Cinefranco 2025

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Wednesday, 22 October 2025 23:41

Written by Gilbert Seah

CINEFRANCO 2025

CAPSULE REVIEWS OF SELECT FILMS:

ALGER (Algiers)(Algeria/France/Tunisa/Canada 2024) ***½

Directed by Chakib Taleb Bendiab

The kidnapping of a little girl creates tension and suspicion in Algiers.  Is the aim to find the kidnapper or to save the child?  The cat-and-mouse investigation around the winding streets of the city, amidst social and political tensions that add to the confusion, makes excellent fodder for this mystery thriller.  The main subjects are initially at odds with each other as both do their part of their investigation based on their strong individual hunches. Dounia, a brilliant psychiatrist and past sex assault victim, pits wits against Sami, a police inspector in order to solve the case.  The premise is based on a true story, and it has enough twists and turns to keep one intrigued from start to end.  Excellent performances all around, with a solid story and intriguing setting, make for good entertainment.  The film comes with a warning of violence and adult themes, though director Bendian clearly keeps the violence to a minimum, shown only if absolutely necessary.  The adult theme comes from the object of pedophilia.  Recommended!

AMOUR APOCALYPSE (Peak Everything) (Canada 2025) **
Directed by Anne Emond

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Director Anne Emond tackles male trauma with her forty-year-old protagonist suffering from insecurity and a need for acceptance.  Despite his regimen of exercise and antidepressants, Adam (Hivon), proprietor of a Quebec kennel, cannot help but despair over the ever-escalating climate catastrophe. One night, while feeling especially hopeless, he calls the tech support line for his newly acquired therapeutic desk lamp, believing it to be a crisis help line. He gets lucky: on the other end is Tina (Perabo), who's relieved to talk about something more meaningful than assembly instructions.  This is a romantic comedy tackled with nuances and from a different angle.  But Director Emond’s pace is too slow to match the premise.  The pair connect over their shared existential worries and, when an earthquake rocks Tina's Ontario town, Adam takes the opportunity to drive there and help this woman he's never seen. Environmental dread brought these two together on the phone, so it's only fitting that a natural disaster prompts them to meet.  This sets the couple off on a path of romance and adventure.

The film is a strange love story of sorts.   Director Emond gets her character, Adam, to cry, mope, and come to terms with himself.  Her female characters, those that Adam encounters, like Tina and his kennel helper, have stronger personalities.  It is hard to identify with a protagonist with self-worth issues, but the film feels too like one with too much of a female slant.

AMOUR APOCALYPSE (Peak Everything) premiered at Cannes this year, followed by a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.  It opens this week in theatres.

Trailer: 

LE DERNIER SOUFFLE (Last Breath) (France/Lux/Canada 2025) ***
Directed by Costa-Gavras

Palliative care is given to improve quality of life and manage symptoms at any stage of a serious illness for comfort and dignity when a person is nearing the end of life (usually with 6 months or less to live).  LAST BREATH is an examination of palliative care from the points of view of the doctors, nurses, social workers, as well as the patients and their loved ones.  Many stories are told in the form of vignettes with stars like Karin Viard and Charlotte Rampling in cameo roles.  The film comes from Costa-Gavras, a director known for engaging with social/political issues like Z and  THE CONFESSION. This film brings a weighty subject into mainstream cinema.  The ilm is totally relevant to anyone interested in how cinema treats mortality, health care, and human dignity.  The film follows Dr. Augustin Masset (the head of a palliative care service) and writer/philosopher Fabrice Toussaint, who faces his own possible mortality — from the doctor’s side (supporting dying patients) and from the writer’s side (reflecting on his own life and mortality.  Thought-provoking and sensitive material delivered in a non-judgmental manner.

ET MAINTENANT? (Canada 2025) ***
Directed by Jocelyn Fergues

ET MAINTENANT? which means AND NOW? in English, is a film that contains a premise everyone has encountered during his or her lifetime.  Cancer.  Everyone knows someone who has terminal cancer, some who survive, and others who unfortunately have not.  The film follows a 39-year-old Vincent, a talented but hapless singer trying to make it with his band, while also working at a construction site to make ends meet in the meantime.  His father, with dementia, is also taking a toll on his finances; he, being in a nursing home with a private room.  Et maintenant?  What is he to do?  Continue the planned band tour?   Do chemo?  Quit his job?  The film comes across with good intentions,s begging the audience's sympathy.  Director Forgues lens towards an artificial feel-good atmosphere while falling into the trap of melodramatic cliches. However, audiences of commercial movies should lap all this up without much complaint.

