Since the beginning of the Mag.7 within your media MaG – Movie and Game, she brings her little critical touch to the selected films. But this time, she's on the other side of the microphone! Meet Aurélie, our Passionate The Next Meeting, which proposes its selection of films among the DVD bins of our dear libraries of Agglopolys.
It was the next session!
Mag.7 is a podcast, produced and distributed by the association blésoise The Next Meeting. The principle is simple: in collaboration with libraries of Agglopolys In the town of Blois, the host Étienne invites people to walk through the music-cinema service and video games of the places and to choose DVDs there. More specifically, seven films, series, documentaries or concerts – seven corresponding to the borrowing capacity proposed by the library – then evoke their selection to the microphone. A monthly program based on the sharing and passion of the 7th art, and seeking to highlight the quality and quantity of films available in public libraries, all accessible for modest amounts, if not totally free in some communities.
A Passionate microphone Mag.7
But what would a passionate man say? It is a volunteer within our association, which participates in its proper functioning and evolution, if only through the input of opinions on our social networks, the articles Mag.7 or participation in our podcasts. That's why Aurélie's name is probably not unknown to you. Because since your favorite media, MaG – Movie and Game, offers us the opportunity to offer you articles, our enthusiasts succeed each other to highlight the films that marked them. For the first time, meet her in front of the microphone Mag.7, to let you know his selection from the libraries of Agglopolys !
Ponyo on the cliff (2008)
Title V (Gake no ue no Ponyo) Nationality : Japan – Gender : Animation, Fantastic – Director : Hayao Miyazaki – Distribution : Yuria Maria, Hiroki Doi, George Tokoro, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Yūki Amami...
DVD Edition France | Wild Side Video | 14 February 2023 - Blu-ray Edition France | Wild Side Video | 19 December 2022 - Dissemination platforms : Netflix, Canal VOD, LaCinetek, Orange, PremiereMax, FILMO and VIVA
The pitch: While playing on the beach, a little boy discovers a creature trapped in a jar of jam, mixing a goldfish with a little girl. Deciding to keep her with him, he promises to protect her and take care of her, without knowing that her father, a powerful sorcerer living at the bottom of the sea, is looking for her to force her to return to the depths...
Opinion of The Next Meeting (Sebastian): Ponyo on the cliff is probably not the title we think about first when we talk about Hayao Miyazaki. At the same time, we are talking about a director who owns many masterpieces of animation cinema: Princess Mononoke, Chiriro's Journey, My neighbor Totoro, The Ambulant Castle, The Castle in the sky, Nausicaä of the Wind Valley, Kiki the Little Witch, etc. And it must be said that in the face of all these films, Ponyo Makes a little pale. Notably because he presents himself as the most childish film of his filmmaker, even if only by the intrigue and the characters she stages. Even TotoroHowever, aiming at a rather young audience, has a share of maturity in the themes he addresses... as the fear of losing a loved one. But in addition to the fact that this is Miyazaki's last film before he retires (until he comes back to us with The Boy and the Heron 15 years later), Ponyo on the cliff remains a successful and enchanting animated feature film.
Reinterpreting Hans Christian Andersen's tale with his sauce, The Little Mermaid, Miyazaki delivers with Ponyo An initiatory tale he has the secret. Or how two children, from two different worlds, will find themselves and love each other. Always accurately written, the use scenario of the universe of Ponyo to address a theme dear to his filmmaker, namely ecology. Especially through this sorcerer, father of the eponymous character, who dreams of seeing the human species swallowed up by the oceans to punish her for its abuse of aquatic fauna. Miyazaki thus gives to the youngest, by this protagonist and most of the scenes (especially that of the tsunami), a lesson of life and respect for what surrounds us; of this underwater world being an integral part of our universe. All served by a very colorful animation (perhaps even the most brilliant of its author) and by watercolours of all beauty. And also by the compositions of the faithful Joe Hisaishi, still as melodious and intoxicating. So yes, Ponyo on the cliff Perhaps not Hayao Miyazaki's most impressive film, but it is a high-flying family entertainment for his mastery, technical qualities and the message he wants to convey.
Lost Highway (1997)
Nationality: United States, France – Type: Drama, Thriller – Director : David Lynch – Distribution : Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty, Robert Loggia, Robert Blake...
DVD editing: France | MK2 | 10 April 2008 - Blu-ray Edition France | Potemkin Films | 06 May 2025 - 4K Ultra HD Edition France | Potemkin Films | 06 May 2025 - Dissemination platforms: MUBI, PremiereMax, La Cinetek, Canal VOD, UniverseCine, VIVA, FILMO, Orange and Pathé Home
The pitch: A depressive saxophonist and his wife once received a videotape, on which he found the facade of their house filmed without their knowledge. Thinking of a bad joke and trying to understand the intentions of their mysterious sender, the videos will thus sequence, revealing scenes more and more intimate and perverse...
