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Film Review: La Nuée (The Swarm)

Details: Category: Cinéma - Movies; Published: Thursday, 05 August 2021 23:56; Written by Gilbert Seah

La Nuée (THE SWARM)(France 2020) ***1/2

Directed by Just Philippot

The intentional Netflix movie premiering this week is another French winner - THE SWARM, a well executed (in all departments) horror drama with a hint of environmental commentary.

The story/plot is simple enough, so best not to expect any twists in the storyline. The film ends where it is supposed to - a cautionary tale of greed and tragedy.

The film was awarded the Cannes’ 2020 Critics’ Week label, and has won critical acclaim in various film festivals around the world. Because of its cinematography, the film is best viewed on the big screen.

The film follows a single mother, Virginie (Suliane Brahim, de la Comédie Française) who, with two children. teenager Laura (Marie Narbonne) and Gaston ((Raphaël Romand) slog out a meagre existence on their rural farm in France after their father has died (reason not detailed except that it has something to do with goats). Virginie gets into the business of protein obtained by cultivating locusts, disgusting creatures that director Philippot shows, cannibalizing themselves in a close up scene where the audience gets to witness them eating each other. These locusts also develop an appetite for blood and this is where the problem of greed arises. Virginie discovers the immense growth (speed and health) of these insects after they devour blood. She feeds them blood from herself, and other various sources till they multiply at a rate impossible to control. At the same time, Virginie begins to lose it. No need to disclose the ending, as one can guess what will occur given the circumstances.

The family drama is heightened with two relationships - one between Virginie and her daughter Laura who is growing up quickly and difficult to control, given the mother’s immense work and being single at the same time. The other is the budding romance between her and a sympathetic Arab, Karim (Sofiane Khammes) who lends her a hand with finances.

The drama and the horror element are effectively blended together so that THE SWARM becomes that rare horror film where the audience cares for the characters, displayed warts and all. The film at times feels like a horror JEAN DE FLORETTE flick thing JEAN DE FLORETTE meets THE FLY. But what makes the film really tick are the special effects by Antoine Moulineau. Besides the sights of the huge swarm of locusts in the sky coming down on human beings, on a warm feasting on the blood of a human victim, it is the closeups of these insects with their ugly heads, hairy legs and compound eye that give the film a really creepy feel, making one's skin crawl.

Director Philippot also comments on the unfriendly male environment faced by the family. Laura has trouble with her male friends at school.. She is made fun of because of her mother’s business. Virginie is also given the run around with low prices aid for her locust products. The only exception is the kind Karim who also admits to her that he is treated as an outsider in the area.

THE SWARM is a compulsive watch from start to end with lots of drama and special horror effects. What more can one ask from Netflix?

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Film Review: Le Dernier Mercenaire

Details: Category: Cinéma - Movies; Published: Thursday, 29 July 2021 21:45; Written by Gilbert Seah

LE DERNIER MERCENAIRE (The Last Mercenary) (France 2021) ***1/2

Directed by David Charhon

Two comedy action flicks make their debut this week, both available on streaming services. One is the much touted JUNGLE CRUISE opening in both theatres and Disney Prime and the other, coming out of nowhere, actually from France, a film that no one has heard of, a Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle called THE LAST MERCENARY. Which one would you go see? If you picked the former, you would be one of the majority but the latter film is a much better and entertaining film, compared to the formulaic and bland JUNGLE CRUISE. Written by Ismaël Sy Savané and co-written by its director David Charhon, THE LAST DETECTIVE follows the footsteps of French action comedies similar to the OSS 117 spy flicks by the director of THE ARTIST, Michel Hazanavicius.

