18:00 April 9, 2022
Vortex ***
From Gaspar Noé, with Françoise Lebrun, Dario Argento, Alex Lutz. 2:22.
A retired couple in Paris: she is struck by Alzheimer’s disease that is slowly gaining ground, she tries to manage this daily life as best she can, despite her delicate health. The sublime and moving opening scene testifies to the isolation of the characters as the director chooses to split the screen in two (the split-screen process), to follow each person’s point of view and examine the growing discrepancy that leads to an epilogue. inevitable. In this chronicle watered by melancholy, the 1:1 square format expresses the confinement of these two individuals completely disoriented by what happens to them in naturalistic and experimental sequence shots, ranging from black and white to color, with a visual, narrative power and dazzling. and emotional Françoise Lebrun, Italian director Dario Argento and Alex Lutz, who plays her distraught son, are the three exceptional. SB
Revenge of the shiny shrimp ***
By Cédric Le Gallo and Maxime Govare with Nicolas Cob, David Baiot, Romain Lancry. 1h53.
While flying to the Gay Games in Tokyo with a talented but very straight new teammate, the happy gay water polo gang miss their connection in Russia and find themselves in forced transit in a country not really known for its open-mindedness. .. We’re happy to find the always (very) outgoing personalities of these underdogs in Speedos, whose writers delve into psychology. More ambitious in its staging and its effects, this sequel has the good idea of trying its hand at action comedy by pitting it against opponents as low as they are strong, and those made even less friendly by the news. Without forgetting the replicas always full of humor, as well as a speech about tolerance and identity that gains in depth. BT
And there was a morning **
D’Eran Kolirin, with Alex Bachri, Juna Suleiman. 1h41.
Sami attends her brother’s wedding in her childhood village. The next day, the Israeli army surrounded the place without explanation, preventing her from returning to his house in Jerusalem. Through this absurd situation while bringing others no less absurd, the director of La visita de la fanfarria bears witness to the consequences of a desperate status quo on a town in need of guidance while sounding the hearts of his well-drawn and embodied characters. He presses where it hurts, but with delicacy and intelligence, through a tragicomic fable where the general and the particular are intertwined. Bap.T.
Fantastic Beasts Dumbledore’s Secrets **
By David Yates, with Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen. 2h23.
Professor Albus Dumbledore, who runs the Hogwarts school of magic, faces the worst test of his life: to oppose the Machiavellian project of his great lost love, Gellert Grindewald, who wants to set the Muggle world on fire… The third part of the Harry Potter spin-off sets the action in 1930 Germany and uses the rise of Nazism to denounce totalitarianism. The script gets lost in its twists and turns, but we get carried away by the wonderful universe imagined by JK Rowling and the tragic romance of the tearing gay couple Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen. SB
Come on children **
By Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai. 1h54.
In Paris, the public high school Turgot, in the 3rd arrondissement, welcomes students from all walks of life around a common passion: hip-hop. After pornography (Rocco) and religion (Lourdes), the duo Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai have produced a documentary about young people in difficulty, alternating interviews in front of the camera, everyday scenes in the classroom and dance battles. As close as possible to endearing teenagers, all driven by the desire to win. A portrait full of benevolence and humanism, with a story that is sometimes long, but fascinating in its transcription of this cosmopolitan microcosm. SB
in the shadow of girls **
By Etienne Comar with Alex Lutz, Veerle Baetens, Hafsia Herzi. 1h46.
Renowned lyrical singer but questioning himself after the death of his father, Luc decides to put his talent at the service of others by participating in a singing workshop in a women’s detention center. Not all come to give voice for the same reasons… Always very fair in complexity, Alex Lutz leads this social chronicle, sensitive but not surprising, in front of a group of girls with a very assertive character. We feel the freedom of body and mind that they find when going to look for the notes deep inside them, we understand the importance of art to escape confinement. BT
chiara **
By Jonas Carpignano, with Swamy Rotolo, Claudio Rotolo. 2h01.
Without news of her father, Chiara, a Calabrian teenager, leads the investigation. She discovers her links to the ‘Ndrangheta, the local mafia. After Mediterranea and A Ciambra, Jonas Carpignano concludes his triptych on the city of Gioia Tauro by once again surrounding himself with non-professional actors who are very close to his characters. With this documentary approach, his gripping if not successful coming-of-age story is obscured as his remarkably played heroine progresses through the investigation. He even flirts with the thriller, but without making any concessions to fiction in his description of mafia practices. Bap.T.
Oceanfront **
By Ely Dagher, with Manal Issa, Roger Azar. 1h56.
Jana returns to Beirut after several years of absence. She there she finds her parents, then her ex. Foreshadowing the aftermath of the 2020 disaster, this riveting first film immerses the viewer in a misty and unpopulated capital. A ghost town or almost in which her character wanders just as depressed without explaining the reasons for her return. If some shots are unnecessarily lengthened, the director skilfully exploits the sad setting, unfolding a heavy atmosphere that reflects the feelings of a people struggling to glimpse the future in a country that has long been on the brink of the abyss. Bap.T
the last piano *
By Jimmy Keyrouz, with Tarek Yaacoub, Rola Beksmati, Mounir Maasri. 1h50.
In a district of Syria under the rule of the Islamic State, a talented pianist puts his dreams of Europe on hold to repair his piano destroyed by terrorists. Between the naturalist chronicle and the action cinema, this first feature film with careful photography describes a world that collapses but resists, like forbidden music but a source of hope. With the complicity of melodies ready to move Gabriel Yared, the Lebanese director Jimmy Keyrouz, however, loads his ship with sometimes cartoonish characters and unlikely turns. sj
Under the wings of angels *
By AJ Edwards with Diane Kruger, Jason Clarke, Brit Marling, 1h33.
Abraham Lincoln’s childhood, in the splendid forests of Kentucky, was marked by painful mourning and contained by a stern father, but saved by loving accomplices. A close collaborator with Terrence Malick, from whom he hastily borrows the elegiac style and strong aestheticism, the director claims here an austere lyricism with silent and moving characters, a sensory gospel side illuminated by candlelight. The black and white photography is beautiful, ultra neat, but it abuses the sudden movements of the camera and the systematic low shots that end up giving the impression of a somewhat vain pastoral, of a self-defeating fotonovela. AC