FANON (Canada/France/Luxembourg 2024) ***½

Directed by Jean-Claude Barny

My French friend with mixed Egyptian/French told me that the French were a very racist people - so much for their egalite, franalite and egalite.  The film FANON emphasizes the fact from start to finish with Algeria as the main target.  The film is the story of psychiatrist/activist Frantz Fanon.  Frantz Fanon has just been appointed chief medical officer at the Blida psychiatric hospital in Algeria.  Soon after, the innovative methods and humanistic treatment he provides to Algerian patients attract the wrath of his colleagues and the director of the institution.  Fanon, however, is not a man to be stepped on.  His determination and ideas generate appeal to the FLN and its leader, Abane Ramdane, who offers to join the cause. In a context in which tensions between the French army and FLN are becoming increasingly apparent, Fanon sounds like a traitor, with his wife Josie caught in.  A bit of knowledge on Algerian Independence and the FLN would help audiences appreciate the film more, as the film assumes some basic knowledge of Algerian history.  FANON is a no-nonsense account of Fanon, the man and his work right till his death from Leukemia, ironically one year before Algeria’s independence from France, the only flaw being the one-sided look at Fanon as a saint who can do wrong whatsoever.  FANON  was screened at TIFF for marketing only.

JEUNES MERES (Young Mothers)(Belgium/France 2025) ****
Direct3d by Jean-Pierre and Lucy Dardenne

The Dardenne brothers return to Cannes with yet another drama about youth and their troubles and misunderstandings, picked up by Cinefranco.   They attempt an anthology this time, with the five stories intercut while maintaining the momentum before switching to the next story. Their fondness for following their subjects from the back is again evident in this film,

Five young mothers living in a shelter strive for a better future for themselves and their kids amidst challenging upbringings.  Jessica is expecting, but is distraught that her own mother has ditched her and refuses to meet her.  Perla wants to give up hr baby as the baby’s father, fresh out of jail, seems not to love her anymore.  Ariane wants to give her baby to a foster family so that her child will have a family.  But her single mother wants the baby, and not for Ariane to give it up.  The mother promises to be a good mother and to quit drinking, but it is ultimately Ariane’s choice.  Julie is a user on the streets.  She leaves her baby, Mia first time at day care.  She is worried about being alone and going back to using.  The fifth mother, Naima only shown briefly.  A marvellous film, superb performances by a young cast with down-to-earth stories that won the brothers Best Screenplay at Cannes.

JOUER AVEC LE FEU (The Quiet Son) (France 2024) ***½
Directed by Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin

JOUER AVEC LE FEU (Playing with Fire) has the alternative title The Quiet Son that refers to the elder son of Pierre, played by veteran French actor Vincent Lindon.  The elder son, Gus (short for Felix), is played by talented young actor Benjamin Vousin, who is beginning to gravitate towards bad company.  Pierre, who protects his son, denying the fact that his son was not in a gang that was up to far-right mischief and was with him that evening, does all he can to protect Fus, but to no avail.  The scene is best described at the start when the father tells his son to get up in the morning and to air his reeking room, but Fus returns to bed.  This is a story of troubled youth and how a single father tries to cope the best he can.  Solid performances and solid drama.

ON SERA HEUREUX (We’ll Find Happiness) (Canada Luxembourg 2025) ****
Directed by Lea Pool

A brave and daring dive into a seldom felt with LGBTQ+ immigration premise by director Lea Pol that confirms her as one of the most influential and best female Quebe film directors.  The film follows a young Moroccan man, Saad (not his real name), who is exiled to Québec. Saad’s partner, Reza, is an Iranian refugee who fled Iran because of his sexual orientation — and is now threatened with deportation back to Iran, where facing return means very likely death. To save Reza, Saad takes a desperate and dangerous step: he tries to seduce Laurent, an influential official/representative in the Canadian immigration ministry, in hopes of securing help for Reza.   It becomes complicated as Laurent falls from and he for him, to a point. The story becomes both intimate and political: each decision has moral, emotional, and systemic ramifications. The gamble Saad makes — using seduction as a means of survival — raises ethical questions: what lengths will one go to protect the person you love? What lines get crossed when survival is at stake?  The audience knows that happiness is not easily found and has to be worked hard for.   A thrilling drama that is both entertaining and engaging.

