2014 Toronto International Film Festival Capsule Film Reviews of French Films - Gilbert Seah
(Updated Sept 13)
The 2014 version of the Toronto International Film Festival takes place from 4th - 14th September with more than 300 new features from over 60 countres. TIFF is getting bigger and bigger. This year for the first time, part of a major street (King Street West) will be closed for film celebrations.
Capsule reviews for films with french contentened will be posted on this website. This post will be updated frequently during the festival, so keep logged to this site.
New to this year is that trailer links will be added (if available) at the end of each capsule review.
Capsule Reviews:-
LE BEAU MONDE (HIGH SOCIETY)(France 2014) ****
Directed by Julie Lopes Curval
Director Curval’s very assured piece stars mesmerizing Ana Giradot (daughter of Hippolyte Giradot) as 20-year old Alice who finds a way into a fashion prestigious School in Paris with the help of a rich Parisian lady, Agnes (Aurelia Petit). Alice leaves current simple boyfriend Kevin (Baptiste Laplain), a car mechanic behind for Agnes’ son Antoine (Bastien Bouillon), attracted obviously for his passion and expression for art. They fall passionately in love. He loves her for the bourgeois life she lacks and she for the high society he inherits. Curvals’ film is fresh on emotions, traditional in ideals, dramatic on life and totally relevant in the feel of today’s youth. Performances are rich and the film works wonders. Though the seaside scenes and film’s extended dialogue often reminds one of Eric Rhomer’s films (SUMMER, LE RAYON VERT), this is pretty much a woman’s (particularly Curval’s) film. The scenery and cinematography are stunning, an additional bonus to the film.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4tKdiJwojU
THE CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (France/USA 2013) ***
Directed by Olivier Assayas
A smart script written about women on the dual theme of aging vs. youth and life imitating art written by director Olivier Assayas deserves better but unfortunately fails to attain the height it seeks to achieve. Part of this is due to the complexity of the plot but also due to main lead actress Juliette Binoche’s annoying character. For a character that sophisticated and learned in life’s lessons, she comes across as crass (laughing too loudly and expressing outwardly too many times her emotions) and common. The audience is supposed to side and feel sympathetic for this character, but Binoche’s performance does not allow it. Kristen Stewart steals the show as her super-efficient and patient personal assistant. There are parts of the script that are just plain brilliant. The sudden disappearance of the personal assistant in the mountains with no explanation give, obviously a reflection of life imitating art as the actress’s young lover in the play had the same fate occur. The spilling of the cloud of Sils Maria into the valley signalling a final escape is not only gorgeously shot bit instrumental in Assayas’ metaphor on his characters.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fkRzbL_Qwc
EDEN (France 2014) ****
Directed by Mia Hansen-Love
Director of GOODBYE, FIRST LOVE and LE PERE DES MES ENFANTS, Hansen-Love tackles a more ambitious project - the rise of electronic dance music from the 80’s to the 00’s as seen through the eye of rising teenage DJ Paul (Feix de Givry). Paul and a friend form a DJ duo called Cheers. Hansen-Love ties in another group of two called Daft Punk, that moves into his circle of friends. Those in the scene know of the success of Daft Punk especially after they created such a hit in 2013 with their song/mix “Get Lucky”. Hansen-Love shoots all the glories and downs of the club scene from the girls, drugs and dance to the club’s high rents, change in music styles and romances. The film is lengthy at 130 minutes, and can be quite the chore to watch if one is not familiar or interested in the subject matter. Though Hansen-Love never goes into depth but just skimming the surface of the club scene, her camerawork does capture the spirit of the moment. It helps that she likely drew insight from her younger brother, DJ Therein who had residency at the Queen club in Paris. Her traits from her previous films are also evident in EDEN. Romances picked up after a decade and the shot of Paul crossing the street is reminiscent of the poster of the actor doing the same in LE PERE DES MES ENFANTS.
