2023 ends in beauty with a flower for France and its two days of unexpected projections of Godzilla Minus One, Top Gun Japanese flowers antimilitarism. While the dictatorship of the top is raging on networks folded by the algos, MaG n Do not hesitate to visit the links of the full reviews. We wish you great holidays at the end of the year and we will not fail to travel through the festivals in January. Meet Gérardmer!
Contents
KillerS7ven balance sheet
YOUR WATCH ON THE CINEMA WORLD IN 2023
2023 completes and should give grain to grind on the post-covid film health check. And it must be noted that this year was still marked by beautiful proposals with (cocorico!) very beautiful French pearls, enough to suffocate your uncle with brown turkey who swears only by the Danny-comedies. Much richer than an umpteenth Sunday film, the fantastic French cinema has even found its voice with The Animal Kingdom And (in my eyes) Tropic, one of the most successful in theatres, the other being one of the worst commercial flops of the year despite its sincere qualities. As stated, critical successes do not necessarily coincide with the plebiscite of the public. Nevertheless, the genre cinema continues to take root in Hexagon.
The harshness remains for films that fail to occupy the spotlights with a budget that is worthy of the name or when Disney does not capture almost all the slots in the dark rooms. As in Our Ceremonies, Tropic did not find its audience, the fault to a trip in the hollow of a month of loaded August. And that's the case, between the golden palm Anatomy of a fall, Farang, Yannick, Limbo, not including bulldozers Barbenheimer and Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning who played summer extensions! In addition to the expected and triumphal outputs of Killers Of the Flower MoonThere was no shortage of singular proposals from industry that you were told throughout the year.
On the other side of the scene, it is difficult not to mention the case of Depardieu, the resurgence of the Weinstein case, which more than fifteen years after the #MeToo movement continues to produce its replicas behind the scenes. After the broadcast Further investigation (decidently in vogue these days), one still wonders who is the most heinous: the pig or those who follow him and by their silence consent to it? Animated by a guilty mutism, however, the whole gratin of the seventh Art knew since beautiful lurette that it was a secret of polishing. « Ah, it's Gérard. » concert announcement of TV tray watchdogs and other proto-decerbates such as Cyril Hanouna's shoveled convent shows.
The media treatment of this case is a case of a school of rape culture, now promoted up to the highest levels following the ridiculous allowance of the moron of the Republic, too concerned about the last fanatics of the extreme right which still brings him allegiance. ("Jassume to tell the truth"... We too, Mr President). Legion of shame. Despite the waves, all these executioners keep the course of indecency even though one of the first victims who had the courage to testify has just thrown himself into the Seine following the return of flames from the revelations of the successful emission. However, it was in 1983 thatEmmanuelle Debever were one of the preys of the Valuers.
Cherry on the cake, Christmas Day is a whole old world that comes to reinforce its signature to a Hall Infamant under the guise of respect for the judicial process, which is known to be uneven if not failing. These signatories act with the same voice, as a class reflex initiated by Yannis Ezziadi, editorialist of the customary gutter of the journals reacs and the rapists' defences. We already knew the conformism and enterrism of a privileged environment which was indignant in front of Adèle Haenel's insolence or more recently following the sweet words of Justine Triet at the place of Emmanuel Macron. It is that a director or actor is a performer like another. Understand that he must close his mouth except to follow the direction of the wind. Or, failing that, pay the costs of the project. Scream VII where the casting heads had to leave the ship, fired directly or indirectly, after having provided support to the main actress who had supported the Palestinian cause on the networks. As with PPDA, how many more complaints will be required before the Depardieu case is put seriously on the table? Legally the presumption of innocence is not intended to absolve the person concerned from any criticism, contrary to the idea conveyed by the supporters of the counter discussions which systematically brandish it as a joker card and as a safe haven against a supposed feminist vindiction. The feminine peril obviously...
We'd like to make these remarks look like a matter of manners and a temperament willingly grivois. In addition to the obvious serious nature, however, these are facts which may fall within the scope of criminal law and not merely a moral case subject to assessment. Thus the informed reader will be surprised to see the fact that the press benevolently relays (and almost exclusively) vulgar statements without mentioning the evidence of manifest harassment, sexual assault and rape by close to 13 women to date (pending the following). The predatory nature of Depardieu's systematic addresses to the opposite sex is however clear in the disputed report. The self-proclaimed defense of the actor plays the card of the cynical comedy way It happened near you omitting that reality and fiction are not governed by the same rules. « Assholes, that's all, that's even how we recognize them. ».
