(Screened as part of the myFrenchFilmFestival.com that is underway only on screens - the TV link does not work for most of the features and the shorts, no matter what anyone else might tell you).
Full disclosure - the screening for this movie was not done, due to a technical glitch, and one of the organisers promised to screen it once again, and let us know when that would happen. This is a review of the first 70 minutes of the 129 minute movie.
The movie begins just showing life as you pass it by in any public square, deceptively focusing on a group of characters who turn out to be the main prota/antagonists as the movie progresses. It puts us in the position of being a fly-on-the-wall, and for those rewarded with patience among their character traits, it is a rewarding set of sequences.
When the plot finally takes off, we are blessed with the degree of involvement needed to take sides, be in the corner of the protagonists, as it were.
It also helps understanding that what transpires thereupon, could happen to anyone. Scary, but surely true, in this day and age.
It is a very tender tale, told with an appreciation for the nuances inherent in human relationships, with an eye for capturing really intimate moments that are usually glossed over in mainstream cinema, without offending sensibilities (or so I thought - but more on that later).
The technical aspects are all fine, and complement the narrative as they should, never detracting from the tale being told, never calling attention to themselves, which is the way it should be - plot over everything else, substance over style, and so forth.
The performances are also uniformly good, with the bulk of the responsibilities shouldered by the main protagonist played by Olivier Rabourdin (many many credits, including the 'Taken' franchise, Ma mère, Rois et Reine, 13 Tzameti, Crime d'amour, Midnight in Paris, Les Lyonnais, Grace of Monaco), who looks and acts like Kevin Spacey (without the showiness that he's becoming more famous for nowadays) in 'David Gale' mode, and that's nice to behold.
As an aside, in a screening as a part of myFrenchFilmFestival.com, I got to see actual homophobia (no surprise actually, considering the mentality of most of this generation even, but being faced with it was another thing altogether). There were a group of professionals (!?) who walked in 30 minutes into the screening, were noisy getting in, noisier in all their whispering during their 15 minutes of watching the movie, and noisily shocked by the instances of physical intimacy between 2 consenting adults of the same gender, and ultimately walked out noisily. I wouldn't wish that kind of audience on any movie appreciating individual or group, but movie-watching nowadays, especially the specialty kind, seems to be more a test of patience and compromises lending themselves to being endurance and tolerance tests more than anything else.
I'll update this review after watching the movie in its entirety, and since the organisers have not gotten back with details of the next screening of this flick like they promised they would, am not completely sure when that might be.
Full disclosure - the screening for this movie was not done, due to a technical glitch, and one of the organisers promised to screen it once again, and let us know when that would happen. This is a review of the first 70 minutes of the 129 minute movie.
The movie begins just showing life as you pass it by in any public square, deceptively focusing on a group of characters who turn out to be the main prota/antagonists as the movie progresses. It puts us in the position of being a fly-on-the-wall, and for those rewarded with patience among their character traits, it is a rewarding set of sequences.
When the plot finally takes off, we are blessed with the degree of involvement needed to take sides, be in the corner of the protagonists, as it were.
It also helps understanding that what transpires thereupon, could happen to anyone. Scary, but surely true, in this day and age.
It is a very tender tale, told with an appreciation for the nuances inherent in human relationships, with an eye for capturing really intimate moments that are usually glossed over in mainstream cinema, without offending sensibilities (or so I thought - but more on that later).
The technical aspects are all fine, and complement the narrative as they should, never detracting from the tale being told, never calling attention to themselves, which is the way it should be - plot over everything else, substance over style, and so forth.
The performances are also uniformly good, with the bulk of the responsibilities shouldered by the main protagonist played by Olivier Rabourdin (many many credits, including the 'Taken' franchise, Ma mère, Rois et Reine, 13 Tzameti, Crime d'amour, Midnight in Paris, Les Lyonnais, Grace of Monaco), who looks and acts like Kevin Spacey (without the showiness that he's becoming more famous for nowadays) in 'David Gale' mode, and that's nice to behold.
As an aside, in a screening as a part of myFrenchFilmFestival.com, I got to see actual homophobia (no surprise actually, considering the mentality of most of this generation even, but being faced with it was another thing altogether). There were a group of professionals (!?) who walked in 30 minutes into the screening, were noisy getting in, noisier in all their whispering during their 15 minutes of watching the movie, and noisily shocked by the instances of physical intimacy between 2 consenting adults of the same gender, and ultimately walked out noisily. I wouldn't wish that kind of audience on any movie appreciating individual or group, but movie-watching nowadays, especially the specialty kind, seems to be more a test of patience and compromises lending themselves to being endurance and tolerance tests more than anything else.
I'll update this review after watching the movie in its entirety, and since the organisers have not gotten back with details of the next screening of this flick like they promised they would, am not completely sure when that might be.