LA VIE VEVANT MOI (France 2024) ****
Directed by Nils Tavernier

Based on a true story of the survival of a Jewish family hiding from the Nazis during Occupied France, director Nils Tavernier, son of Bertrand Tavernier (COUP DE TORCHON, ROUND MIDNIGHT), has crafted a riveting film about survival, courage, hope, and perseverance.  The film stems from a real-life testimony collected by the Shoah Foundation and is adapted from the life of Tauba Zylbersztejn as told from Tauba’s point of view.  Tauba has passed away, and the closing scene shows her still living husband talking to the audience about how they met on Liberation Day of Paris.  The father constantly watches and worries. fondationshoah.  The mother holds the family together under strain. Tauba, the vibrant adolescent, imagines small escapes and clings to hope despite the immobilizing circumstances.   The film unfolds in the days that pass, ending with Day 675.  Director Tavernier totally captures the claustrophobia, fear, and desperation the family suffers in the tiny room. A worthwhile film, definitely not to be missed.  The film uses archival footage and replicates the real room (12 m² space) where the family hid.

Film Review: Nouvelle Vague

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Saturday, 04 October 2025 14:25

Written by Gilbert Seah

NOVELLE VAGUE (FRANCE 2025) ****
Directed by Richard Linklater 

Having spent several years writing for Cahiers du cinéma, Godard (Guillaume Marbeck), not yet 30, declares, “The best way to criticize a film is to make one.” So off he goes, convincing George de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfürst) to fund a low-budget independent feature and whipping up a treatment — there was never a proper script — with fellow New Waver François Truffaut (Adrien Rouyard) based on a news item about a gangster and his girlfriend.  A meticulously and handsomely delivered black and white homage to the French New Wave aka NOUVELLE VAGUE, sees the homage paid through the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s A BOUT DE SOUFFLE, also known in English as BREATHLESS.  Cinephiles will definitely delight in all the film references as well as the depiction of New Wave greats like directors Claude Chabrol, Francois Truffaut, Agnes Varda and husband Jacques Demy.  The film also depicts the idiosyncrasies of Godard, who shot BREATHELESS sans script and sand continuity, much to the chagrin of his financial backers, makeup artist and collaborators.  Seberg wanted to quit many times, but Belmondo finds all this absolutely amusing.

Trailer: 

Film Review: Other

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Sunday, 12 October 2025 22:37

Written by Gilbert Seah

OTHER (France 2025) ***
Directed by David Moreau

David Moreau’s OTHER is a mystery/horror/thriller, pretty much like his previous 2024 film MadS.  Less ambitious than MadS, which was done in one long continuous take, director Moreau removes this filming constraint in his latest effort.  There are differences.  The former was an intense fast fast-paced horror film, while the latter is a slow burn that takes place generally in a big, empty house.  (Or is it not empty?)  The one similarity of both films is that one can expect the unexpected.  The former has a surprise end-of-the-world scenario at the end of the film, and there is a not-to-be-revealed surprise in OTHER as well.

OTHER has a female protagonist compared to the young male one in MadS.

With scenes of the female in a large dilapidated house, director Moteau cannot help himself by having a few scenes with his beautiful actress in scanty clad attire. At least, he does not resort to jump scares, which these days are used too much with annoyance.

The film can be divided into three acts.  The first is the setup where the audience is introduced to the female and her beau, Charlie.  The second has the setup where the film scares the audience with a masked killer, a wild animal, and other devices.  The third act is a violent one, with one scene where the female has her fingers stuck in the spikes of barbed wire as she scales a barbed wire fence.  Another scene has her pull out the spikes.  Be prepared to cringe a number of times.

The main flaw of the film is the upended conclusion in which the audience is left to interpret what is actually going on.  The end is more frustrating than innovative.  One does not go watch a horror film to think, but just to be entertained and scared silly.   Other than that, Moreau’s film is well shot, well performed, and displays promise.

One thing to note is that OTHER, a French film from France that is shot in English.  Like MadS, which was shot in French, both films could be relocated to any part of the world and shot in any language without much difference.

OTHER, like MadS, is a Shudder streaming exclusive and opens for streaming on the horror network on October 17th.

