LUX AETERNA arrives in Toronto after VORTEX though it was made and released in France and premiered at Cannes before VORTEX.For commercial audiences, beware as this is an experimental film, which means that there is no head or tail and this is true for the film.It is a 2019 French independent experimental art film written and directed by Gaspar Noé, screened out of competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The film makes heavy use of epileptic imagery, split-screen, and 1920s-esque documentary footage involving witchcraft.Though running at only an hour and 5 minutes, it is a hard watch.
The film’s premise follows two actresses who are to play the part of two out of three witches burnt at the stake in a film about witches.The third witch is played by Abbey Lee.The first part of LUX AETEERNA has them, mainly Dalle talking shit - about witches and about other things.Then the film shoot starts and everything goes wrong.But according to the director, it is perfect for the film to be shot and he continues shooting, much to the anger of Dalle..Nothing makes much sense!The chaos at the film’s end is observed with strobing lights and screeching sounds.The film occasionally uses split screen, again more utilized in Noe’s VORTEX.
To Noe’s credit, he has enlisted two of France’s most respected actresses , Beatrice Dalle who rose tofu from Jean-Jacques Beineix’s BETTY BLUE.Dalle has had quite a reputation in real life.The other is Charlotte Gainsbourg, wife of filmmaker Yvan Attal.Both play themselves in the film.
LUX AETERNA is an often frustrating experimental film that leads nowhere and comes across as pretentious and confusing. Gaspar Noe fans would be the only ones who would forgive the director for his major excesses as in this film and in the recent CLIMAX.There is a bit about art in films from Noe.
The film ends after the end credits: “Thank God I’m an atheist.”Noe has paid respect to great directors like Jean-Luc Godard using his colourful titles in his first film CARNE and now does likewise with the end credits quoted from Luis Bunuel.
THE TAKEDOWN (France 2022) ***1/2 Directed by Louis Leterrier
English speaking cinema goers have their pro Idris Elba, A Brit starring in both English hits such as THE HARDER THEY FALL, THE SUICIDE SQUAD and CONCRETE COWBOY.One the European side, French cinema goes have OMAR SY who rose to fame with the French comedy hit UNTOUCHABLE (remade into a Hollywood film), SIMPLY BALCK, POLICE while also crossing the Atlantic starring as Hemall in the Marvel films AVENGERS and THOR as well as the JURASSIC WORLD films.His test film, on Netflix shows Sy in top form, both in action and comedy, a French outing despite its English title.Sy is the main one that makes the action comedy work.THE TAKEDOWN is directed by Louis Leterrier, no stranger to action films THE INCREDIBLE HULK, CLASH OF THE TITANS AND FAST X.So, expect lots of action and comedy in THE TAKEDOWN.One would not be disappointed.As a bonus, the film displays the gorgeous French country from Bordeaux to the French Alps.
The film begins with what appears to be a takedown.Cop Ousmane (Sy) and his partner break into a FIGHT CLUB type of match in order to arrest a suspect.The next thing has Ousmanae fighting the star attraction.The audience is then introduced to another cop, a white cop, Francois (Laurent Lafitte) who has a way with women, but has a problem with his ego.The two are forced to do A takedown.
Ousmane Diakité (Omar Sy) and François Monge (Laurent Lafitte) are two cops with very different styles, backgrounds and careers. Many years ago they worked together but life took them apart. The unlikely pair is reunited once again for a new investigation that takes them all the way up to the French Alps. What seemed to be a simple drug deal turns out to be a high scale criminal case wrapped in danger and unexpected comedy.
In terms of action comedy, the fights and story (the iteration between two cops with differences) are nothing new.But there are sufficient surprises that make the film stand out.For one, the cinematography showing the French countryside is a sight for sore eyes.The production sets such as the arena in the film’s opening scene are also impressive.The film is also very funny with director Leterrier taking every opportunity to inject laughs into his feature.When the police store the arena, they accidentally catch someone at the trash thinking that it is the trash police making sure that he puts the recyclables where they belong.“I never knew they were so serious,” he comments.The action set piece with ayouth on a motorbike being shown and his bike going off the bridge with his body splitting into two after hitting high volt wires before crashing down not the train below needs to be seen to be believed.This leaves the bay in two halves, each for each cop.Other memorable ones include a chase across the lanes of abowling alley, a dodgem (bumper car) chase in the aisles of a supermarket.
