Cinema releases: “Mufasa: The Lion King”, “Never without my shrink”

«Mufasa: The Lion King»

The original “The Lion King” dates back to 1994. In 1998, it was entitled to a sequel, with much less global success, and, in 2019, to a remake in 3D digital animation. “Mufasa: The Lion King”, also produced in photorealistic images, is in no way a sequel, but on the contrary a prequel, which can now also be called an ante-sequel. It is an oral tale, which Rafiki tells here to Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, the story of his grandfather Mufasa and his great-uncle Scar. Are you following?

The film is not very difficult to understand anyway. With its five-star voice cast – we’ll have fun recognizing Mads Mikkelens, Seth Rogen or even Beyoncé –, its approximately nice images (we’ll prefer traditional animation), its flat songs and its expected moral, the film is consistent what we can expect. Watchable but not great. PGA

Note: **

•= hateful, °= at your own risk, *= good, **= interesting, ***= excellent, ****= masterpiece

“Winter in Sokcho”

For his first feature film, Franco-Japanese director Koya Kamura adapts the successful novel by Jurassian Elisa Shua Dusapin and respects its spirit. There we find the off-season atmosphere of Sokcho, a seaside resort in South Korea, scene of the strange relationship that develops between the reserved Soo-Ha (Bella Kim, very fair in her first role) and a gruff forty-year-old (impeccable Roschdy Zem). The first is divided between her work in a modest hotel and her boyfriend, who dreams of modeling. She also periodically sleeps with her mother, a fishmonger, who raised her alone. She has never seen her French father. The second, a well-known Norman designer, comes to this pension to seek calm and inspiration.

In this intimate film, everything depends on the atmosphere, between sounds, images of this sleeping city and careful attention to gestures or cooked fish. These solitudes which try to tame themselves outline a quest for identity full of promise, while avoiding an agreed happy ending. CRI

Note: ***

•= hateful, °= at your own risk, *= good, **= interesting, ***= excellent, ****= masterpiece

«All We Imagine as Light»

The daily life of two nurses from Mumbai, trapped in a thankless existence, who discover each other during a trip to the forest. Delicate, attentive, careful and sensitive, but not transcendent. By a filmmaker who made her name in documentaries.

This film by Payal Kapadia caused a huge sensation at Cannes, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. It is true that we discover the approach of an Indian filmmaker who is reminiscent of the look of certain masters like Satyajit Ray or Mrinal Sen, not to mention them. Very promising. PGA

Note: **

•= hateful, °= at your own risk, *= good, **= interesting, ***= excellent, ****= masterpiece

“Never without my psychologist”

Did we laugh even once? Difficult to answer in the positive. This comedy of misunderstandings, in which Clavier, a renowned psychologist, discovers that his daughter is preparing to marry the worst of her patients, a Damien Leroy as invasive as he is neurotic, and above all that the son-in-law in question is going to show up for the 30th birthday party wedding of the darons, focuses on the oppositions. In this case between two comic temperaments.

Or a bubbling and stressed Clavier, equipped with his usual facial expressions, facing a Baptiste Lecaplain best known for his shows. The sparks have the same effect as the explosion of a tabletop bomb. They are fleeting, discreet and disappear quickly. Like this film by Arnaud Lemort, accustomed to this type of comedy. His “Ibiza” was already very weak, this new film is in the same vein. PGA

Note: °

•= hateful, °= at your own risk, *= good, **= interesting, ***= excellent, ****= masterpiece

“A family Christmas”

Christmas meals and settling scores with family often go hand in hand. In this film, the presence of traditional parents – turkey, foie gras – and rather vegan children (admittedly, not all, but we are not going to reveal everything) suggests an explosive reunion. Especially since the mother (Noémie Lvovsky) is mayor and a competitor tries to take her down with an online petition, the youngest installs a pig in the garden and the village’s Christmas decorations are being taken down.

The problem is that this Jeanne Gottesdiener film never really seems to get started. Arguments, disasters, everything is started and then stops halfway. As if we (producers? screenwriters?) were afraid of excess of all kinds. But comedy, whether brilliant or in bad taste, is precisely the art of excess. Excessiveness. Even destruction. In short, broken promises. PGA

Note: °

•= hateful, °= at your own risk, *= good, **= interesting, ***= excellent, ****= masterpiece

Did you find an error? Please report it to us.

0 comments