Trailer: 

THE WEEDHACKER MASSACRE (USA 2024) ***

Directed by Jody Stelzig

A "weed hacker" is an informal or incorrect term for a string trimmer, also commonly called a weed whacker, weed eater, or whipper snipper. It is a garden power tool that uses a spinning monofilament line to cut grass and weeds in hard-to-reach areas like the edges of a lawn, around trees, or along fences.  In the horror comedy film within a film, the weedhacker ’s string is not seen, but what can be seen are whirring blades.  Blades that kill!

The film aims to capitalize on the gruesome murders that polarized the film THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, as both films are set in Texas, in remote Texas, both have the word massacre, and both have the weapon of a cutting tool.  The film notably features Allen Danziger (from THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE) as Sheriff Danzinshoos. The film was co-created by Allen Danziger and Ray Spivey, written and produced by Ray Spivey, executive produced by Allen Danziger, and directed by Jody Stelzig.

How many remakes of a bad horror movie can one make? The cast and crew of THE WEEDHACKER MASSACRE boldly film where gruesome murders occurred 10 years ago, and the masked killer, nicknamed Poker Face, was never found. Bad acting, bounced payroll checks, and the killer's return threaten what is surely to become their worst movie ever.

The film begins with a sudden kill in which one brother kills the other over some marijuana.  The killing does not make much sense, but neither does the entire film.  Aimed at least to be a silly comedy, that it is, though the film turns out to be amusing at best. -  a low-budget derivative horror comedy with a few satirical edges.

Gruesome murders involving a college kid and girls occurred 10 years before the setting of the present.  The male student, Wonder Willy, disappears, and it is assumed that he killed all the girls, of which only one survived.  10years later, a crew returns to make another remake of the killings with Wonder Willy present and a reporter who was one of the survivors of the massacre 10 years ago.  The killers are the family of the Guters, the family that made the town the marijuana capital of Texas.  Everyone in the city is involved with the Guters.  Wonder Willy and Candy find themselves new targets for the Gutters' new spree of killings, in which the film crew is done away with one by one.

The killings are executed in light, violent fashion, mostly with speed and efficiency, and s with lots of blood.  The dialogue is corny as hell, but it is meant to be so.  There are a few parodies that work.  One is the realization that Wonder Willy and Candy are in a romantic relationship.  The music turns romantic-like, but the couple suddenly realizes what is happening, and in embarrassment, turns away, thus killing the cliche.

The performances are all done effectively enough by an all non-star cast. The film could have been funnier or scarier.  It seems that this horror comedy compromises both the comedy and the horror elements.  The film’s campiness and cheesiness work, though.

THE WEEDHACKER opens on digital platforms on October 17th.

Trailer: 

Film Review: French Lover

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Friday, 26 September 2025 02:03

Written by Gilbert Seah

FRENCH LOVER (France 2025) **½

Directed by Nina Rives

FRENCH LOVER is a romantic comedy that boasts French superstar Omar Sy in the title role.  Omar Sy rose to fame with his hit UNTOUCHABLES, which also highlighted his talent for comedy, once again displayed in FRENCH LOVER.

In FRENCH LOVER, Sy plays the model/actor that launches the fragrance FRENCH LOVER, as the blurb goes, “Je t’aime FRENCH LOVER.  The beginning sequence in which Abel Camara (Sy) portrays the actor in the advertising filming sequence is hilarious enough.  But Abel does not have a girlfriend, and he is in trouble as an actor because of his drug use and booze, resulting in the bad press, though there is hardly any of this shown in the film.  Except that he smokes a bit.

As far as romantic comedies go, there are few surprises in the Harlequin-type romance.  There is the odd first meeting of the couple, in this case, at a bar, in which a misunderstanding occurs when Marion (Sara Giraudeau) splashes a drink by accident on Abel’s shirt.  There are obstacles to the couple’s romance, which in this case is Abel’s star presence.  It does not take a genius to figure out that the couple will get together again.  There is also the customary best friend of the male (Alban Ivanov in a wasted and underwritten role), who, in this case, is his childhood buddy.  The best thing about the film is, as expected, Omar Sy, who spreads his charm in most scenes, and he is a funny actor, especially when doing his dance moves.  Even then, Sy is unable to save director Rives’ (MESRINE Parts 1 and 2, TAXI 4) romantic comedy.

FRENCH LOVER opens for streaming on Netflix Friday, September 26th.

Trailer: