Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Jean-Claude Brisseau's Céline (1992) is showing July 20 - August 18, 2019 in the United States.Early in his career, once his ambitious, feature-length debut made on Super 8 had been discovered by Éric Rohmer and Maurice Pialat, Jean-Claude Brisseau (1944-2019) attracted the tag of being a social realist, a “poet of suburbia.” From Life the Way It Is (1978) to Sound and Fury (1988), the jagged, often violent plots reflected his life experience as a committed teacher to troubled, working-class kids. But other, less-heralded aspects of these films, as well as of A Brutal Game (1983) and White Wedding (1989), were already pointing in a different, more holistic direction: dreams and visions, intimating the presence of some broadly defined “other world.” Brisseau declared in 2002: “My films are all about the problem of our relation to reality—whatever that reality may be. I’ve always...
- 7/29/2019
- MUBI
Yet another in a seemingly endless series of dark coming-of-age films from French Canada, "Not Me" ranks far below the cream of the crop.
It's a wildly pretentious and numbingly tedious portrait of a boy who's determined, after witnessing his parents partaking in some mildly kinky sex play, to remain a child forever. This first feature by Pierre Gang has inexplicably been chosen by Canada as its best bet for a best foreign-language film Oscar nod.
Screened recently at the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, the picture is set in Quebec, circa 1967, coinciding with Montreal's Expo and Canada's centennial. It is seen through the eyes of young Rene (Richard Moffatt), a somewhat strange, ultra-serious 11-year-old who is permanently traumatized after confusing his parent's carnal interlude for an act of violence. Of course, it doesn't help matters when his dad is discovered the next morning lying dead in bed of an apparent heart attack.
Equating sex with death, Rene refuses to grow up, remaining a pre-adolescent as the rest of his family matures and his waitress mother (Louise Portal) goes through several different hair colors. When she hooks up with a new boyfriend, the swaggering Roch (Patrice Godin), the possessive Rene begins to drop hints that his mother should put Roch out of the picture in the same manner he believes she took care of his drunken father.
Ultimately, and remarkably without therapy, Rene gets over his little hang-up, and, armed with the knowledge that sex can be a beautiful thing, he relinquishes childhood and embraces manhood a mere nine years off schedule.
While Gang's script and direction is as pompous as the synopsis would imply, his cast, particularly newcomer Moffatt and veteran Quebec film star Portal, is faultless, delivering grounded, committed performances.
Impressive also are the technical contributions, beginning with the usual fine cinematography from frequent Altman collaborator Pierre Mignot and backed by terrific period touches from art director Francois Laplante ("Le Confessional") and costume designer Suzanne Harel ("Joshua Then and Now") who lend the late 1960s setting a remarkable palpability.
It's a shame their fine work couldn't have been attached to a better film.
NOT ME (Sous-sol)
Malofilm International
Director-screenwriter Pierre Gang
Producer Roger Frappier
Director of photography Pierre Mignot
Production designer Francois Laplante
Editor Florence Moureaux
Costume designer Suzanne Harel
Music Anne Bourne, Ken Myrh
Color/stereo
Cast:
Reine Louise Portal
Francoise Isabelle Pasco
Roch Patrice Godin
Raymond Daniel Gadouas
Rene Richard Moffatt
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
It's a wildly pretentious and numbingly tedious portrait of a boy who's determined, after witnessing his parents partaking in some mildly kinky sex play, to remain a child forever. This first feature by Pierre Gang has inexplicably been chosen by Canada as its best bet for a best foreign-language film Oscar nod.
Screened recently at the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, the picture is set in Quebec, circa 1967, coinciding with Montreal's Expo and Canada's centennial. It is seen through the eyes of young Rene (Richard Moffatt), a somewhat strange, ultra-serious 11-year-old who is permanently traumatized after confusing his parent's carnal interlude for an act of violence. Of course, it doesn't help matters when his dad is discovered the next morning lying dead in bed of an apparent heart attack.
Equating sex with death, Rene refuses to grow up, remaining a pre-adolescent as the rest of his family matures and his waitress mother (Louise Portal) goes through several different hair colors. When she hooks up with a new boyfriend, the swaggering Roch (Patrice Godin), the possessive Rene begins to drop hints that his mother should put Roch out of the picture in the same manner he believes she took care of his drunken father.
Ultimately, and remarkably without therapy, Rene gets over his little hang-up, and, armed with the knowledge that sex can be a beautiful thing, he relinquishes childhood and embraces manhood a mere nine years off schedule.
While Gang's script and direction is as pompous as the synopsis would imply, his cast, particularly newcomer Moffatt and veteran Quebec film star Portal, is faultless, delivering grounded, committed performances.
Impressive also are the technical contributions, beginning with the usual fine cinematography from frequent Altman collaborator Pierre Mignot and backed by terrific period touches from art director Francois Laplante ("Le Confessional") and costume designer Suzanne Harel ("Joshua Then and Now") who lend the late 1960s setting a remarkable palpability.
It's a shame their fine work couldn't have been attached to a better film.
NOT ME (Sous-sol)
Malofilm International
Director-screenwriter Pierre Gang
Producer Roger Frappier
Director of photography Pierre Mignot
Production designer Francois Laplante
Editor Florence Moureaux
Costume designer Suzanne Harel
Music Anne Bourne, Ken Myrh
Color/stereo
Cast:
Reine Louise Portal
Francoise Isabelle Pasco
Roch Patrice Godin
Raymond Daniel Gadouas
Rene Richard Moffatt
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/11/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.