Finally shame should never rest on the victims as explained correctly Florence Porcel the origin of the departure of fire from the PPDA case. This reversal of the emotional burden is all the more unbearable as the alleged perpetrators of these offences are very rarely convicted. So if 2023 was a beautiful year in terms of cinematic outings, there is still much to be done to clean up the production conditions of the seventh Art (and beyond). Don't erase the victims and provided that the sacred monster descends back to Earth and loses its immunity, let us end with the icons devoured by power.
THE 5 FILMS THAT TOLD YOU THIS YEAR
As a very personal person and beyond the catch-up sessions that might occupy me when I return from vaudrouille, I particularly remember Tropic, sensitive filmEdward Salier which ticks one by one the boxes that fly at me: evolutionary photography, writing in tune, playing incarnated actor without superstars and, icing on the cake, an atmospheric OST terribly connects. From body-horror to skin flower where the twins Lázaro and Tristán work hard to be selected together for the Earth Space Mission. Their destiny will change, while a cosmic residue falling from the sky contaminates Tristán. Physically reduced and now intellectually delayed, the young prodigy sees this fantastic incident upset the family cell...Tropic is a deeply human fraternal drama, sometimes tragic, sometimes touching, in which the spectator will simmer from beginning to end.
In good groupie of Kirill Serebrennikov, I was captivated by Tchaikovsky's Woman. Throughout the film, Antonina slides towards a passion Maldives where a form of sadism takes the step of possession, his refusal to divorce the illustrious composer allowing him to keep a last space of control over his life. We remain haunted by this kiss stolen between the widow whom we recognize in her veil and the appearance of Tchaikovsky as the ultimate hallucination to better reconcile two beings who « were behaved as in a dream, and [who] were unconsciously deceived in all » to take up the biography of the Damné composer. In my eyes, after Petrov fever, the Russian director and dissident delivers a new film lesson.
If I had to deliver my home Oscars, the heart's choice would have been about Maika Monroe in Chloé Okuno's first feature film. Watcher traces the story of Julia and her husband of Romanian origin, who leave the United States together to settle in Bucharest. While her husband is very popular at work, Julia wonders about her future life. In the midst of loneliness, she sees that a silhouette from the window of the nearby building... The actress is upsetting in the role of a harassed woman. Classic on form, this thriller hides a more assertive political object than an umpteenth story of bloody serial killers and inextremis police rescues. In a mirror, Watcher reveals the coldness of a society trusted by men who evolve in a hermetic sphere (even poisoned) to that of women. Where Maika Monroe could only flee in front of the excellent boogeyman It Follow-up, the actress is determined to face her aggressor. With a striking accuracy, Maika Monroe holds her head high to her attacker. A whole symbol for the cause of women and a prank in gender stereotypes.
Ravission : term whose etymology refers to the mysticism of a « state of soul in ecstasy », « an emotion carried with joy ». And yet the ecstatic revelation also covers a more common sense that limits the rapt and the fact « to take away by force ». You will understand, I am referring to the flim of the same name made by young Iris Kaltenbäck. I went to see The Ravisation under the advice of Mr. Wilkes. And I came out like rarely. As my friend rightly says, « The Ravissement obviously searches the feminine and alienating act of giving life, it also explores precisely the mechanics of lies ». By turning from drama to thriller to almost reporting for live delivery scenes, The Ravisation We're always carrying us. Never does the director give way to the ease of presenting Lydia, this woman who is a child-loving bruise, as a predator. The psychology of the characters stands at the height of his heroine wounded by life. Brilliant.
Before the censors of good taste jump to my throat after I only quoted independent films, 2023 will remain marked by Killers of The Flower Moon, bitter (but sincere) portrait of the beginnings of American capitalism forged on the blood of the natives. Scorsese signs in my opinion one of those films closest to reality. From staging to audio mixing, the film cultivates a rhythm on the same line of Crete: that of an apparent normality that covers horror. By highlighting the fate of the Osages spared by the genocide of the North American tribes but killed by wild capitalism without faith or law. Choosing the intimate angle that unites a greedy benet and a lucid woman but prefers to be blind, Scorsese proposes a remarkable cynical tragedy. Unfortunately, I was not (yet) able to write about the film because I plan to read David Grann's eponymous book. Promised, we'll catch up in 2024.