Van Damme is old now, as can be seen by the wrinkles on his face. But the action star has not lost his charm or agility. Van Damme can still do the splits as evident in one fight scene where he surprises two thugs by hiding above them by holding himself by doing a split on two vertical walls. Van Damme plays Richard, a mysterious former secret service agent who must urgently return to France when his estranged son, humorously named Archibald (Samir Decazza) is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by an overzealous bureaucrat and a mafia operation. Archie has been granted immunity and given a generous monthly allowance for services rendered by his father Richard. But the father and son have never met. Archie has no idea that he can commit any crime or do any bad stuff, for the immunity he is given. Nor does he know where his allowance is coming from. Both benefits disappear as a result of some government error. All these exploits look totally ridiculous, and they are, but they bring laughs, nonetheless. The plotting gets sillier but goofy is good as long as the laughs keep coming and they do.

It seems that every actor in the film is a clown trying to outdo each other in goofiness. Van Damme himself, besides donning a tuxedo looking like a suave James Bond, also sports a fake muscle wearing library glasses in one scene and in another wears a dress, fighting off the thugs in drag. And there is Alexandre played by Alban Ivanov who is so funny, he almost steals the entire movie. After beaten up by Richard, Alex goes about with his tongue hanging from his mouth, uttering mumbled words as if he is some kind of spastic. The other supporting cast are funny too, with veteran actress Miou-Miou playing Richard’s old flame.

The comedy and action blend well together. Van Damme shows himself still a master of martial-arts. There are also car chases and other well executed action sequences. The film runs at a lean hound 45 minutes.

Forget JUNGLE CRUISE this week and watch THE LAST MERCENARY on Netflix.

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Film Review: Annette

Details: Category: Cinéma - Movies; Published: Thursday, 05 August 2021 22:59; Written by Gilbert Seah

ANNETTE (France 2021) ***1/2
Directed by Leos Carax

The film is set in present day, Los Angeles. Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) is a stand-up comedian with a fierce provocative humour and Ann (Marion Cotillard), an internationally renowned opera singer. Together, under the spotlight, they form a happy and glamorous couple. The birth of their first child, Annette, a mysterious girl with an exceptional destiny, will turn their lives upside down.

ANNETTE begins stupendously. A voice tells us to kindly remain silent throughout the show. This could be the show coming on in the film or be referring to the film itself. The voice tells the audience that breathing is not allowed during the show, so to then take a long deep breath. The film then commences with strobing lights with the two main leads Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard joining the chorus in song and movement. Music is by Sparks in what would turn out to be the strangest musical to be witnessed on the screen. ANNETTE feels like a rock opera. Carax intends to break all the rules of filmmaking. His enthusiasm and energy show. The film is more suited for cinephiles than for the mass commercial audience who might think everything is strange and not appreciate the enormous effort that have gone into arak’s brand of filmmaking.

The introductory song goes: “Now may we start ? It’s time to start…” Then Driver and Cotillard part ways to perform separately on different stage venues, one as a comic and the other, an opera singer.

One distinguishable feature of director Leo Carax’s films is their energy. There are bounds of it as observed in his last feature HOLY MOTORS and his most famous feature LES AMANTS DU PONT-NEUF, which I would arguably consider one of the best love stories ever put on film. ANNETTE is also a love story - but a tragedy, between two show-biz celebrities. The lovers are portrayed with gusto by Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard respectively both willing to try anything for the purpose of art, as witnessed by the musical no holds-barred erotic love-making scene in the first third of the film.

Carax’s fluid camera can be witnessed many times during the film, as in the driving of a vehicle as in through a tunnel and in other scenes. Carax is game to try new things like Ann performing opera walking on stage through the woods, where the woods turn into real woods as she trudges through the vegetation. The intercutting of the performances of Ann and McHenry are remarkably executed in style and aplomb. Baby Annette grows up, there is one scene where Annette is portrayed by a human girl.

ANNETTE went on to win Carax the coveted Best Director prize at Cannes. The film also won the prize for Best Cannes soundtrack. Though this is only my second film from Cannes that I have yet seen, I am sure Carax is well deserving of his grand Prize. I have always admired Carax and will continuously do so.

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