ljredux Reviews

Magnet of Doom (1963)

On the road, but not in the Kerouac sense.

[8/10 · 29 August 2022]

This film is more notable for the way it punctuates 1962 and the performance it teases out of Jean-Paul Belmondo than for being a typical Melville masterpiece. We can't help but lean into the real urban street scenes - Paris here, New York there, New Orleans towards the end of the journey - and feel ourselves being absorbed into a reality most of us know of but never experienced: One Rochechouart diner's newspaper headlines the precarious health of Edith Piaf, the neon signs of Broadway reference the Cuban Naval Blockade on one side of the street and West Side Story on the other, black & white segregation becomes plain as day as we draw closer to the American South, and so on.

Why are we taking this journey? Because disillusioned boxer Michel Maudet (Belmondo) has taken a job to help cunning, corrupt banker, Dieudonné Ferchaux (Charles Vanel) evade French justice. The banker couldn't fit the sociopath archetype better and - to him at least - Maudet seems like a naive apprentice. It quickly becomes apparent however that he has met his match and a power struggle ensues. Belmondo sidelines us with a performance that breaks the mould almost as much as his lead in that other Melville film, Léon Morin, Prêtre. Vanel is more intense and menacing than I've seen him in any other film, and that is quite something given his advanced years.

Interestingly, the film heads toward a sentimental conclusion that is somewhat out of character for Melville, and although his Direction is notably flawed here and there (I suspect due to language barrier issues with American actors), there's plenty to make up for it. Recommended? Absolutely.

May Fools (1990)

One of Louis Malle's oft-overlooked gems

[8/10 · 18 February 2021]

French cities are in tatters as students and workers unite against capitalism and consumerism. Meanwhile, a bourgeois family in Provence bickers over inheritance before its deceased matriarch has even been put in the ground. Milou en mai is rather like a Luis Buñuel film but with the surrealism dialled all the way down. Surprisingly fun.

Standing Tall (2015)

Rod Paradot: A star is born

[9/10 · 1 February 2021]

A six-year-old boy from a dysfunctional home is placed into care, develops serious emotional problems, and spends the next decade getting into trouble with the law while social welfare services fight to rehabilitate him.

La Tête Haute (Standing Tall) seems unremarkable when summarised like this, but it is actually a very compelling film - in large part due to the breakthrough performance of Rod Paradot who plays problem-child protagonist, Malony.

From his sneering disdain towards the Juvenile Court Judge portrayed by Catherine Deneuve, to the sheer physical embodiment of the mental demons that torture him, it is hard to believe that this is Paradot's first film; that he was a trainee carpenter waiting to be discovered just months before production began.

One very jarring aspect of this film is its tendency to exasperate the viewer. Quite often Malony will seem to be making progress only to sabotage it with a senseless act. It becomes repetitive but is almost certainly intended to project the child protection teams' frustrations onto the audience.

And here we find another trait that sets this apart from other recent French films concerned with the rehabilitation of troubled teenagers: It paints the Judge, the Social Worker and their colleagues in a more constructive and positive light. They are as frustrated with the system as the child, but their battle is with the confines and constraints that impede their ability to help him. They actually seem to care.

Very much recommended.

La Pointe Courte (1955)

Documentary more compelling than story

[7/10 · 1 February 2021]

Agnès Varda's début is ostensibly about a troubled married couple (Lui and Elle, literally "him" and "her") exploring their sameness and differences, but from a present-day perspective their story pales in comparison to the history going on around them.

The poverty stricken inhabitants of the coastal commune of Sète, their gossip, their traditions, their interactions with the authorities, the sickness and the death they take for granted, and the penalties they face trying to earn a simple living in an increasingly regulated France - it's all far more compelling than the love story.

Most interesting of all though: How this unremarkable location where men went out to find shellfish was transformed almost overnight into a large holiday resort where young people go to find casual sex.

Do check out Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno for a glimpse of life in Sète today.

Blue jeans (1958)

An upbeat, if awkward, observation of 1950s Cannes youth

[8/10 · 1 February 2021]

In a "most childishly pure," * way, Blue Jeans documents a day in the life of two young Cannois, Dany and René, as they prowl the beaches and streets of Cannes on their Vespa GS scooters, pestering and harassing young women - back when men pestering and harassing women was the cultural norm. Jacques Rozier apparently observed such behaviour while visiting the area and decided to 'recapture' it on celluloid.

