmother (Darling Legitimus, the eccentric concierge in Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris); the movie's gentle portrait of their love for each other gradually moves toward that moment at which she knows what she must do to assure the boy's future. With Ozulike humanity and a sharp eye for the spiritual and physical beauty that exists even amid the poverty, Ms. Palcy's debut film was made for less than a million dollars, but it in no way looks like a shoestring production; even the French film industry recognized this, by awarding Sugar Cane Alley the 1984 César for Best First Film. This eloquent, truly moving film—remembered fondly by nearly everyone who sees it—is one of the loveliest and most affecting of all films about childhood.

NEXT STOP … The 400 Blows, Small Change, Sounder

1983 (PG) 106m/C FR Garry Cadenat, Darling Legitimus, Douta Seek; D: Euzhan Palcy; W: Euzhan Palcy; C: Dominique Chapuis. VHS, LV NYF, FCT