CQ (2001)

Paul (Jeremy Davies) is a young American filmmaker in Paris in 1969.  He is the editor of a sci-fi movie called Dragonfly and is also doing a self-documentary in the apartment he shares with his girlfriend, Marlene (Elodie Bouchez).  The film's producer (Giancarlo Giannini) hates the end of the film and fires the director (Gerard Depardieu).  Eventually, Paul finds himself as the new director and tries to satisfy himself, the original director, and the producer.  To complicate matters, he is infatuated with the lead actress, Valentine (Angela Lindvall).

The movie has potential but it hinges on Paul, who is incredibly boring.  He is a self-obsessed fool who wanders through endless opportunities and fails to seize any thanks to his passivity.  No, everything must be explicitly handed to him, and mostly it is.  The only time he really acts was when he chased after a stolen can of film.  He's a lump.  It is baffling that Marlene ever dated him.  Davies has this uncomfortable vibe to him that shows in several roles: Corporal Upham in Saving Private Ryan and Snow in Solaris.  He talks only just above a whisper, like he's afraid to speak his mind.  He makes Michael Cera seem like a confident action hero.

Of note, this was Roman Coppola's first, and so far only, film.  He is son of Francis Ford Coppola and brother of Sofia Coppola, two very successful directors.  Roman wrote CQ, which is about a filmmaker's first film; could it be that Paul is Roman?  A director making a film about a director's first film while filming a film of his life?  Gads, that sounds like something Charlie Kaufman would write.

Hard to watch.  Skip this one.