Good and since I'm an emeritus cheater, it's impossible not to mention a sixth movie after watching Godzilla Minus One 4DX. In addition to the experience of this turbulent session, Takashi Yamazaki's film won over during its runaway release of just two days in France. And what a smack to light years of American vision. If one could fear the abandonment of the technique of Suitability with real actors in monster costumes, Minus One fully succeeds his bet while keeping the approach and appearance of the films of the Showa period. And what a feat with such a small budget of just ten million when Marvel bouses benefit hundreds of millions of dollars for a result as generic as it is detestable. Far from the great spectacle that the neophytes could imagine, the film distils the appearances of the monster with wisdom while not sparing the imperial Japan of the Second World War from a bitter anti-military discourse. What if he was the 2023 movie?
THE ANIMATION FILM OF THE YEAR
Between the project of a life Mad God of which you were told in 2021, Deep Sea which has brought out the handkerchiefs, the visual delirium of Spider Man Across The Spider-Verse, writing Mars Express and the fantastic The Boy and the Heron, the choice is extremely difficult and since we have not yet had the opportunity to talk to you about it, even if to choose, I may opt for the last Miyazaki. A film that affirms the vision of an author who has nothing to prove. The Japanese genius probably signs one of his most black films where the symbol is omnipresent starting with the legacy of the animation master. At 82, the filmmaker will have dedicated his entire vile to animation. With The Boy and the Heron, the worlds he has created seem to clash and coexist one another to better free themselves from their creator. These universes never seemed as independent as if they could live without Miyazaki. For the next generation or for themselves?
THE DECEPTION OF THE YEAR
To talk about disappointment still needs to have expectations. If my film consumption is dictated primarily by the festivals, I still cultivated an impatience not concealed for Napoleon, Ridley Scott's latest polemic film that divides critics and historians. Past the eternal detractors of a filmmaker to the record as remarkable as his ability to troll, Napoleon is far from being a scandal for a historical biopic. It is even a film that offers a beautiful performance by Joaquin Phoenix, particularly well-recorded battles and sumptuous interpretations of Jacque-Louis David's paintings. Yet this good old Ridley seems to be depriving himself of sincere prospects; Worse, by going through thirty years of the emperor's life and despite the length of the film, we do not really retain any significant sequences. The people are presented in a crude and caricatural way and one would almost wonder whether it is not a black comedy seen by the English. It is also difficult to sympathize for the fate of his wife Josephine.
Napoleon's sexuality is also sketched without any real knowledge as to whether the purpose is to denounce the one who beat his companion or whether one should read eroticism (in which case not happened) during strange intimate scenes. In the state Napoleon is not a bad film but a disappointment compared to the excellent The Last Duel who put so much better his narrative stakes. Did Ridley Scott miss his subject? Unless the author's vision is that of the long version expected exclusively on Apple TV?
YOUR ATTENTS FOR 2024
With 2024 approaching, I am curious to discover the next JokerAs much as I'm worried about her choral dimension with Lady Gaga in Harley Quinn. The first had succeeded in giving an original social reading to the negative of Batman with a bitter critique of an American dream drowned by neoliberalism. The film was particularly relevant in an explosive international prerevolutionary context. There is no criminal born, we become. I hope the film will be so bold. I also look forward to seeing the next film with Nicolas Cage: Butchers Crossing. Despite the qualibets on the networks and the meme machine of Nicolas Fucking Cage, the actor did a talent in solid gold. and he is never as gifted as he works with independent directors (Mandy, Prisoners of the Ghostland, etc.)
After the first two cartoons Spider Man who revolutionized animation, the conclusion should hope to put a last blow in the anthill. But the film that I expect most is certainly the remake of Nosferatu (1922) by Robert Eggers who no longer had to prove his abilities behind the camera. Although The Northman The American director had left on my hunger, visually could well make prowess especially as we will find at the casting Willem Dafoe, recently very convincing in the film Inside. This remake of Nosferatu the German expressionism of the Office of Doctor Calligari (1920) who fascinated me as a teenager. Case to follow... On MaG!
In conclusion, what better than a final with an A24 production? While my winter wanderings took me to Miami's basements and its shooting stands, I discovered the trailer of Love Liesbleeding of the director Rose Glass to whom we must already notice Saint Maud. Naturally it resonates like a future guilty pleasure and I am already conquered by its trailer very Bonnie and Clyde To the female. On the menu, an intriguing duet Kristen Stewart Katy O Revenge, sex and big caliber, what does the people demand?
