guy-bellinger
Joined May 2004
Welcome to the new profile
We're still working on updating some profile features. To see the badges, ratings breakdowns, and polls for this profile, please go to the previous version.
Reviews608
guy-bellinger's rating
Three girls in an apartment. One is waiting for a phone call from her boyfriend Grégory, who is returning the next day from Seville where he is on vacation. Time passes and he still doesn't call. The young woman wonders about the nature of her relationship, and the other two try to advise her. Over and over again considers, reconsiders all the possibilities: phoning Gregory herself? Right away? Later? Breaking up? Continuing a lame relationship? Her two friends try to helpbut can't do much.
And that's all there is to Sophie Letourneur's first short, "La tête dans le vide ". It is not really a bad film: as a slice of life, it rings true (a scene like this could very well happen exactly as it is presented here). Unfortunately the whole thing is only moderately interesting (we don't really care about the girl's sentimental problem) and only moderately funny (we just smile once or twice at the spectacle of these three girls desperately going round in circles, gorging themselves on junk food and drinking themselves senseless.)
The three young actresses play naturally, which is another good point but the film remains too superficial to leave a mark, let alone a deep mark. Of course, this is only a first opus: everybody has to get started! Since then Sophie Letourneur has achieved more elaborate, more profound (if always funny) works , notably "Chicks" (La vie au ranch) which, starting from a similar situation, examines the subject more thoroughly.
And that's all there is to Sophie Letourneur's first short, "La tête dans le vide ". It is not really a bad film: as a slice of life, it rings true (a scene like this could very well happen exactly as it is presented here). Unfortunately the whole thing is only moderately interesting (we don't really care about the girl's sentimental problem) and only moderately funny (we just smile once or twice at the spectacle of these three girls desperately going round in circles, gorging themselves on junk food and drinking themselves senseless.)
The three young actresses play naturally, which is another good point but the film remains too superficial to leave a mark, let alone a deep mark. Of course, this is only a first opus: everybody has to get started! Since then Sophie Letourneur has achieved more elaborate, more profound (if always funny) works , notably "Chicks" (La vie au ranch) which, starting from a similar situation, examines the subject more thoroughly.
Jean-Pierre Mocky's (very) special tone is undeniable.
In the past, we loved his gritty, offbeat comedies as well as his anarchic film noirs, but over time Mocky increasingly botched his movies, to the point of becoming their own caricature. Between the ferocious "A mort l'arbitre" and the pitiful "Ville à vendre", there was a gulf that I thought would never be bridged by an ageing soft-headed Mocky.
When a friend lent me the DVD of "Rouges étaient les lilas", I have to admit, I was skeptical. But I was pleasantly surprised: this little whodunit with a well-crafted plot takes us, with just a touch of causticity, from the anecdotal to the tragic, worthy of the great film noirs. The situation, apparently simple at first (the neighbor upstairs is harassing the neighbor downstairs with a nightly racket), gradually unravels and leads to unpredictable events.
The setting is interesting (a building adjoining a cemetery, indicating the idea that death creeps viciously into life), and the colors clean and bold, characterizing each of the four main protagonists, are well-chosen. As for musician Vladimir Cosma, he proved clever enough to compose a score that didn't duplicate the film's mortifying atmosphere.
Also thanks to Mocky for casting four women in the lead roles. It's half as many as François Ozon's "Eight Women", but still! Alice Dufour skillfully portrays the young widow at odds with her evil neighbor, dressed all in red", the beautiful and arrogant Delphine Cadéac. Marianne Basler is a retired police inspector and Grace de Capitani is a picturesque, friendly concierge. They all interact very well
In the end, a very satisfying film that reconciled me with Mocky.
In the past, we loved his gritty, offbeat comedies as well as his anarchic film noirs, but over time Mocky increasingly botched his movies, to the point of becoming their own caricature. Between the ferocious "A mort l'arbitre" and the pitiful "Ville à vendre", there was a gulf that I thought would never be bridged by an ageing soft-headed Mocky.
When a friend lent me the DVD of "Rouges étaient les lilas", I have to admit, I was skeptical. But I was pleasantly surprised: this little whodunit with a well-crafted plot takes us, with just a touch of causticity, from the anecdotal to the tragic, worthy of the great film noirs. The situation, apparently simple at first (the neighbor upstairs is harassing the neighbor downstairs with a nightly racket), gradually unravels and leads to unpredictable events.
The setting is interesting (a building adjoining a cemetery, indicating the idea that death creeps viciously into life), and the colors clean and bold, characterizing each of the four main protagonists, are well-chosen. As for musician Vladimir Cosma, he proved clever enough to compose a score that didn't duplicate the film's mortifying atmosphere.
Also thanks to Mocky for casting four women in the lead roles. It's half as many as François Ozon's "Eight Women", but still! Alice Dufour skillfully portrays the young widow at odds with her evil neighbor, dressed all in red", the beautiful and arrogant Delphine Cadéac. Marianne Basler is a retired police inspector and Grace de Capitani is a picturesque, friendly concierge. They all interact very well
In the end, a very satisfying film that reconciled me with Mocky.
"Neither chains nor masters" is an uncompromising film which, through the personal story of a slave and his daughter, tells the general story of this shameful and shameless system called slavery.
At the same time clearly situated in time (1759) and timeless, the same goes for the place, both precise (Mauritius) and universal (the system is always the same, with hardly a few variations).
The harshness of the working conditions (in this case, harvesting sugar cane), the cruelty of the masters (in this case, the wealthy Eugène Larcenet) and the arrogance of the authorities who deny Africans any humanity (in this case, the island's governor) is exposed without concessions.
Another interest of Simon Montaïrou's first film is to put us in the shoes of the slaves, their thoughts, their beliefs, their sufferings, while giving only a secondary role to the whites. We are thus put in the shoes of the pursued rather than the pursuers. It's an interesting point of view, which assuredly doesn't make viewers feel at ease (but "Ni chaînes ni maîtres" isn't up for the best feel-good film award!), but brings them closer to a mentality and way of being that's foreign to them.
The direction is dynamic, adopting the rhythm of the chase. The whole thing is really well-made, which is all the more impressive given that it was shot far from anywhere, in difficult geographical and climatic conditions. Antoine Sanier's meticulous photography adapts to the different settings and moods (candlelight at Larcenet's lunch, iridescent blur when fugitive slave Massamba feels weak, nighttime killing scene lit only intermittently by lightning).
There's also an extraordinary sequence in which Massada is pursued by a dog in a river before the two of them are swept away by a waterfall, ending up dozens of meters below in the watercourse, where the pursuit continues...
Very good acting, especially from Ibrahima Mbaye (Massamba, the slave who believed he could come to terms with the whites), Anna Diakhere Thiandoum (Mati, his rebellious daughter) and the most astonishing, Camille Cottin, all in black, long-haired, with a slender classy figure in a role cast against type, that of Madame La Victoire, a fierce slave hunter. A trying but intense film, to be seen urgently.
At the same time clearly situated in time (1759) and timeless, the same goes for the place, both precise (Mauritius) and universal (the system is always the same, with hardly a few variations).
The harshness of the working conditions (in this case, harvesting sugar cane), the cruelty of the masters (in this case, the wealthy Eugène Larcenet) and the arrogance of the authorities who deny Africans any humanity (in this case, the island's governor) is exposed without concessions.
Another interest of Simon Montaïrou's first film is to put us in the shoes of the slaves, their thoughts, their beliefs, their sufferings, while giving only a secondary role to the whites. We are thus put in the shoes of the pursued rather than the pursuers. It's an interesting point of view, which assuredly doesn't make viewers feel at ease (but "Ni chaînes ni maîtres" isn't up for the best feel-good film award!), but brings them closer to a mentality and way of being that's foreign to them.
The direction is dynamic, adopting the rhythm of the chase. The whole thing is really well-made, which is all the more impressive given that it was shot far from anywhere, in difficult geographical and climatic conditions. Antoine Sanier's meticulous photography adapts to the different settings and moods (candlelight at Larcenet's lunch, iridescent blur when fugitive slave Massamba feels weak, nighttime killing scene lit only intermittently by lightning).
There's also an extraordinary sequence in which Massada is pursued by a dog in a river before the two of them are swept away by a waterfall, ending up dozens of meters below in the watercourse, where the pursuit continues...
Very good acting, especially from Ibrahima Mbaye (Massamba, the slave who believed he could come to terms with the whites), Anna Diakhere Thiandoum (Mati, his rebellious daughter) and the most astonishing, Camille Cottin, all in black, long-haired, with a slender classy figure in a role cast against type, that of Madame La Victoire, a fierce slave hunter. A trying but intense film, to be seen urgently.