♦ Their children after them **
by Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma
French film, 2:21 a.m.
The adaptation of the 2018 Goncourt Prize by Nicolas Mathieu seduces with its aesthetic and the interpretation of Paul Kircher. There we find the atmosphere of those languid summers experienced by the young people of a dying steel industry. A youth who experiences their first love stories and seeks a future in the shadow of the now closed blast furnaces and disillusioned parents. But the film by the Boukherma brothers barely touches on what made the book so rich: giving substance to this peripheral France that until then had rarely been mentioned in literature. Hence the impression of a wise and somewhat smooth adaptation.
» READ THE REVIEW: “Their children after them”, a languid chronicle of a lost generation
♦ Conclave *
d’Edward Berger
American-British film, 2:01 a.m.
What's going on behind the scenes of the pope election? Director Edward Berger depicts the intrigues and power games at work during this election in a perfectly calibrated thriller, adapted from the bestselling novel by Robert Harris. While the rites surrounding the meeting of the cardinals, reenacting even the Sistine Chapel and the House of Saint Martha in the Cinecitta studios, are perfectly realistic.
The plot is much less so. The German director stages a battle for influence between the progressive and conservative camps where anything goes. By dint of enlarging the line, Conclave unfortunately ends up falling into its own caricature.
» READ THE REVIEW: “Conclave” by Edward Berger, power games at the Vatican
♦ Kids **
by Grégory Lucilly
French film, 1h32
Audrey and Thomas, rejected by their mother, found themselves on the street at 17 and 15 years old. Social services take them in and find their father whom they practically never knew. During all these years, he lived on Reunion Island just ten kilometers from his elders without ever trying to see them again. Information which only increases the rage of Thomas – the character on whom the film is centered –, expressed by the hip-hop dance practiced by the teenager.
Grégory Lucilly signs a vibrant first feature film about the powerful bond between a sister and a brother who can only count on each other. Without ever falling into miserabilism, Brat shows a society with weakened social and family ties.
» READ THE REVIEW: “Marmaille” by Grégory Lucilly, the energy of anger
♦ Wicked **
de Jon M. Chu
American film, 2:41
One of the most anticipated blockbusters of the year, the adaptation of the iconic musical Wickedis finally on the big screen. We explore the world of Wizard of Ozten years before the arrival of Dorothy and her dog Toto, and the improbable friendship formed by two witches: Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), ostracized because of her green skin and the next Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda (Ariana Grande), future Good Witch of the South.
If we can regret a few lengths, we can salute the performances of the trio (completed by the British Jonathan Bailey) of main actors in this film, which succeeds in its bet: “offering refuge to those who feel different”.
» READ THE REVIEW: “Wicked” with Ariana Grande: a successful adaptation of the cult musical
♦ Limonov, la ballade *
de Kirill Serebrennikov
European co-production, 2h18
Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov dedicates his new film to his compatriot Édouard Limonov. An eternal outsider, he emigrated to New York in the 1970s, rejecting the Soviet regime. Worker in Kharkiv, poet in Moscow, tramp in New York, writer in Paris, pro-Serbian militiaman during the Bosnian war then political prisoner in Russia and ultranationalist activist: his improbable destiny had fascinated the writer Emmanuel Carrère who dedicated a book to him.
Kirill Serebrennikov in turn decided to devote his film to Limonov's stay in the United States. In a very choreographic staging, the director paints an ambiguous, even complacent portrait of this character since he is content to dispatch his nationalist and violent excesses with a simple final mention.
» READ THE REVIEW: “Limonov, the Ballad” by Kirill Serebrennikov, a dark and ambiguous portrait
♦ Once upon a time Michel Legrand *
by David Hertzog Dessites
French documentary, 1h49
The films of Jacques Demy and many other directors are closely linked to the sparkling and lyrical music of Michel Legrand. A few notes are enough to revive memories… This magic, the fruit of knowledge of the classics mixed with a fascination for jazz, the composer deployed for several decades on the screen but also in concert halls around the world.
Unfortunately, despite a host of testimonies – distilled in very small touches – and a few sequences taken from the whirlwind young years of a Michel Legrand pianist, singer and conductor with electric energy, the documentary is fades quickly. The second hour strays into an overly long and somewhat uncomfortable evocation of the final concert he gave, very weakened, at the Philharmonie de Paris. Two months before his death, on the night of January 25 to 26, 2019.
♦ Crossing Istanbul **
by Levan Atkin
Swedish-Danish film, 1h46
Lia, a retired literature professor in Georgia, decides to search for her niece, a transgender woman that her sister kicked out. But where and how to find it without speaking Turkish or English? Achi, a young man, finds Tekla's address in Istanbul and offers his help as a guide and interpreter. Lia decides to leave immediately. During her quest, the septuagenarian discovers a totally foreign universe with its harshness, its solidarity and a relative acceptance of Istanbul society (contrary to our Western clichés about this city). Through this choral film shrouded in tenderness, Levan Akin invites us, like her, to enrich our perspective in order to overcome prejudices.
» READ THE REVIEW: “Crossing Istanbul” by Levan Atkin, encountering difference
No ! * Why not ** Good film *** Very good film **** Masterpiece