Baron's Review
YOUR WATCH ON THE CINEMA WORLD IN 2023
Every year, I challenge myself with the films I see. In 2023, I decided to devote each month to a different director, looking at at at least four works of his cinematography. Anders Thomas Jensen, Jean Cocteau, Huaqing Jin, the sisters Kuperberg, Makoto Shinkai, James Ivory, Maya Deren, Lee Doo-Yong, John Cassavetes, Nadav Lapid, Aki Kaurismäki and Pietro Germi will have rhythmed my year, much more than the weekly releases and the ups and downs of the industry. I wanted to take a distance on the individuality of a film, to try to put it back into the whole of a work in the long run.
This objective led to an unusual approach to the 2023 vintage. Instead of focusing on these movies that shake the crowds, shake the editorial columns and stir up the figures of the box office, I preferred to turn to a heritage cinema whose past hours of glory did not reduce their charms. Dive into these works that spread collective memory...
Far from this little personal whim, 2023 will remain before the year of the strike. A historic event that jointly enabled the American trade unions of the actors and the writers to assert their rights in a fierce battle lasting several months. David's fight against Goliath in which the strikers were able to stand firm and preserve a favorable public opinion, despite the impact of their demands. In addition to the numerous postponements of exit dates, the economic cost of the strike is estimated at over $6 billion. And if we can rejoice at their victory, we must not forget the French audiovisual sector, which is still fighting to make its demands heard.
THE 5 FILMS THAT TOLD YOU THIS YEAR
We may not love it, criticize it and blame it a lot, but we can never withdraw from it. Babylon The creative envy he inspires. This desire to feel punctured by the cinema, to grab a camera, to motivate the first people who came and to film, again and again, without ever stopping. The whirlwind of colors and sensations in which the film takes us intoxicated and makes us dream of a golden ideal, past. Through these four main characters, he makes us feel as closely as possible the heartbeat of a period with multiple, sudden and surprising changes. He ostensibly chose to take Hollywood to his own game and print the legend, much more than to talk about the facts. And for a moment, just one, I would have liked to tread the Californian dust to see the magic of a kiss come true before my eyes. Feeling the bust of a world upset by cinema. It's not a perfect movie, far from it. But it's a film full of passion for what it is, and that's all that matters.
It was at the detour of a summer retrospective that I met him.Erin Brockovich, alone against all. The film is an absolute favourite. Of those who register in the retina and remain there forever. Marg Helgenberger's interpretation when she learns the truth about water remains for me one of the most moving performances I've ever seen. A film far from some Soderbergh experiments, but which here takes advantage of the meeting of actors and technicians at the top of their art, in a synergy such that the film cannot be forgotten.
After eating hideous and insipid falafels, I find myself in a cinema to discover Passages Ira Sachs. I thought I had missed a little, this last-minute catch-up opened my eyes to a director's universe, both raw and enchanting. He has been able to speak here about today's relations, which, in the illusion of their apparent strength, are being defeated and re-established so quickly. Watch this strange and personal cocktail that sex and feelings provide. The whole led by a wretched protagonist, unable to make a decision and causing pain to those around him without claping his eyes. The strength of the film, however, is to succeed in creating in spectators of empathy in front of this prepuberous and immature behavior. Again hypnotized by the body ballet that Franz Rogowski, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Ben Whishaw had just realized before my eyes, I could not get out of my seat.
You can say that everything smiles at Monia Chokri. After being noticed for her talents as an actress, her third film Simple as Sylvain ends showing to everyone his undeniable talent. She is now one of the most important directors. S like Sylvain, P like Passion, A like Love. It is always wonderful to see Chokri's camera flirting in such skillfully orchestrated mess situations. Where dialogues and gazes clash without ever leaving a time of respite, where chaos seems to take place, action is always an incredible clarity. It is also a pleasure to see her playing with images and film language. To indulge in zooms that elsewhere could have been perceived as vulgar. Cuts seen as too brutal. With each film, she builds a little more a universe from which one can only quicken to want to see the rest.