FORCE MAJEURE (Swe/Den/Nor/Fra 2014) ***
Directed by Ruben Oslund
A hit at Cannes, Östlund’s FORCE MAJEURE is a moral tale examines the breaking down of a family due to unexpected behaviour resulting from some impending catastrophe.
It begins with a family’s skiing vacation in the French Alps. The scenery is breathtakingly captured on film. Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuhnke) and Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) are enjoying lunch with their two children when their meal is suddenly interrupted by thunderous booms emanating from the mountain above them. The complacent Tomas initially dismisses the possibility of danger — but when it appears that there may be an avalanche, he grabs his cellphone and bolts, leaving his wife and children to fend for themselves. He denies running away and called the bluff by his wife. The fallout is both scary and occasionally funny. Oslund pulls a good one at the end with fate turning the tide on the wife. The film is necessary slow paced but it pays off.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm7Ux_SkG78
LA FRENCH (THE CONNECTION) (France 2014) ***1/2
Directed by Cedric Jiminez
Director Cedric Jiminez’s directorial debut is an impressive kinetic classic piece taking audiences back to the 70’s. This is THE FRENCH CONNECTION French style and another story, re-set in Marseille where the French baddies are supplying the goods for NYC. Both are completely different films. This is more a ‘brain’ movie compared to Gene Hackman’s ‘brawn’ Popeye Doyle. The hero here is French magistrate Pierre Michel, (Oscar Winner Jean Dujardin from THE ARTIST) who uses his wit to dig up the files to nail down the untouchable Zampa (Gilles Lellouche). He does face the usual problems - neglected wife; danger and corrupt colleagues. For a film that is based on ‘brain’, director Jiminez still gets plenty of action on screen by shooting the mob killings and plenty of suspense especially during the one-on-one confrontation between Michel and Zampa. Great period atmosphere of the 70s’s created as well in both Marseille and NYC.
Trailer: http://www.allocine.fr/video/player_gen_cmedia=19547593&cfilm=221419.html
LE GRAND HOMME (T
LE GRAND HOMME (THE GREAT MAN) (France 2014) **
Directed by Sarah Leonor
Hamilton (Jeremie Renier) and Markhov (Surho Sugaipov) are scouts in the Foreign Legionnaire. Though they begin at loggerheads, they become like brothers after being forced to work together. In Afghanistan, Markhov saves Hamilton’s life. Markhov has a son Khadji (Ramzan Idiev). Due to a car accident Markhov is killed and his family, illegal aliens are taken away by French Authorities. Hamilton is now served by conscience to look after the kid of the man who saved his life. Director Leonor tells her tale in three parts - firstly, the brotherhood of the two men, then Markhov’s reunion with son and family and thirdly with Hamilton coming to save the son. For a film title like LE GRAND HOMME with such an important theme, Leonor’s film is bland with just the necessary dramatization. Perhaps she wishes her audience to think for themselves and not be too influenced by cheap theatrics. But the result is a slow moving mediocre piece.
Trailer: http://www.allocine.fr/video/player_gen_cmedia=19546345&cfilm=224586.htm
LI’L QUINQUIN (France 2014) ***** Top 10
Directed by Bruno Dumont
Dumont’s (L”HUMANITE) latest feature is once again set out in the moonies, the Boulonnais region around Calais where a series of murders have taken place. A county sheriff Van der Weyden (Bernard Pruvost) and his assistant, Carpentier (Philippe Jore) are assigned the case. The sheriff is a bungling proud man, unable to control his facial features (always twitching and blinking) as well as the locals who make fun of him. Most of his theories are stolen from his assistant. But the murders are puzzling. Body parts are found in a cow in a bunker that has an entrance too small for the cow to enter. The solution is proved to the Police Captain by LI’L QUIN QUIN who is a brat that goes around betting up blacks and getting in trouble. This is Dumont’s first comes and a very funny and observational one. Running at 3 hours, the film is quite unlike his early art films but nevertheless just as eventful and entertaining.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grkfB4t2sPQ
MAY ALLAH BLESS FRANCE (France 2014) **
Directed by And El Malik
This is French rapper, author, and spoken word artist Abd Al Malik’s directorial debut with this adaptation of his 2004 autobiography. He has no qualms on displaying that he is the best thing on the planet, which is the main downfall of this awfully made egoistic film. He stars, writes and directs. Malik shows himself in the film as talented, educated, smart, romantic and handsome. Whatever wrong he does is forgivable, such as the brutal beating up of his friend, his drug dealing and his pickpocketing of seniors. His music is not all hat impressive either. Enough is enough!