THE TAKEDOWN might not be the best film of the year nor will it win choice awards, but it is what it is supposed to be, a fast paced action comedy that is both entertaining and a solid time-waster.In one scene the cops say “C’es nous, La Loi.”(It’s Us, the law!).In the 2019 police classic by Lady Ly LES MISERABLES - the white racist cop similarly tells a suspect: “C’est Moi, la loi!”(It’s me, the law!) Ly’s LES MISERABLE was one of the best films of the year, also tackling the problem of criminal youth in the Paris suburbs, aiming for the higher goal of making a social statement.THE TAKEDOWN does however, quite effectively touch on the racist issue. The film is available for streaming on Netflix.Filmed fully in French.
Filmmaker Gasper Noe has never failed to astound audiences - though not always in agood way.Take his SEUL CONTRE TOUS.In the film’s last 10 minutes, a warning appears on screen with the image of a clock ticking that if one thinks one cannot stomach what is to come, then leave the cinema within one minute.When I first viewed this film at TIFF, most of the audience did not leave.But when the last 10 minutes of film unfolded which involved a father raping his retarded daughter, a quarter of the audience walked out. His last film CLIMAX which displayed the best of dancing also created quite the stir with the dancers all high on the LSD laced punch.The best Noé film remains his first short hour feature CARNE with Jean Much Godard-like titles and the film displaying humour and oddity.
VORTEX follows the lives of an elderly couple - the wife (Françoise Lebrun) suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s and growing worse exponentially while the husband (played by Italian gallo master Dario Argento who made SUSPIRA, OPERA, THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE) suffers from heart attacks. The son (Alex Lutz) has a noisy little boy and is hooked on crack, smoking up quite often in the house.One thing is for sure - despite the family dysfunctionality , the three have a strong loving relationship for each other.The elderly husband cares for his wife, the son for his father and so on.But their circumstances do not help.VORTEX, shown in split screen, so that director Noé can show two camera angles of one scene, is not an easy film to watch.VORTEX achieves what it is purposed to do, show the extremely difficult daily routines of the three, but one can hardly say the film is entertaining.It os a brutal 2 hour and 20 minute watch, beautifully acted and staged while fluid camerawork, nonetheless.
DirectorGaspar Noé created the project after suffering a dangerously severe brain hemorrhage which very nearly killed him. When he recovered, he became sober and began filming.As expected, VORTEX is devoid of humour but filled with human drama.But there are bouts of tenderness as well.
Director Noé has his fan base, and I am one of them after being mesmerized by CARNE, which was followed by art-house hits like ENTER THE VOID, CLIMAX and IRREVERSIBLE.He has a new film premiering at Cannes this year. LUX ÆTERNA is the title of his new film about his own psychic freakout on witches starring Beatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg, two famous French stars, a film that should be on everyone’s watch list.
VORTEX arrives and is currently playing at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.It arrives without much publicity as the publicist does not wish to send streaming links, insisting that the film best (and rightly so) on the big screen to experience the split screen process.As said, VORTEX is not an easy watch but a film that delivers more of an experience than anything else.
PETITE MAMAN (France 2021) **** Directed by Céline Sciamma
Mesmerizing, beautiful and magical, director Céline Sciamma’s latest film about loss and discovery from the point of view of a young girl, Nelly (Josephine Sanz) is an unforgettable film that is a must-see. This is the director that has amazed critics with festival hits like PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE and demonstrated her smarts with her script for the amazing animated MA VIE EN COURGETTE, nominated and should have won the Oscar for Best Animated feature.
When Nelly’s granny dies at the film’s start, she goes to her home with her parents and meets a girl her age, also long somewhat like her. As she plays and gets acquainted with Marion, it turns out that the new friend is her mother when her mother was her age. The film moves in and out comfortably, between times, between personalities as Nelly learns about her mother. The two often play in the woods, made colourful by the multicoloured leaves, beautifully shot, assumed in the autumn when leaves change colour.There is immense intelligence and sensitivity and remarkably thought-out scenes like the connection between the two girls while having soup, making pancakes or playing. The two girls look very alike and it is difficult to distinguish one from another.The mother has lighter hair and is called Marion while the other has darker hair, called Nelly.The English translation of the title LITTLE MOTHER prepares the audience for Nelly to meet her maman when she is little.
PETEI MAMAN treats the innocent girls as adults with maturity in their thinking, unadulterated by the grownup world.Example: Nelly’s secret is not shared not because she keeps it hidden but for the reason that there is no one to tell the secret to.
PETITE MAMAN premiered at Cannes and was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.A superb and delightful gem about girls in their fantasy yet mature world! Film is playing at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
THE OTHER LAURENS (Belgium/France 2023) *** Directed by Carl Schmitz
THE OTHER LAURENS implies that there are two of them. In fact, there are and they are twins. When one...