I'll close here with the last moment I've lived in the hall: And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine, the documentary of the duo Danielson/Van Aertryck. A first feature film for these two Swedish who offers a reflection on the camera as an object and the images it can produce. Through a succession of examples taken throughout the history of the apparatus and its various modes of use, the film places the church in the middle of the village. It recalls the strength and power that the images we produce can have, without even questioning us any more, as they have become banal. And he knows how to do all this without ever judging those to whom he addresses, capable of the worst drifts, but providing all the tools necessary for reflection.
THE ANIMATION FILM OF THE YEAR
If I took away from all the animated releases this year, the film in this category that had the most impact on me is none other than... Chihiro's Journey from Hayao Miyazaki. I saw him again more than twenty years after the first childish terror he had brought me. A fear like I didn't dare open the drawer in which the DVD was stored. Today, an adult, I discovered this masterpiece again under a new eye. I was finally able to welcome with open arms the biscorned world he proposes and let me be rocked by his enchanting soundtrack. Every scene, every change of plan, every new character encountered by Chihiro is a poetic discovery. A continuous wonder without a soft belly, as it is so rare to find. A film that didn't take a wrinkle and doesn't have to blush in front of the last-born Ghibli studio.
THE DECEPTION OF THE YEAR
This year will have been marked by a « Good luck » For me. The most desperate films, the worst ones are those I discovered by chance. From the hollow Super Mario Bros. the film A dramatic exaggeration The Son, passing through the too smooth Wonka or at the detour of undecided FerrariThere was no expectation. Only unpleasant surprises. Yet there is one that has been a real cold shower, from beginning to end. This movie is Acid Just Philippot...
Barely the first sequence had begun that seemed to resonate with the cracking failure. On arrival, it is difficult to say what worked the least well between the feverish scenario, random distribution and the multitude of risky choices. The film constantly shoots bullets in the foot, not wanting to afford to become what it could have been. A lack of ambition that kills in the egg a rare object, a French catastrophe film. It is not, however, for lack of having tried, but it is impossible to censor a work that tries to get out of the lot when it puts its feet in the carpet. If, for example, acid rain had been assumed as a real character and filmed as the antagonist that they should have been, the film could have reached another dimension that is sorely lacking.
YOUR ATTENTS FOR 2024
I'm not a long termist. Every year, this question falls on me. And like every year, I can't help but kill when it comes to finding a satisfactory answer... I'm waiting for the various films that had lured us for the end of 2023, unfortunately pushed back by the strike. Dune – Part Two in mind.
I'm waiting for the various festival selections to do their compass work in the midst of the ever-increasing global production. I'm waiting for the Oscar ceremony and his award. This year should offer a tough fight and an unbearable suspense between the favourites of the competition, and the many outsiders who did not say their last word. However, if I were to quote only three titles, I would choose Dream Scenario Kristoffer Borgli and his mysterious script for Nicolas Cage, Poor creatures by Yórgos Lánthimos in order to plunge into the work of the famous eccentric Greek and finally, The Zone of Interest Jonathan Glazer to be certainly bluffed.
Celeste Wolf Review
YOUR WATCH ON THE CINEMA WORLD IN 2023
While a new film year is about to close, the time is definitely on the record! There were promises: Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie plastic dolls for Barbiethe return of Christopher Nolan with Oppenheimer or even the last whiplash ofHarrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
There were the facts: A film year that shined (artistically or economically) through the eyes of children (Anatomy of a fall and The Fabelmans) or when it was addressed to nostalgic adults (Barbie, Super Mario Bros. the film).
And while works with artistic ambitions authoring (Tár, Killers of the Flower Moon) were able to find (rightly) a large audience, it was the traditional blockbusters who failed to seduce the crowds (Fast & Furious X, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1). Tired franchises or signs of some weariness towards large ultra-calibre machines (couchou) on MCU)? The question should be asked.
Finally, far from Hollywood and its global ambitions, French cinema saw an increase in its production in addition to sitting at the table of the American giant on the side of the fantastic (The Animal Kingdom), action (Farang) and the epic fresco (the diptych The Three Musketeers).
THE 5 FILMS THAT TOLD YOU THIS YEAR
While I was talking a few moments ago about the importance of children in the film year that just passed away, these are the teenage brothers of hybrid science fiction Tropic Who will have the most upset...
As it overflows humanity and visually grandiose (a 16 mm camera capture at the shoulder when the teen fire burns that evolves towards digital 4K stabilized at the hour of responsibility), this family drama on disability (where comes out body horror at the Cronenberg) imposes itself as a sincere and rarely accurate work with two actors in the firmament. In five chapters mixing rivalry, denial, rejection, hatred and love, it is a magnificent and upsetting story about fraternal ties that is told to us.
