The first two episodes of the miniseries Cat’s Eyes were broadcast on TF1. So, what is this improbable French remake of the cult manga worth?
A French live-action remake of the manga Cat’s Eyes by Tsukasa Hojo, co-produced and broadcast on TF1 in partnership with Prime Video: presented like that, it's difficult to imagine anything other than a lousy project, especially with the bad memory at the top of the list. Death Note, Dragonball Evolution and other unfortunate Western reappropriations.
But after all, why not? We had the surprise Nicky Larson Philippe Lacheau version, based on the manga City Hunter by the same author as Cat’s Eyes. And then, the simple fact that the first French television channel is interested in a manga from the 80s and devotes its first part of the evening to it is a notable cultural opening and proof that times have changed since the beginning of the 90s and the hunt for anime launched by Ségolène Royal.
However, beyond the simple existence of the series, which is therefore a small victory in itself, what are the first two episodes broadcast on November 11 worth? This is where it gets a little more complicated.
Signé Michel Catz
As the trailer already presented, this series created by Michel Catz (you can't make this up) is a free adaptation of Hojo's manga. The story takes place in our time in Paris and no longer in Tokyo in the 80s, a good way to relocate the work while offering the Chamade sisters museums they no longer know which one to rob. Above all, the series aims to shed light one of the blind spots of manga and anime by more or less writing their origin story and shining the spotlight on their deep differences.
More generally, the scenario (at least for the moment) makes interesting, if not intelligent, choices to update and “westernize” Cat’s Eyes. For obvious reasons, the sisters no longer run a café called Cat's Eyes, while Quentin is probably no longer the poor, not-so-smart guy who gets taken around by the Chamades.
In the guise of Mohamed Belkhir, the nice policeman could even become their best ally since her goal is no longer just to stop the thieves, but also to unravel the mystery of the art gallery fire.
With a murder and the start of a misunderstanding with the police, the episodes seem to want to raise the stakes in addition to bringing more realism to the whole. With a priori less comic and romantic coatingthe series seems more like a police thriller with an investigation at the forefront, and not slices of love lives punctuated by burglaries. The first episode still keeps a little sentimentality in stock: having the sisters run in the street on Cindi Lauper to show that they are accomplices and a little crazy. It's ridiculous, but nothing too serious either.
CHAMADE IN FRANCE
However, if the adaptation work is rather successful, the plot is not really gripping. It even seems quite bland and overcooked without Hojo's lightness and madness of grandeur (we especially think of the Nazis). So far, the acting of the actors and actresses is strawberry, when it does not fall squarely into histrionics, in particular that of Elodie Fontan in her role of peroxide blonde hitwoman and of Claire Romain in that of the youngest daredevil.
In fact, the characters cruelly lack naturalness and authenticity, in addition to blatant lack of chemistry in the castwith the exception of Constance Labbé, who is more fair and credible in the skin of the worried elder than Camille Lou in that of the tortured younger.
In terms of technique, the series produced by Alexandre Laurent would have benefited fromand a colossal budget of 25 million euros which she uses very timidly. There is this ascent of the Eiffel Tower with almost bare hands which allows the crane and/or the drones to be brought out, but Tom Cruise can sleep peacefully as tension and spectacularity are paradoxically the main absences from the “action” scenes. . And it’s not the two and a half sequence shots or the sloppy photography that can create an illusion.
However, there are still 6 episodes of around 50 minutes to discover every Monday evening on TF1. So hoping that the series will find its rhythm and pass the second in terms of action, aerobatics and stunts.
