Toronto International Film Festival 2023 French Capsule Reviews

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Wednesday, 23 August 2023 16:34

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.

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Film Review: Passages

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Sunday, 06 August 2023 00:28

Written by Gilbert Seah

PASSAGES (France/Italy 2022) ***½

Directed by Ira Sachs

The film PASSAGES explores the explosive love triangle between an established male couple, Tomas and Martin, and Agathe, a woman who enters their lives in modern-day Paris. The couple also own a home in the French countryside. Agathe is a girl whom film director Tomas meets in a bar, right after wrapping up his latest feature, also titled Passages.

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Film Review: Astrakan

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Saturday, 19 August 2023 00:16

Written by Gilbert Seah

ASTRAKAN (France 2022) ***

Directed by David Depesseville

ASTRAKAN opens with a shot of a boy looking at the cage of a tarantula in a zoo.  The similarities of the loneliness that exists between both the boy and the spider become apparent.  The boy is then rushed into the car with the other two children as they go to the farm of the mother’s family, greeted by her brother.

The relationship between the boy and the foster family, his emotions, and how all are affected are slowly revealed in director David Depesseville’s debut feature.  This is a coming-of-age story of Samuel, an unloved and lonely, orphaned boy who ends up learning life lessons the hard way.

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Film Review: As Bestas (The Beasts)

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Saturday, 29 July 2023 21:42

Written by Gilbert Seah

AS BESTAS (THE BEASTS) (Spain/France 2022) Top 10 *****
Directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen

Antonio (Denis Ménochet) and Olga (Marina Foïs) are a French couple who love the rural life, settled some time ago in a village in the interior of Galicia in Spain. They lead a quiet life ther , seeking closeness with nature, (Antonio says he loves the land and refuses to sign his land away to a turbine company) although their coexistence with the locals is not as idyllic as they would like.  A conflict about the modern windmills with their neighbours, the Anta brothers (Luis Zahera, Diego Anido), will cause tension to grow in the village until it reaches a point of no return.

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