After that, impossible to evoke the films that marked my film year not to mention the return of the black thriller with the close releases of Misanthrøpe and Limbo…
The first, under his classical urban polar look, paints the vitriolal portrait of contemporary America in parallel with his intrigue police... The tracking of a mass killer elusive to atypical motives (denunciation of a system) by an investigator damaged by existence but enlightened by her own demons. Undoubtedly the worthy heir of Seven whose counterpoint he is.
As for the second, visceral polar in the black and white expressionist, extreme violence and characters in the midst of atonement, he probes the darkness of humanity in a morbid urban purgatory, a theatre of sordid crimes (committed by a serial killer fetishist) where putrefaction permeates each plan. A nightmare awakened with squeaky moisture and at the border of complacency where everything is only despair... Starting with the existence of beings « live » he's scrutinizing.
But there is not only darkness in life, there is also the color and more precisely the pastel palette of the dandy Wes Anderson who, at the top of his art, had the right idea to broaden his (magnificent) framework to evoke the uncertainty of creation in the Asteroid City, a funny as well as melancholic choral narrative where the characters, whose desire to exist is palpable despite the existential emptiness of their lives (the crater), meet in meta scenes that do not turn empty. You can't wake up if you don't sleep!
And if the colors are not enough to put balm in your heart, no doubt the (good) food will succeed. Reserve a table for The Passion of Dodin Buffant, sweet and sensory culinary romance at the stage as refined as a great cru, where French gastronomy is celebrated with a cast of choice on the menu (old couple Juliette Binoche – Benoît Magimel). And since the feast is laborative, it is without moderation that it should be tasted!
THE ANIMATION FILM OF THE YEAR
Far from the worlds of Pixar (even if Elementary is a lovely romantic comedy) and Ghibli, it's for the monstrous creation Mad God That I've had love at first sight...
As a result of a thorough work of more than 30 years, this visually revolutionary mad project (different animation techniques are at work) that is due to the Phil Tippett, genius of animatronics behind the unforgettable creatures of the original trilogy Star Wars, Robocop or Starship Troopers, pushes the limits of imagination as the future ruins of humanity, populated by monstrous creatures guided by self-destruction, explore within a maze nightmaredesque No other way. And if it is easy to lose it, the fault of an uncertain narrative, the evocative force of its images suffices to capture attention.
But as I also kissed New York pizza Ninja Turtles: Teenage YearsIt will be a double dose of animation as far as I'm concerned...
Indeed, dusted by Seth Rogen and painted in a notebook of college students (a plainly fresh urban graphic paw), our knights of scales and vinyl adherents of references to pop culture come back in a teenage chronicle full of tenderness and action, which impresses both by his freedom of tone (a humour well anchored in his time) and by his incarnate dramaturgy (despite a classical unfolding). Galvanizing this new youth!
THE DECEPTION OF THE YEAR
No, I'm not going to go back to a large majority of US blockbusters (The Flash or Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania It is too easy to shoot the ambulance. Instead, I will rather react to the lies that are Win or Die and Barbie…
History for the first: The promise? The Braveheart French! Reality? New Vercingetorix produit par le Puy du Faux ! Car sans même évoquer le dangereux révisionnisme contre-révolutionnaire de l’Histoire de France (un tract royaliste écrit avec de gros sabots), cette « épopée » au service de la droite identitaire s’érige en de l’anti-cinéma à la vision biaisée. Pensée au départ comme un docu-fiction à destination de la télé (ça se voit) avant de partir en croisade dans les salles obscures, elle en oublie toute scénographie et se contente d’empiler maladroitement les scènes (avec une voix off tentant de recoller les morceaux et des ellipses en veux-tu en voilà) où le hors-champ est roi (mais que sont devenues les batailles ?) et le souffle épique absent. La mise en scène fait peine à voir (une caméra à l’épaule qui semble perdue), le casting est très inégal (Hugo Becker se la joue Clint Eastwood du pauvre en mode dépressif), les personnages sont délaissés tout du long et seule la reconstitution a du panache. La messe est dite !