Opinion of The Next Meeting (Sebastian): Lost Highway is a very tortuous thriller! Because if the basic intrigue (a couple drifting in front of a raven that sends much too intimate and disturbing VHS) seems simple, the film decides otherwise. Indeed, at the risk of spoiling a little, the latter makes a turn at 180 degrees and changes literally of history, characters and even tone. As if there were Lost Highway Two very distinct stories: the first being as icy and licked as a 1990s polar, the second a warmer and more uncomplexed trip to the Los Angeles of the 80s. By reading these lines, there's something to be puzzled about in front of this summary, and I assure you that you'll be even more puzzled by the film... which will leave you with more questions than answers. But at the same time, we're here at David Lynch's. Storyteller and true artist who has always been able to deliver titles of dream complexity. Films that don't look at each other, but rather live and feel. Powerful metaphors brushing several themes at once, to appear to us like works free of interpretation. Of this calibre, of course, we can quote Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Sailor & Lula, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, its cultimate series Twin Peaks. And of course, Lost Highway is part of the lot!
And as usual, David Lynch was able to deliver a film of irresistible charm. A dive into the mind of a man as lost as well as disturbed. Directed with a lot of thoroughness and know-how, making each sequence a picture full of intriguing details that give work to our meninges. Like most of his filmography, Lost Highway fascinates by the universe it presents. By the atmosphere that the filmmaker puts in place, helped by the soundtrack composed by Angelo Badalamenti and produced by a certain Trent Reznor. The latter was completed by songs ranging from Rammstein to Marilyn Manson, including David Bowie Nails. A specific atmosphere that allows the viewer to switch between the state of hypnosis and hypersensitivity, transforming Lost Highway in something both disturbing and captivating. In short, a film work that must at least have seen, pardoned, felt (!), once in his life.
Ashkal, Tunis investigation (2023)
Title V: Ashkal – Nationality: Tunisia, France, Qatar – Type: Drama, Thriller – Director : Youssef Chebbi – Distribution : Fatma Usaifi, Mohamed Houcine Grayaa, Rami Harrabi, Hichem Riahi, Nabil Trabelsi...
DVD editing: France | Day2 | 20 June 2023 - Blu-ray Edition France | Day2 | 20 June 2023 - Dissemination platforms: Canal VOD, VIVA, FILMO, UniverseCine and PremiereMax
The pitch: Two police officers are investigating the discovery of a calcined body in a neighbourhood of Tunis, whose construction was abruptly stopped at the beginning of the revolution. As the construction site gradually resumes, a similar incident will make their investigation take a disconcerting turn...
Opinion of The Next Meeting (Aurélie): Ashkal It's a film that seduces you and haunts you above all by its atmosphere. Intrigue takes place in Tunis, in the buildings of the gardens of Carthage whose construction was stopped during the Jasmin revolution: a deserted area of local life, made of buildings where only the facades are existing, where the grey concrete dominates on a background of pastel colors or in the heart of the night. A place out of time, where the theatre of several dead will unfold by immolation. A first calcined corpse was found in the building, Batal, a police officer already in place under the former regime, and Fatma, a young policeman whose father led the Reconciliation and Reparation Commission, set up after the revolution, would investigate this first murder. In the course of their search, the suspect also appears to have suffered and survived the attack of the flames. The mystery quickly thickens, the flames make other victims without there being any trigger at these combustions: unexplained phenomenon? Paranormal? The common sense and reason of our investigators are being undermined as are their nerves.
Of course, the choice of place, as well as the death of the victims by fire is not annoyed, remember that the Jasmin revolution had begun with the suicide by immolation of Mohammed Bouaziz, then a travelling seller who was once again confiscated his work tool. However, even if Ashkal takes place on a political background, it is not the subject of the film, which tends more towards a social observation of Tunisia today, which lives and democratizes and which, however, does not forget the pains of the past and the established order, while focusing on the conduct of the investigation of the charred bodies.
The Innocents (2021)
Title V: From uskyldige – Nationality: Norway, Sweden, Denmark – Gender : Horror, Drama, Fantastic – Director : Eskil Vogt – Distribution: Rakel Lenora Fløttum, Alva Brynsmo Ramstad, Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim, Sam Ashraf, Ellen Dorrit Petersen...
