andrew-563-283603 Reviews

A Man Called Ove (2015)

Life is great: the world is wonderful

[9/10 · 17 January 2017]

Using a reasonable amount of flashback to reveal the history of the main character, superficially this is a film about a grumpy old man who gets redeemed by how he ends up helping his neighbours... but for any viewer with even a minute amount of human empathy it teaches us that even the most apparently obnoxious person can have hidden depths that are worth revealing. Everything about this film is well executed and beautifully measured. It could have been more humorous; more sentimental and clichéd - but the director kept everything under subtle control, and in the process he and his cast delivered a memorable film that left me feeling life is great: the world is wonderful. Thank you.

Les Cowboys (2015)

Rough edges but good story-line and acting

[7/10 · 30 December 2016]

A film that doesn't quite tick the boxes, but nonetheless worth a watch. The son (Kid) develops as the central character, despite the initial focus on his farther. Kid's character is played well - without unnecessary dialogue (which is generally quite sparse). Much is implied rather than stated, which makes this film interesting if you have the patience - and in that sense it is more typically French: relationships count more than action. Despite being a French production most of the dialogue is in English - so don't be put off if you don't like subtitles. There is no heavy handed treatment of "muslims" and, actually, the film would have worked as well without the daughter adopting Islam and the various Middle East threads that developed because of this.

A couple of weak areas I didn't like - the mother is left on the fringes, which doesn't feel appropriate given the setting. And the father's death seems illogical and simply a device to allow the son to become central - a bit of a heavy handed way to achieve this that didn't fit with the flow of the film.