NATIONAL GALLERY (UK/France 2014) ***** Top 10
Directed by Frederick Wiseman
Master documentarian Frederick Wiseman (La Danse, Crazy Horse, At Berkeley) takes his audience in his latest film inside the inner workings of London’s National Gallery. Shot in over 12 weeks in 2012, director Frederick Wiseman takes in visitor tours, staff meetings, restorations, classes, and protests. The result is often extensively lengthy segments, but the result pays off. In one informative segment, Wiseman takes the time to include a budget proposal during a committee meeting. The various art experts/guides who offer their ideas are what makes this film soar. For those in the know, there are sufficient paintings on display together with informed narratives. Wiseman concentrates mostly on Old Masters, and his visit coincides with major exhibitions at the National Gallery of Titian, Leonardo Da Vinci, and J.M.W. Turner.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoE1NA_zi1M
UNE NOUVELLE AMIE (A NEW GIRLFRIEND) (France 2014) ****
Directed by François Ozon
Ozon (8 FEMMES, SITCOM, THE CRIMINAL LOVERS, JEUNE & JOLIE) does Ozon and much more. The film adapted and directed from a novel by Ozon centres on Claire (Anais Demoustier) and her late best friend’s husband, David (Romain Duris) who cross dresses. Claire develops a relationship (girly-wise) with David where they go shopping and he dresses up sexily as Virginia. They go dancing and even take off secretly on the weekends. Ozon takes his film up several levels because he is not afraid to take his material seriously but still with a pinch of very salty humour. There is sex and nudity to amuse his fans, male and female, female and female, male and male and even more…… The film gets a bit too serious towards the end with a car accident and David (or Virginia) going comatose. But like any Ozon film, a happy ending is around the corner as is a very satisfying and saucy film.
1001 GRAMS (Norway/Germany/France 2014) ***
Directed by Bent Hamer
Bent Hamer makes quirky little comedies like EGGS, KITCHEN STORIES and O’HORTEN. 1001 GRAMS (Norway’s entry to the Oscars in 2015 for Best Foreign Film) is no different. Norwegian scientist, Marie attends a seminar in Paris (the film is shot in both French and Norwegian) on the standard of the exact weight (mass actually) of a kilogram and brings it back in an encased bell jar. Unfortunately, she has a car accident and the package is damaged. She finds herself coming to terms with what is truly important (i.e. what weighs) in her life.. She falls in love. Hamer’s humour here is derived mainly from observing the meticulousness of scientists in their pursuit of what is deemed the most important. Those who have seen Hamer’s previous films know ‘exactly’ the kind of film to expect here.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVIAtIHcehM
PAS MON GENRE (NOT MY TYPE) (Belgium/France 2014) *
Directed by Lucas Belvaux
The film begins with young Parisian philosophy professor Clément (Loïc Corbery) transferred to the northern French town of Arras. His bourgeois educational world is turned upside down. In this small working-class community far from the wonders of Paris, he meets Jennifer (Émilie Dequenne), the simple, charming and brassy blond coiffeuse from the local hair salon. The romantic comedy has the audience believe that the two have nothing in common and that their differences will break down to show that there is something deeper between them. This is worse than any Hollywood shtick. For one, the two leads have no chemistry. The pretentious philosophy stints of Clement teaching his Arras class and quoting Kants are not fooling anyone. The dance segments with the two, especially with Jennifer flaunting her stuff is nothing more than annoying. This is below par commercial romantic fluff - et pas mon genre de film!
