The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 22

B-8 Saturday. August 1, 1 981THE COURIER-NEWS Mae studies society through bittersweet lens production work on "My Dinner With Andre," a film made in less than two weeks with a budget of under $500,000. Malle hopes to show it at the New York Film Festival. Malle is intensely interested in Americana. Right now, he's curious about the latest wave of American immigrants Asians.

"Things contemporary always take their roots in the past," he said. "Asians are really being treated terribly; they really are the bottom in Florida right now." It is a subject he really cares about, Malle said, and that's why he will commit himself to the film project. "A film is two years of one's life from start to finish," he said. "You have to choose right." ni. He calls that film his only disaster.

Still, Malle's work has an individual style. He doesn't copy commercial hits, nor does he grab at Hollywood movie trends. In fact, he's slightly miffed that much of Hollywood is so repetitious. "We're not dealing with creativity when we say we are going to make a blockbuster that just recreates previous hits," he said, fidgeting in his chair in the Paramount offices high above Central Park. He was about to interrupt himself, but instead went on to say: "I think a lot of people are using computers to reproduce formulas that have been successful.

They're probably making more money than but I have to be interested." He's been editing and doing other post- By DOLORES BARCLAY Associated Press Writer NEW YORK Talking to Louis Malle is like chasing a comma in a run-on sentence. He's the kind of person who he's editing a film right now that's American culture intrigues him. Malle constantly interrupts himself as he speaks, seldom finishing his initial thought, which often is only loosely connected to the topic at hand. Fortunately, the French filmmaker's speech organization in no way mirrors his movies works that study society through a bittersweet lens, works called art flicks by some critics. "The head of a Hollywood studio once told me my films aren't dumb enough they're too intelligent," said Malle, whose recent "Atlantic City" was a refreshing hit during a year of occasional sensations and several flops.

With a $5 million budget, "Atlantic City" is a juxtaposition of that New Jersey resort's past and its decayed charm with its future of fast dollars and fast tracks. It stars Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon. City' was turned down by every distributor before Paramount picked it up," Malle said without malice. "Companies should think about how they distribute right now, because today they're only geared to distributing the blockbuster. I've been my own producer all my life, so I know it can be done differently." Malle also directed "Pretty Baby" the film that paraded the pulchritudinous prepubescence of model-turned-actress Brooke Shields.

It chronicled the closing of the "red-light district" of Storyville in New Orleans. In both "Atlantic City" and "Pretty Baby," Malle exercised a certain amount of restraint in his direction. "It was great to underplay and give an appearance of reality to a world of chaos," he said. "It's pretending almost in a documentary style. It's always a little miracle when things work out." He speaks less enthusiastically of "A Very Private Affair," his 1962 movie with Brigitte Bardot and Marcello Mastroian- Conca Doro COME IN AND ENJOY OUR ITALIAN-AMERICAN CUISINE At Prices Any Family Can Afford BROILED LOBSTER 7.95 BOILED LOBSTER 7.95 LOBSTER FRA DIAVOLO 7.95 SHRIMP MARINARA 7.50 SHRIMP SCAMPI 7.50 SHRIMP ERA DIAVOLO 7.50 SHRIMP 7.50 Included: Fresh Fruit Cup, Salad, Spaghetti, Dessert and Coffee COCKTAILS SERVED a -V a A 313 West Front Street, Plainfield Jr flo Businessmen's Lunch Dinner Specials on Sat.

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