DVD editing: France | Kinovista | 07 September 2022 - Blu-ray Edition France | Kinovista | 07 September 2022 - Dissemination platforms: Canal VOD, ARTE Boutique, Orange, PremiereMax, UniverseCine, VIVA and Cinemasalademand
The pitch: One summer, four children discover themselves amazing powers and play to test their limits, far from the eyes of adults. But what seemed to be a game of children, gradually takes a disturbing turn...
Opinion of MaG (KillerS7ven): Children discover paranormal powers that add up and combine when they come together. Another form of awakening is then emerging, faced with the power to adjugate death. The Innocents (see our Interview) is an example of Nordic cinema and the cruelty of childhood. Sober and elegant in its staging, The Innocents is clean and offers an eight enclosed between four HLM where childhood experiences the limits of power. Again, tension is queen from beginning to end. A Scandinavian film with Speak No Evil Remember that the North has been at the forefront of genre cinema in recent years.
Opinion of The Next Meeting (Sebastian): It's not because the film shows children that the intrigue will be every guillerette! Not all works are Amblin productions, similar to Goonies, E.T. or Super 8. Others want to approach this period of childhood with such maturity and complexity that the titles are not intended for a young audience. Proof that comes illico to my mind: MorseFrom Tomas Alfredson. A feature film that revisits the myth of vampires by touching on the prism of two teenagers, but which offers a dark and icy atmosphere. All to evoke topics such as isolation, depression, harassment and suicide. Making his two young protagonists souls as lost and torn as an adult in torment can be. And if I tell you about MorseIt's because The Innocents is for me a proposition of the same acabit... without stopping the fact that we are dealing with Scandinavian production.
Of course there are nuances with the title of Alfredson. Like seeing blood suckers traded by children discovering powers. Or the spatio-temporal setting, preferring a sunny summer rather than winter cold. However, the treatment of children remains similar. Because The Innocents is not a film that tells about the holidays of young teenagers, wanting the summer period to enjoy and enjoy. Many filmmakers would have taken advantage of such a postulate to quickly deviate from the superhero movie. But filmmaker Eskil Vogt instead chooses the thriller's path, which turns into psychological drama. Or how, through powers that may go beyond their limits, these children find themselves acting in a morally-free environment. To see their raw emotions (humanity, jealousy, etc.) take over and shape them, until they lead to sadistic and destructive acts. The film also talks about the difficulties of communicating, whether between themselves or with adults, preventing some from learning about empathy, which then proves to be the only barrier to their violence. And the story may take place in the middle of the summer, the atmosphere remains no less tense and disturbing. Give you something to freeze your blood!
Mechanical Orange (1971)
Title V: A Clockwork Orange – Nationality : Great Britain, United States – Type: Science fiction, Drama – Director : Stanley Kubrick – Distribution : Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Philip Stone, Steven Berkoff...
DVD editing: France | Warner Bros. Entertainment | 05 December 2007 - Blu-ray Edition France | Warner Bros. Entertainment | 25 April 2018 - 4K Ultra HD Edition France | Warner Bros. Entertainment | 09 April 2025 - Dissemination platforms: HBO Max, Canal VOD, ARTE Boutique, PremiereMax, Orange, UniverseCine, LaCinetek, VIVA and FILMO
The pitch: In the twenty-first century, where violence and sex reigned, a gang of thugs exercised blind terror with cruelty and sadism. Until the day the chief finds himself captured and imprisoned by the authorities, later becoming the guinea pig experiment intended to curb crime...
Opinion of The Next Meeting (Sebastian): Orange Mechanical is one of these disturbing films, whose viewing may prove unsustainable. At the same time, we follow a bunch of thugs, and I must say that the name is weak (!), in a debauchery of gratuitous violence. At the beginning of the game, Stanley Kubrick pushes us to rub ourselves with infamous characters. Real monsters who enjoy destroying what surrounds them, from beating a poor vagabond to raping a writer's wife, after beating him. Kubrick chained his sequences with a visceral and disturbing maestria, almost embellishing them and putting his young psychopaths on a pedestal... with undeniable charisma (especially Malcolm McDowell, memorable) when they were inhuman criminals. And when the arrest of the main character comes, we surprise ourselves, we are even shocked to feel empathy, especially by seeing him cope with all this psychological reconditioning of which he is going to be the guinea pig, which will cause a lot of physical and moral suffering.
It is from there thatOrange Mechanical pull all his strength. For if Kubrick gives the impression of magnifying violence and seeking to shock, his ambition with this adaptation of Anthony Burgess' book is elsewhere. Yes, Orange Mechanical is above all a social satire. A film that addresses the themes of reconditioning and behavioral psychology, which can be used as weapons. The latter can transform citizens into simple, soulless robots, which can be modified and controlled at leisure. While denouncing certain philosophies that advocate using violence to combat violence. Thus, early movie monsters become victims of a system just as cruel and inhuman as themselves. A nihilistic message that transcends Orange MechanicalBecause of his mastery and his desire to jostle an audience eager for thrills.