RUN (France/Ivory Coast 2014) ***
Directed by Philippe Lacote
RUN is rare film to come out of the Ivory Coast and is about the last two decades of the country's blood-drenched history through the experiences of a young man drawn into the spiral of political violence. Born into a country mired in wars and corruption, the film's protagonist has been on the run all his life — hence his name, Run (Abdoul Karim Konaté). When the film begins, Run enters a church and assassinates the Prime Minister. The rest of the film, told in flashback, follows Run’s twenty-year trajectory from country boy to political militant to assassin. Isaach De Bankole (the gay maid in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, the recent CALVARY) has the role of Run’s mentor. The film explores how violence's twisted logic takes hold of a society, but the whole tale looks a bit simplistic despite Lacote’s effort to make his film more epic. The violence is balanced by some humour in the segment in which Run encounters sex in the form of a fat woman called Greedy Gladys.
SAMBA (France 2014) ***
Directed by Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
From the directors of LES INTOUCHABLES, SAMBA the film has the subject matter again similar to their smash hit. The person needing care of this time around is a black illegal worker called SAMBA (Omar Sy also from INTOUCHABLES) and the one looking after him is white and female (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Samba has just been arrested without papers and his immigrant lawyer rookie has to learn the ropes. Romance is in the air. If all this sounds awful, it is not that bad as it sounds in the hands of our fearsome directors. Quite a bit of insight is provided in terms of the justice system and the workings of illegals. The numerous bouts of humour helps too. The proceedings are livened up by Rahar Tahim (UN PROPHET) who plays a fellow illegal alien.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tqzwbjy0WQ
LE TEMPS DES AVEUX (THE GATE) (France/Belg/Cambodia 2014) ****
Directed by Regis Wargnier
Regis Wargnier’s (EST-OUEST, Oscar Best Foreign Film Winner INDOCINE) latest film is a no nonsense account of the true story of French ethnologist, Bizot (Raphael Personnaz) set in the brutal era when the Khmer Rouge was gaining power in Kampuchea. The film is split into 3 parts. The first concerns Bizot’s ordeal after being captured and falsely accused of being a foreign spy. He meets and is ultimately saved by Duch (Phoeung Kompheak), a young K.R. zealot who believes his innocence. The second, worthy of any Hollywood thriller, is his escape back to France with his daughter and wife’s friend. Duch rises to power in the ranks and becomes involved with the torture and execution of hundreds of innocent lives. When The K.R. fell from power, Duch is imprisoned and faces sentence. The last part of the film - the shortest but most harrowing - deals with the meeting, again of the two men. Shot in actual locations in Cambodia and using many non-professional actors, Wargnier’s film is chillingly effective (and not overly dramatized) in its portrayal of the folly of war. This is as good as INDOCINE, if not better. For a film about the killing of thousands, not on killing is shown on screen.
FRENCH SHORT FILMS:
SHORT CUTS INTERNATIONAL
CHOP MY MONEY (Congo 2014) ***
Directed by Theo Anthony
Lively, musical, lyrical yet disturbing doc/drama following three street kid who don’t give a damn about anything in east Congo. They think it cool to fight, drink and smoke weed. Patient, Guillain and David share their dreams and philosophies to the rhythm of Montreal-based musician Dirty Beaches.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avez_pDvSk0
THE GOAT (South Africa 2014) ***
Directed by John Tengove
After being subjected to a ritual circumcision intended to usher him into manhood and purge him of any homosexual desires, a young Xhosa teenager is painted white as a goat and isolated in a remote mountain hut, where his desperate desire to escape grows as his pain and panic mount. Tengove contrasts the darkness of the hut to the bright sunshine outside where it is too bright to see. It is clear that Tegove intends to illustrate the folly of he manhood ritual which he does well, with an ambiguous endng that is up to the viewer to interpret.
