Film eview: Avant ques Les Flammes ne s'Eteignent

• Print
• Email

Details

Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Sunday, 28 January 2024 15:11

Written by Gilbert Seah

Avant que les flammes ne s’éteignent (AFTER THE FIRE) (France 2023) ***
Directed by Mehdi Fikri

Injustice against minorities is often favourite fodder for French films, (BATIMENT 5 (LES INDESIRABLES) and LES MISERABLES by Ladj Ly being prime examples.  In an immigrant French suburb of Strasbourg. Karim, a 25-year-old man, has died at the hands of the police. Devastated by the news, his estranged sister Malika (Camélia Jordana) reunites with her family, compelled to seek justice for her slain brother.  The police claim the death is due to an epileptic fit due to drug taking.  Strategizing with mentorly community organizer Slim (Samir Guesmi) and suave private lawyer Mr. Harchi (Makita Samba), Malika soon begins to face a courtroom battle with overwhelming media exposure, while contending with the growing chaos of her hectic everyday — missed daycare meetings, a failing business, and a strained marriage. But she and her siblings Driss (passionately played by rapper Sofiane Zermani, a.k.a. Fianso) and Nour (Sonia Faidi) are anchored by their renewed blood ties. Together they harness the fire of public outrage against a racist criminal justice system.  Director Fikri shows some sympathy for the authorities with the pathologist and the guarding police officer allowing Malika total photos of the bruises from the beatings of the dead brother’s corpse while also showing the judicial process and the court case preparations.  The sight of the bruised body also gets the emotions of the audience going.

Read more: Film eview: Avant ques Les Flammes ne s'Eteignent

Film Review: LES TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES: D’ARTAGNAN (The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan)

• Print
• Email

Details

Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Thursday, 07 December 2023 01:25

Written by Gilbert Seah

LES TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES: D’ARTAGNAN (The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan)

(France/Germany/Spain/Belgium 2023) ***½

Directed by Martin Bourboulon

After NAPOLEON and FERRARI, it is a welcome change to watch a European epic not spoken in English with foreign accents.  Napoleon had the actors speak English with French accents and FERRARI with Italian accents.  True to form, the French epic, Alexandre Dumas’

LES TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES: D’ARTAGNAN (The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan) is a lavish action adventure film where the French speak French.  It is the first of a two-part epic saga.

Read more: Film Review: LES TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES: D’ARTAGNAN (The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan)

Film Review: Rien a Perdre (All to Play For)

• Print
• Email

Details

Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Friday, 12 January 2024 12:01

Written by Gilbert Seah

ALL TO PLAY FOR (Rien A Pedre) (Nothing to Lose) (France/Belgium 2023) **

Directed by Delphine Deloget

Delphine Deloget’s ALL TO PLAY FOR is a poorer man’s or rather poor woman’s version of British director Ken Loach's social drams most notably CATHY COME HOME after his first igniting the international screen with the tale of a boy and his kestrel in KES.  Loach knows how to work drama into his characters, often manipulating the contents of his film against authority and government.  ALL TO PLAY FOR looks pale in comparison.

This frequently told tale pits a single mother against France’s social childcare services system.  There is nothing one has not seen before, which is a problem.  The mother, Sylvie played by Virginie Efira (most recognizable after Paul Verhoeven’s BERNADETTE) has her younger son taken away by France’s Child Services after the son, Sofiane (Alexis Tonetti) sets the stove in the kitchen on fire while burning himself trying to make fries.  Elder brother Jean-Jacques also known as JJ (Felix Lefebre) is away on trumpet practice while Sylvie is away at her very difficult job at bartending.  With no adult in the home, Child Care is never too quick at snatching the son to put him in a foster home, especially when Sylvie is not answering their calls.

Read more: Film Review: Rien a Perdre (All to Play For)

Film Review: Testament

• Print
• Email

Details

Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Tuesday, 07 November 2023 00:43

Written by Gilbert Seah

TESTAMENT (Canada 2023) ***

Directed by Denys Arcand

TESTAMENT is a Canadian drama film, directed by Denys Arcand and released in 2023. The film stars Rémy Girard as Jean-Michel Bouchard, a retired archivist in his 70s living in a retirement home, who is initially angered when a group of protestors arrive to demand that the facility remove an art installation that has been deemed insulting to First Nations, only to find new love and a new zest for life in the experience. His new love is played by the beautiful Sophie Lorain who looks too young to be falling in love with the retiree.  The film is a blend of comedic satire and romance.

Read more: Film Review: Testament