Poesía Sin Fin (2016)
Nationality: Chile, France, Great Britain – Type: Fantastic, Drama – Director : Alejandro Jodorowosky – Distribution: Adan Jodorowosky, Pamela Flores, Brontis Jodorowosky, Alejandro Jodorowosky, Jeremias Herskovits...
DVD editing: France | Blaq Out | 13 November 2017 - Blu-ray Edition France | Blaq Out | 13 November 2017 - Dissemination platform: Ciné, Canal VOD, VIVA and PremiereMax
The pitch: In the effervescence of the Chilean capital of the 40-50s, a young man joined, against the will of his family, a group of promising and anonymous young poets. Immersed in this universe of poetic experimentation, he lives by their side as little before them had dared to do: sensually, authentically and insanely...
Opinion of The Next Meeting (Aurélie): After talking about Poesía Sin Fin in The Mag.7, it was of course my duty to look at it and complete the viewing of the filmography of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Poesía Sin Fin is the continuation of La Danza de la Realidad, an autobiographical film tracing the first 20 years of his life in Chile. Alejandro discovers a passion for poetry, against the opinion of his father, a man down to the ground and cold, he will embark on a lost body in his passion. Following a series of encounters with other colourful artists, which will enable him to forge his creativity.
An artist with multiple talents (actor, director, author, poet, cartoonist and certainly a little magician), we find in this film his ideas of directing both practical and poetic usual, as well as the symbolics that are his own. It is difficult to take one of his works apart and to decorate it. Each of his artistic approaches is connected to one another, whether by their symbolisms, the actors and recurring characters, his music with Chilean notes, the relations to the other and the communion of the spirits.
Terrifier (2016)
Nationality: United States – Gender : Horror, Thriller – Director : Damien Leone – Distribution: David Howard Thornton, Catherine Corcoran, Jenna Kanell, Katie Maguire, Gino Cafarelli...
DVD editing: France | ESC Films | 24 May 2023 - Blu-ray Edition France | ESC Films | 13 December 2023 - Dissemination platforms: Canal+, Pathé Home, Orange, UniverseCine, FILMO and Canal VOD
The pitch: On Halloween night, two young women cross the road of a mute clown, who turns out to be a sadistic killer, violence and cruelty without the same...
Opinion of MaG (KillerS7ven): If each of Damien Leone's horror films brings its own angle, I was captivated by the first. A horrificly distressing film that questions the logic of the show by systematically making us complicit in the clown's abuses. In the first seconds of the film where Art prepares its attraction, Damien Leone announces the color. The first victim exhibited without any falter and already the spectator integrity that nothing will be spared him. The horror in its most crude form and which adopts the same process as pornography: do not hide anything from the flesh to the marrow. Besides his sense of sadistic staging, Damien Leone renews the logic of the croquemitaine as no one had achieved it for years, if not decades. Until the last minute, Terrifiing joue avec les codes du slasher. Un phénomène populaire inattendu et dont les enjeux n’ont pas toujours été saisis pour les bonnes raisons par un jeune public pas forcément coutumier du genre. Art est un artiste comique incompris qui s’adresse directement au spectateur à chaque crime raté. Et si c’était lui le vrai joker ?
Opinion of The Next Meeting (Sébastien) :La saga Terrifiing est devenue en seulement quelques années un phénomène du cinéma horrifique. Car à partir de rien, le réalisateur Damien Leone a su se faire une place dans l’inconscient collectif, au point de faire de son boogeyman, Art le Clown, une figure aussi emblématique que Leatherface, Michael Myers or Freddy Krueger. À la manière d’un Don Mancini avec sa poupée Chucky, le bonhomme a créé un antagoniste psychopathe au fort potentiel, qu’il a cultivé de film en film (le clown a même eu droit à son propre jeu vidéo, sorti tout récemment) pour en faire le tueur de tous les scandales, de par sa cruauté et sa violence. Mais ce boom, c’est avec la sortie du second opus that Terrifiing est peu à peu entré dans la pop culture. Une suite qui a énormément fait parler d’elle par son côté gore sans demi-mesure, au point d’engendrer à travers le monde plus de 15 millions de dollars, pour un budget de « seulement » 250 000 $. Un phénomène qui s’est confirmé avec le troisième volet et son interdiction aux moins de 18 ans, faisant grimper les recettes jusqu’à 90 millions ! Avant cela, Terrifiing n’était qu’un petit film d’horreur passé inaperçu (aucune sortie en France), mais déjà loin d’être inoffensif.
