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THE EVENT
MUFASA: THE LION KING ★★☆☆☆
By Barry Jenkins
The essentials
Barry Jenkins' prequel is a treat for the eyes (and ears), but doesn't add much to the mythology of the Lion King.
A sequel? A prequel? A bit of both. Since Barry Jenkins' film tells the story of Mufasa in his young years, and his friendship with Taka, a prince who will welcome him as his brother after saving him from drowning. Telling us what we already knew, under a new prism, that's the game of prequels. But Mufasa: The Lion King is not The Godfather 2and Barry Jenkins had a hard time injecting tragedy and captivating us with his reflection on destiny and filiation. He even falls back into the faults of Lion Kingand its monarchical propaganda analyzed many times. Failing to nourish the mythology Lion KingMufasa however remains a magnificent family entertainment for the eyes. The technique of photorealism is mastered to perfection, and we can only admire the care given to details, such as the wet fur of the felines after a stay in the water. Fans of Lin-Manuel Miranda will also get their money's worth. The Broadway prodigy creates new, catchy and original music. Too bad all of this is put at the service of fan fiction that the public, ironically, is preparing to shun according to the latest predictions from the Hollywood press.
Edward Orozco
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FIRST TO LIKE
THE BEAUTIFUL ROLE ★★★☆☆
By Victor Rodenbach
It's far from being its only quality, but the first film by screenwriter Victor Rodenbach (who officiated on Plane tree, The Grands Or Ten percent) has the excellent intuition to bring together Vimala Pons and William Lebghil, alias Nora and Henri. Hilarious duo and fusion couple, since she directs the plays in which he plays. But Henri lands an unexpected role in the cinema, compromising the creation of their new show. Separation seems inevitable… How to love yourself in the long term? And do we really belong to the other? Clever film about the element of independence essential to every love story, The Beautiful Role treats the subject as a thoroughly modern romantic comedy. Rodenbach defies expectations around a codified genre (the custard pie of deception gives rise to one of the best scenes) and moves with ease from laughter to tears. Strong.
François Leger
A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE ★★★☆☆
By Matthew Rankin
“An autobiographical hallucination”. This is how Matthew Rankin describes his film, which combines three stories that intertwine around a character that he plays himself: a Montreal civil servant who returns to see his sick mother in his hometown, Winnipeg. And these words perfectly sum up this comedy full of situations, each one more perched than the other in a Canadian metropolis where everyone speaks Farsi like in Tehran! There is at the same time Where is my friend's house? of Kiarostami (the stratagems implemented by two children to recover a bank note trapped in the ice) as well as Wes Anderson or Roy Andersson in the way in which Rankin deploys fantasy through his very rigorous staging, in the composition of the shots as well as the way of making his characters evolve. And we take great pleasure in losing ourselves in this film that Canada has chosen to represent at the Oscars.
Thierry Cheze
IN THE HEART OF THE VOLCANOES: REQUIEM FOR KATIA AND MAURICE KRAFT ★★★☆☆
By Werner Herzog
Two years ago we discovered the astonishing Fire of Love by Sara Dosa, portrait of a couple of French vulcanologists, Katia and Maurice Krafft who flirted with lava all their lives until they died in 1991. Here are the Kraffts again in the light of the great Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo) who adds his eye as a filmmaker who loves the extreme. Subtitled “requiem”, this film is both an ode to life (the irruption) and to death (destruction, desolation). A spell.
Thomas Baura
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FIRST TO MODERATELY LIKED
OH, CANADA ★★☆☆☆
By Paul Schrader
From the first minutes, a close-up of a Richard Gere as if embalmed by illness, jumps into the eyes of the viewer immediately haunted by the ghost of Julian Kay, the ephebe he once played in American Gigolo by the same Paul Schrader. Here he is Leonard Fife, a man of images who, at the threshold of his life, delivers his confessions to a television crew. A past broken down through confessions and memories, where Gere then appears in the guise of the young and slender Jacob Elordi. After his Jansenist trilogy begun with On the path to redemptionThis Oh, Canada would like to be more lyrical but that forgets that Schrader is not a fan of great outpourings. His Fife is a dissimulator who, by making documentaries, sought a truth that he was unable to grasp about himself. And all of this unfortunately ends up giving the impression of an emotional status quo. As for Gere, flamboyant despite the programmed deterioration of his character, he is the inner light of this coffin film.