Marketing pour le second : Parce que si elle n’est pas en plastique (direction artistique époustouflante et mise en scène fort à-propos), cette satire pop à l’humour absurde qui dynamite l’image ringarde et controversée de sa poupée vedette (le casting est génial) pour en faire une icône féministe opposée au patriarcat, n’en reste pas moins un placement de produit géant (mal) camouflé sous une couche de paillettes roses. Plus inclusives et donc plus rentables, nul doute que les Barbie vont se (re)vendre comme des petits pains ! Et comme l’a si bien dit Ruben Östlund : “Pour moi, c’est du cynisme déguisé en optimisme. (…) Un fabricant de jouets qui finance son propre film et qui s’achète une cinéaste d’auteur américaine afin de rendre plus présentable ces poupées très vieux jeu (…)”.
YOUR ATTENTS FOR 2024
Elles sont nombreuses à dire vrai et de toute façon, qu’il pleuve ou qu’il fasse beau, il y a toujours une bonne excuse pour s’évader devant un bon film. Voici donc ma sélection pour l’année 2024 qui s’annonce riche en cinéma malgré les reports liés à la récente grève SAG-AFTRA :
Furiosa – Une Saga Mad Max, le préquel de l’ode à la tôle froissée Fury Road, Joker – Folie à deux pour voir où mènera la chute inexorable vers la folie d’Arthur Fleck, Dune – Part Two afin de poursuivre la magistrale épopée des sables of the Denis Villeneuveboth Horizon: An American Saga parce que Kevin Costner est derrière (et devant) la caméra, The Count of Monte Cristo pour y retrouver la fougue chevaleresque du diptyque The Three Musketeers et enfin The Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdom car 300 ans après le règne de César, les singes ont définitivement pris le pouvoir sur les humains. Let’s wait and see…
Review of Mr. Wilkes
YOUR WATCH ON THE CINEMA WORLD IN 2023
L’année 2023 a été une pure année de cinéma au féminin ! Avec la découverte de l’univers d’Iris Kaltenbäck (et son splendide The Ravisation), le sacre colossal de Justine Triet (Anatomy of a fall), la splendeur de l’image de Charlotte Wells (Aftersun), l’arrivée de Ramata Sy (Banel et Adama) ou les puissants mais inégaux films sur le désir de Lucie Borleteau (A mon seul désir) et Anissa Bonnefont (The House), une véritable (et salvatrice) vague de nouvelles réalisatrices est en train de rouler sur le cinéma mondial… Et dieu sait si ça fait du bien ! Malgré cela, des chiffres sortis le printemps passé montrent bel et bien que la parité dans le monde du cinéma est bien loin d’être acquise avec des budgets accordés constamment inférieurs pour les réalisatrices… Il reste encore un long chemin à faire avant une prétendue égalité.
Parallèlement à cette arrivée de nouvelles cinéastes, 2023 a été pour moi l’occasion de découvrir du cinéma de patrimoine particulièrement réjouissant. La plongée dans les courts-métrages d’Agnes Varda, naviguant entre documentaire et fiction, m’a préparé à la découverte de son film Le Bonheur (1965) que je tiens comme l’un des visionnages les plus remuant de cette année. Dans un tout autre registre, c’est la filmographie de Catherine Breillat que j’ai pu commencer à arpenter depuis son tout premier A True Young Girl qui retrouve son écho dans le dernier long-métrage qu’elle a sorti à ce jour, L’été dernier.
Si 2023 n’a pas été une grande cuvée de films d’horreur, The House (Skinamarink) de Kyle Edward Ball disponible sur Shadowz et l’incontournable Beautiful is afraid d’Ari Aster ont sonné comme deux détonations au milieu d’un paysage de plus en plus morne et consensuel (Hand, Simetierre, The Nun,…). En élargissant au genre en général, notons que Conann de Bertrand Mandico m’a permis de m’intéresser à l’univers complètement barré du réalisateur, notamment au niveau de ses courts-métrages of which Boro in the Box, Living Still Life and Ultra Pulp sont de véritables pépites visuellement et thématiquement enivrantes.
Finalement, 2023 a été également une belle année de documentaires ! Outre l’humanité de On Adamant de Nicolas Philibert, Wim Wenders nous a gratifié d’un somptueux Anselm – Le Bruit du temps centré sur l’artiste Anselm Kiefer tandis que Kims Video de David Redmon et Ashley Sabin m’a secoué par sa forme absolument libre et l’amour du format physique qu’il hurle dans chacun de ses plans.
