Film Review: L'Histoire Souleymane

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Tuesday, 05 August 2025 02:49

Written by Gilbert Seah

SOULEYMANE’S STORY (L’HISTOIRE DE SOULEYMANE ) (France 2024) ****
Directed by Boris Lojkine

SOULEYMANE’S STORY  follows Souleymane, a recent Guinean immigrant, through the streets of Paris as he prepares for his asylum application interview while working for a meal delivery service on his e-bike.

Racing through the streets of Paris, making food deliveries on his bicycle, Guinean immigrant Souleymane (Abou Sangare) is struggling to stay afloat.  In two days, he has to report for an asylum application interview, where he must plead his case to an immigration officer (Nina Meurisse) who will determine his future in France.  As he rides, he repeats his story. But Souleymane is not ready.

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Film Review: Les Barbares

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Wednesday, 18 June 2025 22:49

Written by Gilbert Seah

LES BARBARES (MEET THE BARBARIANS) (France 2024) ****

Directed by Julie Delpy

Actress Julie Delpy (star of films by Godard, Kieslowski and Linklater) directs her own film, proving herself totally apt and a force to be reckoned with.  She centres her sights on comedy with a message with a film that matters that she delivers in style with lots of hilarity, drama and a bit of satire.  The story is set in Paimpont, a small town in France, preparing to welcome a Ukrainian refugee family and is surprised when a Syrian family shows up instead.  Every town has its patriots, loyalists and racists, all of whom show their influence on the Syrian family, but that is not perfect as well.  Delpy shows the good and bad of both sides with a touching romance between the young Syrian teen in the family and a local French boy to bridge the gap of racism.  It might be too obvious, but the ploy works.  And the town actually exists.  Paimpont sits nestled in Brittany, content with its centuries-old heritage, its crêpes (the Brittany people cook everything with lots of butter, which is also incorporated in the script), and its flattering self-image—a marvellous surprise from Delpy.

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Film Review: Animale

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Monday, 04 August 2025 11:24

Written by Gilbert Seah

ANIMALE (France/Belgium/Saudi Arabia 2024) ***
Directed by Emma Benestan

In the Camargue region of the South of France, there remains an infamous, long-standing tradition of bullfighting. Local youths participate in the elegant yet dangerous challenge, practicing a modernized version of the sport that seeks not to kill the animals but rather to showcase agility and dominance. Among them is Nejma, an intrepid twenty-two-year-old with dreams of one day winning the annual competition. The only woman working on the cattle ranch, she trains tirelessly to prove herself equal among the men, both in and outside of the arena. The ranchers share a deep respect for the bulls, though when a loose bull threatens the community of riders and young men begin turning up dead, a hunt to find and kill the creature begins. Nejma fears for the bull, beginning a dark, mysterious transformation of her own. The sophomore feature of French filmmaker Emma Benestan,  ANIMALE is “a brutal disorienting horror fable burning with feminine anger.

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Film Review: Les Femmes En Or

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Thursday, 29 May 2025 01:12

Written by Gilbert Seah

LES FEMMES EN OR (Two Women) (Canada 2025) ***
Directed by Chloé Robichaud

Violette and Florence no longer understand what's happening to them. Respectively on maternity leave and off work, one is on edge, the other feels nothing. The neighbours are both consumed by a sense of failure: despite their careers and families, they're not happy. Florence's first infidelity will be a revelation. What if happiness meant rebelling against our rigid, performance-driven society? In a context where having fun is far down the list of priorities, sleeping with a delivery man might be downright revolutionary. For Violette and Florence, it will be the breath of fresh air they've been hoping for.

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