SHORT CUTS CANADA
SLEEPING GIANT (GEANT ENDORMI) (Canada 2014) ****
Directed by Andrew Cividino
Impressive 16-minute short on the theme of boys will be boys. While spending a boring summer on Lake Superior, Adam falls in with two local boys and begins to fill his days attempting ever more hazardous stunts. The stunt of jumping off the higher cliff into the lake forms the climax after a girl, Taylor enters the picture. Stunning photography of the dives, the underwater shots and the realistic wrestling put this film one up above the other short films.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQQLy0o2Ias&feature=youtu.be
UNE INDEE DE GRANDEUR (Canada 2014) **
Directed by Vincent Biron
The 14-minute short shows middle geared Louis Belisle, defeated in his re-election campaign for town mayor. Louis tries to find some way to escape the bitter taste of failure, but nothing too interesting happens on screen. It is all a too dead-pan affair and the disappointment Louis feels rubs off on the viewer as well.
INDIGO (Canada 2014) ***
Directed by Amanda Strong
No narrative - nothing really needed to be followed n terms of story. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the hand-crafted, stop-motion figures come to life in this dreamlike tale inspired by Native mythology. A confined woman is liberated by a grandmother spider while opaque memories are projected in an effort to restore her spirit as life nears its end.
INTRUDERS (Canada 2014) ***
Directed by Santiago Menghini
3 short shorts in this short about mysterious forces at work in the dark of night or early dawn. Menghini’s camera movement and motion of objects that include swinging doors indicate that he could be a new director to watch for chilling horror films.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bXZn2xl56c
MYNARSKI DEATH PLUMMET (Canada 2014) ***
Directed by Matthew Rankin
The 8-minute short is about the death plummet with a parachute unopened of Winnipeg’s doomed Second World War hero, Andrew Mynarski (1916-1944). The descent is with classical and avant-garde animation techniques (including stop-motion, silhouettes, bleaching, scratching, hand-painting and rubbing letratone patterns directly on the celluloid). There is no narrative or nothing to be understood, but to enjoy the colour and black and white. The film also looks often like a Guy Madden film.
PLAGE DE SABLES (THE SANDS) (Canada 2014)**
Directed by Marie-Ève Juste
A group of friends retreat to a cottage for a weekend in the wood by THE SANDS, and tensions rise when the presence of a newcomer — the black, much younger boyfriend of one of the group. The black is belittled (asked to get the bottle of Pinot Noir and then made fun of) and doted upon by an older blonde Things turn to a head during the night. But it is unclear what director Juste is trying to say or what actually is happening. I take it that the boy stood up for what he believed in at the end. But her shots of the night and the beach are gorgeous.
SALE GUEULE (BROKEN FACE) (Canada 2014) ****
Directed by Alain Fournier
Brilliantly done striking animation in which old man Morlaix lives as a mad recluse in a remote lighthouse. When a disfigured sailor (the Sale Gueule of the title) is sent to join him, a lifetime’s worth of pain and fear resurfaces as a storm brews over the sea. The film is told from the point of view of Broken face who despises the old man, but when death comes face to face with both men, he takes the side of the living. Eerie, captivating and excellent story and animation of two men and the sea.
Trailer:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzy38sJFSK0
SUR LE CIMENT (ON CEMENT) (Canada 2014) **
Directed Robin Aubert
The film begins with an elderly lady staring at graffiti on cement, and hence the film ON CEMENT. This is a daring lady who when witnessing another elderly French kissing a youth in a restaurant decides to go for one last sexual encounter. Aubert’s short shifts between the two and the highlight seems to be the sex scene. One wonders the point he is trying to make in this exercise.
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