Because Terrifiing premier du nom, ce sont les débuts d’un mauvais garçon abreuvé par le cinéma d’horreur. L’occasion pour Leone de mettre son monstre sur le devant de la scène, après le court-métrage éponyme et le film à sketches All Hallows Eve (dont Art apparaît comme le fil conducteur) et de livrer une boucherie à son image. À savoir excessivement gore et en roue libre totale. Le réalisateur, conscient du charisme de son psychopathe, interprété par un David Howard Thornton habité, se fait plaisir avec les moyens du bord et veut choquer le plus possible. Au détriment, certes, d’un scénario quasi absent et d’un budget faiblard de 35 000 $, qui ne parviennent pas à cacher la direction d’acteurs.ices aux fraises. À pallier aux effets spéciaux discutables, quoique généreux. Ou encore à masquer quelques erreurs de montage. Ces défauts pourront, en effet, en rebuter plus d’un, et il faut clairement s’accrocher si vous n’êtes pas friands de films d’exploitation, synonymes de son et d’image techniquement crades. Mais là est tout le charme de Terrifiing : de voir un film « maison », fait avec envie et passion, devenir par la persévérance et l’amusement de son réalisateur une institution du cinéma d’horreur à part entière. Et rien que pour cette intrigante évolution, la saga, et surtout son premier opus, valent le détour.
Ève (1950)
Title V: All About Eve – Nationalité : United States – Gender : Drama – Director : Joseph L. Mankiewicz – Distribution: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill…
DVD editing: France | 20th Century Fox | 1er septembre 2012 – Blu-ray Edition : France | 20th Century Fox | 05 septembre 2012 – Dissemination platforms: FILMO, Orange, VIVA et PremiereMax
The pitch: Grâce à sa magnifique interprétation dans une pièce de théâtre, une comédienne reçoit une récompense. À cette occasion, tout le monde se souvient des débuts de sa carrière. De comment elle a réussit à supplanter une actrice sur le déclin et à un séduire un critique…
Opinion of The Next Meeting (Aurélie) : Eve… reçoit le prix Sarah Siddons, le temps s’arrête et ses proches se rappellent son ascension, ou comment une simple inconnue admiratrice Margot Channing, star des planches de théâtre, devient la nouvelle Margot, aimée et adulée de tous. Quand celle qui rêve de concrétiser ses rêves à tout prix, se retrouve confrontée à l’amertume et la jalousie de celle qui a déjà tout, mais voit son monde s’effondrer au profit de la jeunesse et de la nouveauté que suscite la jolie et douce Eve. Comment en vouloir aux producteurs de ne pas sauter sur l’occasion de la naissance d’une nouvelle étoile ? Ou à l’entourage de Margot d’avoir envie d’intégrer cette nouvelle personnalité dans leur cercle ? Et Margot, comment ne pas avoir de l’empathie pour cette femme désespérée qui va mettre en péril sa carrière et ses relations par son manque de confiance en elle ?
La mise en confrontation involontaire, ou volontaire, de la jeunesse et la beauté face à celle qui prend de l’âge et perd son attrait et son intérêt, est un thème récurrent. On le retrouve dès le plus jeune âge dans les contes pour enfants, comme Blanche-Neige où la fraîcheur parfaite de Blanche vient éclipser la beauté jusque-là sans concurrence de la reine. Sujet exploité régulièrement dans les films de body horror, tel que The Substance où Elisabeth se retrouve exilée dans son appartement au profit de son autre elle-même, Sue, plus jeune, plus belle, plus dynamique. Ou encore dans la littérature, avec The Opera Ghost, où la Carlotta se voit éjecter par un petit rat de l’opéra, parce qu’un mécène (certes particulier) est en admiration devant l’adorable Christine.
Le cinéma, comme la littérature ou le théâtre, a cette faculté d’exploiter les failles de l’être humain pour le mettre au grand écran. Ève en est un parfait exemple. Difficile de donner raison à l’une ou à l’autre, ou de ne pas s’identifier à ces deux femmes. Chacun connaît l’ascension dans sa vie, pour se voir à un moment relégué à un personnage secondaire. Ces sentiments et dualités sont remarquablement portés par un casting de choix où se côtoient Bette Davis, Anne Baxter et Céleste Holm. Ainsi que Georges Sander (notez que celui-ci joue également dans Le Portrait de Dorian Gray, qui n’est pas sans rappeler la lutte contre le temps qui passe).
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