THE 5 FILMS THAT TOLD YOU THIS YEAR
Les années passent, Benoit Magimel reste. Pacification d’Albert Serra surfait tout en haut de la cuvée 2022, une année plus tard c’est The Passion of Dodin Buffant qui prend cette place au sommet. Un film absolument étourdissant de Trần Anh Hùng autour de l’art culinaire, des questions de transmission et de désir. Une véritable symphonie des sens transpirant à chacun de ses plans. Peut-être le sommet de ce que j’ai pu voir en salles cette année…
Nous en parlions plus tôt, le second film le plus renversant de l’année est à aller chercher du côté britannique avec la jeune Charlotte Wells. En effet, avec son Aftersun elle offre l’un des plus beaux duos de cinéma de 2023, incarné par la jeune Frankie Corio et Paul Mescal. Un film tout entier construit sur les notions de souvenir et de nostalgie, particulièrement bien mis en valeur par la mise en scène discrète de sa réalisatrice. Vous n’entendrez décidément plus Under Pressure de Bowie et Mercury de la même manière…
Double belles découvertes de l’année, le bouquin La Bête de la jungle d’Henry James qui a donné lieu à deux adaptations brillantes aux concomitances particulièrement intrigantes : The Beast de Bertrand Bonello (qui sortira début 2024) et The Beast in the jungle de Patric Chiha. Dilatation du temps, affranchissement de la mémoire, tourbillons de sensations, des films qui ont su, chacun à leur manière, adapter un terreau littéraire particulièrement riche malgré la brièveté du roman d’Henry James.
Dernière découverte de l’année et pas des moindre, Yannick de Quentin Dupieux. Film surprise d’à peine une heure dix mettant en scène Blanche Gardin, Pio Marmaï et surtout le génial Raphaël Quenard, Yannick déploie un double discours sur l’art même du cinéma et la notion de divertissement. Aussi hilarant que profond, le maître de l’absurde nous prouve encore une fois sa maestria de conteur de notre temps en fouillant une veine tragique qu’on entrapercevait déjà dans ses précédents, comme Incroyable mais vrai or Smoking makes cough.
THE ANIMATION FILM OF THE YEAR
Sans conteste The Kingdom of Abysses (Deep Sea) de Tian Xiao-Peng ! Un film d’animation chinois découvert au NIFFF qui, au travers d’une histoire bouleversante et d’un univers visuel truculent, déploie un double discours particulièrement saisissant sur la Chine d’aujourd’hui. Sa sortie en février 2024 ne devra pas être manquée tant le film profite d’un visionnage dans une salle de cinéma et en 3D ! Mention honorable tout de même à Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Boy and the Heron, deux gros succès amplement mérités de l’année passée en animation.
THE DECEPTION OF THE YEAR
A peu près toutes les grosses machines hollywoodiennes, entre Barbie, Oppenheimer or Super Mario Bros… Gros spectacles souvent dévitalisés, compendiums de marketing maquillés, fausse subversion assez agaçante, rien de bien marquant n’est sorti de la turbine à blockbusters américaine en 2023 (exception faite de John Wick and Mission impossible qui tirent un peu leur épingle du lot) et c’est bien dommage.
YOUR ATTENTS FOR 2024
Pauvres créatures, le film hollywoodien du grec Yórgos Lánthimos qui m’avait déjà conquis avec son cruel Canine. Les bruits plutôt laudatifs entourant ses premières visions en avant-première laisse planer un bon espoir… Mais aussi Furiosa de George Miller, même si les premiers visuels lâchés sur la toile ne sont pas franchement rassurants.
Autre projet que j’attends avec impatience ? La relecture du roman érotique Emmanuelle version Audrey Diwan (Events) sur un scénario de Rebecca Zlotowski (Les Enfants des autres), deux grands noms du nouveau cinéma français. Mais aussi et bien évidemment le retour du catalan Albert Serra après la claque Pacification… Il a en effet annoncé un projet titré Afternoons of Solitude dont le thème central, la tauromachie, m’inquiète plus qu’il me réjouit. Le dandy espagnol enchaînera directement avec Out of This World, un thriller qui sera tourné en été 2024 avec pour thème les tensions entre Russie et Etats-Unis… Et finalement, dernière attente, le Daaaaaali ! de Quentin Dupieux que j’avais raté au GIFF mais qui m’avait largement conquis avec Yannick. Case to follow...
Subscribe
Connection
0 Remarks
oldest
