A documentary unearthing the uncertain memory of Danny Williams, A Walk into the Sea was made by Williams’ filmmaker niece (Esther Robinson) who seeks to build a picture of the uncle she never knew. Her enlightening film leads us backwards from his mysterious disappearance in his twenties (his body was never found) to his life in the midst of one of New York’s most well-known artistic hubs – Andy Warhol’s Factory. Backgrounded by swathes of Williams’ little-seen black and white film footage, various members of Warhol’s inner circle wax ponderously upon Danny’s place and person within The Factory scene. Including interviews with Factory intimates Billy Name, Paul Morrissey, Brigid Berlin, and Velvet Underground member John Cale (amongst others), Robinson rolls into a bubbling melange of egos, suspicion, and drug induced confusion. People give garbled and conflicting accounts; one moment claiming not to remember him at all, the next declaring with utter certainty the truth of some particular detail. These are interviewed alongside Danny’s family members who have built up their own myths surrounding his life and untimely death – some even speculating upon the veracity of the latter state. Robinson skilfully crafts together this multitude of spoken threads into a cohesive story of a talented and vulnerable young man who became a close companion to Andy Warhol whilst remaining an outsider in his world. Highlighting the imperfect mechanism of human memory A Walk into the Sea simultaneously showcases the enigmatic cinematic work of a man ahead of his time.

Owing the basis of its fairly clever plot to classic film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Priceless follows the story of gold digger Irene (Audrey Tautou) and a smitten, but out of her league, admirer Jean (Gad Elmaleh) through various expensive hotels and exclusive stores as they live off the loneliness of wealthy older ‘patrons’. As Jean throws all he has, materially and emotionally, into bottomless pit that is Irene, each is slowly transformed by the opposite qualities in the other. Though less centred as pure farce, Pierre Salvadori’s new movie puts me in mind of a Francis Veber comedy, while bettering both own his prior effort (Après vous) as well as Veber’s last (The Valet, also starring Gad Elmaleh). This said, if it wasn’t for the fact that Priceless is a French language film I couldn’t see any reason for it being included in a film festival programme. A very mainstream romantic-comedy, this could be any number of similar genre Hollywood movies, done reasonably well. Falling just a little north of bland the film plays pretty much as an Audrey Tautou vehicle, which, if you are like me, will still be fairly hard to resist. And pretty up the screen she does, but without leaving much of an impression. Priceless is one for an easy night’s entertainment or for those who find the presence of subtitles taking them to their capacity for cinematic challenge.—Jacob Powell