The film evokes an upbeat mood as it opens with our lascivious duo riding towards the promenade of La Croisette on a scorching day to the sounds of Cuban Cha-cha-chá, but there is also plenty of awkwardness to go around as young women are approached and taunted in-situ, many obviously unaware of the reason for the film crew.

Eventually more young local (non-professional) actors enter the equation bringing with them some semblance of a plot (this is so much easier to watch when the women are willing participants), and while it successfully reminds us of the joys of summer and the carefree nature of youth, it's also kind of depressing to note that this was a typical unproductive day for young men like our two protagonists. One wonders how their lives turned out.

* A Godard quote. Also, irony.

La brune et moi (1981)

Oh Pierre!

[6/10 · 1 February 2021]

La Brune et moi (The Brunette and me) is a 50 minute film which explores French punk in 1979, showcasing a few bands that were dominating the scene at the time. I've been meaning to watch it since I discovered Edith Nylon and Taxi Girl over a decade ago, but apparently I'm so slow that I only recently learned that it has been available on YouTube all this time, and for a while via Henri - Cinémathèque française's free VOD platform.

Most of the music in this feature is actually pretty great, but it is unfortunately punctuated by a low-effort screenplay about a notorious (at the time) groupie called Anouschka who decides the time is ripe to be exploited by a businessman in return for a music career.

Bizarrely, the businessman in this puerile flick is played by none other than Pierre Clémenti. I heard his career had been derailed following conviction and imprisonment for drugs offences in the 1970s, but I had no idea the event was of such Granville-Paris Express proportions that the trajectory had taken him from Belle de jour to something as tawdry as this.

Nevertheless, La Brune et moi does offer an interesting look at how punk counterculture was playing out in Paris back then - something the media in the Anglosphere largely ignored - and for that alone, I think it's worth a watch. Well, actually... not for that alone. You need to see Pierre Clémenti in this. You really do.

Wedding Unplanned (2017)

Tainted love

[7/10 · 2 November 2020]

Jour J was never intended to be anything more than a vacuous romantic comedy, and I think it does that very well. Reem Kherici (who also directed and co-wrote the film) shines as the protagonist, Juliette, and it's great to see Nicolas Duvauchelle playing something other than a crook or a bent cop (or both).

Maybe I don't expose myself to enough of this kind of comedy, but I found some of the slapstick scenes to be laugh out loud funny. Notably (and don't worry, these are not spoilers): the wedding scene at the beginning, the prospective bride's father slamming open the window shutters of his coastal home, and the dog chasing its ball at the wedding planner's office. You'll know exactly why I singled out these scenes once you've seen the film.

It's just a shame that one of the writers had to taint everyone involved with glaring plagiarism. The infringing content only represents a tiny portion of the film, but it's hard to believe a production can reach completion without someone noticing. Perhaps it's time Mandarin Cinéma introduced better checks and balances to prevent the same thing happening again - certainly considering it happened with another of their films: Pattaya. The same writer was responsible too!

La Révolution (2020)

Excellent production values marred by mediocre writing

[6/10 · 30 October 2020]

I will admit that I initially felt duped by La Révolution because I try to watch everything blind. Thankfully, it was only a matter of seconds before I realised that the French Revolution period drama I expected was actually more of a vampiresque re-imagining of events that led to it.

Would I like it though? A tall order considering I find modern supernatural drama such a turn-off, and make no-mistake, the story is as vacuous and predictable as most. Still, I found a lot to like: The set-pieces, the costumes and the CGI recreation of pre-Revolutionary France, for example. It is interesting how mediocre writing can become so palatable when these aspects of a period production excel by so much.

The lead actress, Marilou Aussilloux, delivers a remarkably commanding performance as the show's heroine, Elise de Montargis, and this comes as a huge surprise in light of her minimal acting experience. The last time I encountered her, she had a silly bit-part in a single episode of the comedy Dix Pour Cent, and it's amazing to think she has evolved so much in such a short time. The lady doesn't merely have stage presence - she absolutely owns the screen whenever she is on camera.

Likewise there are sterling performances from Colin Beal as Elise's servant Ophélie, Amir El Kacem who plays a young Joseph Guillotin, not to mention Julien Frison who was born to give us the flamboyant and utterly villainous Donatien de Montargis. Blink and you may well miss the criminally under-utilised Jérémy Gillet - reduced to a background role as a perpetually neurotic messenger after his breakthrough on the 2019 TV series, Mytho.

Anyway, I will be honest, I was glad when the last episode was over but I'm not disappointed I watched it. I'm rating it 6/10 because that's where I find myself on the see-saw of dubiety. An entertaining visual treat, but not particularly edifying.