Thomas Baura
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SARAH BERNHARDT, THE DIVINE ★★☆☆☆
By Guillaume Nicloux
Enter here, Sarah Bernhardt… After Simone Veil or Charles Aznavour, it's Divine's turn to be entitled to the Quality France biopic treatment. However, we immediately feel that Guillaume Nicloux intends to avoid the rut of bio-Wikipedia at all costs. Rather than a linear story, he chose to focus on two key moments in the life of the legendary actress: her consecration, in 1896, and her leg amputation, in 1915. From these two events, the film shines in the life, loves and sweet madness of the actress. But the laudable desire to circumvent didactic constraints does not prevent the cliché of incessant name-dropping (“ A doctor from Vienna asks you, a certain Sigmund », that kind) and gives the film a fleeting, inconsistent side. Nothing really catches here, except the disheveled and rather funny interpretation of Sandrine Kiberlain, clearly galvanized by the idea of confronting such a totem.
Frédéric Foubert
EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA ★★☆☆☆
By Nabil Ayouch
Nabil Ayouch (Much Loved, loud and clear) portrays a Moroccan singer: Touda, a Cheikha, descendant of the tradition of Aïta – the “cry” in Arabic, a form of sung poetry born several centuries ago in the plains of Morocco, including women have been seized over time to make it an instrument of rebellion and emancipation. Yesterday adored, today poorly regarded, the Sheikhas risk precariousness, ostracism, violence – which is what Ayouch tells straight away by following a festive trance scene with the rape of his heroine. Following Touda (magnetic Nisrin Erradi) from her small provincial town to Casablanca, where she hopes to make a career, the director delivers through her a cross-section of Moroccan society. We regret that he does not always succeed in communicating the feverish energy of his musical sequences to the more conventional sociological picture which surrounds them.
Frédéric Foubert
THE WALL ★★☆☆☆
By Philippe Van Leeuw
A major political issue, the border between Mexico and the United States also inspires filmmakers. In The Wallthe always impressive Vicky Krieps plays a reactionary patrol officer. Oppressed on all sides by the system, she will commit a blunder, hidden by her teammate. It's a shame that the meticulous description of the daily life of such an original and complex character is diluted in a story that has already been seen and in a much more elusive way.
Nicholas Moreno
FIRST DID NOT LIKE
KRAVEN THE HUNTER ★☆☆☆☆
By JC Chandor
After Venom, Morbius And Madame Webwe couldn't miss the announced funeral of the universe (without) Sony's Spider-Man. Like his little friends, Kraven is a supervillain nemesis of Spidey in the comics. Problem, Sony does not have the right to have Tom Holland appear in these films. Everyone is therefore entitled to their spin-off where they find themselves propelled as an anti-hero, facing other villains but they are truly evil. The shadow of Peter Parker hovers somewhere but shush, you must not say his name. The director of A Most Violent Yearplus a somewhat cool actor (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and the promise of a very brutal R-Rated film. Didn't it take more for fans of superhero films to be fooled one last time? Except that Kraven regularly borders on the ridiculous. It's a bit of an antics for a little over 2 hours without going far enough to fall into the camp or the pure nonsense. We are simply faced with a cheap production, with its ultra-basic scenario, its low-cost special effects and a directing. totally disembodied.
Edward Orozco
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WEDDING TALE ★☆☆☆☆
By Claire Bonnefoy
Sami and Micka, two very good friends, are inspired by the short story La Grande Entourloupe by Roald Dahl to exchange their companions, without them knowing it, for one night. But the two women discover the plan and counterattack. An eminently challenging subject for a film which never has the means to achieve its ambitions (adopting the form of a funny tale to dissect marital rape and post-MeToo sexuality). Only Raphaël Quenard, hilarious in the first 30 minutes, comes out unscathed.
François Leger
And also
My beautiful tree, short film program
Under nuts, by Hakim Bougheraba
A family Christmas, by Jeanne Gottesdiener
The Unspoken heart, by Jean Jonasson
The Covers
2046, by Wong Kar Wai