NOSE (France 2020) *** Directed by Clément Beauvais
Despite the playful title NOSE, this feel-good or smell-good documentary is quite the serious look into the art of perfection of perfumery.
The documentary had its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival last year. With exclusive access to Dior’s “Maison de Parfums” creative process, this documentary unveils the fascinating role of the Nose at Dior; the most prestigious Fashion et Perfume brand in the world initiated by Christian Dior.For the first time in a documentary feature, the prestigious Maison Dior opened its doors to access the wonders of perfume creation.Travellers at heart, directors Arthur de Kersauson and Clément Beauvais followed the star of the doc and of Dior, François Demachy, during two years and over 14 countries, from Grasse to Nosy Be, through the coasts of Ireland, in his search for inspiration and the most precious raw materials.
The film opens with Demacchy in Indonesia smelling one of the raw materials, patchouli.after travelling for 3 days.The doc shows him sniffing other perfumery ingredients like roses of Grasse (a small town in France which specializes in growing the raw materials like roses) to Calabrian (in Italy) where a sour citrus fruit, bergamot is cultivated. One funny scene has him sniffing fruit, the red hairy rambutan that has only a slight scent. (I had a rambutan tree in the backyard of my house in Singapore when I was young.)
The film’s subject Francois Demachy is quite the serious person who does not say much.The directors, therefore, uses his personality as a catalyst to explore other avenues , rather than use him to entertain.One of the women Demachy subcontracts to, says the same thing.She thought she was not given the job when Demachy left as he hardly had said anything during the initial meeting.But within this man lies a vast bed of knowledge, and it is this knowledge that makes NOSE such an intriguing film.
Demachy emphasizes the raw materials that go into the perfumes, akin to the fresh produce that makes a class Michelin star meal.One such ingredient is the ambergris.The scent of the ambergris is unmistaken and unique.The doc takes the audience to the wild coasts of Ireland where dogs sniff out ambergris, after being trained by the master.Ambergris is the extract of sperm whales.These creatures eat cuttlefish without being able to digest this thin flexible backbone which is sharp and damages the whales intestines.In time, these are eventually coatedand excreted.Being less dense than water, the excretion floats to the surface of the sea and eventually gets deposited with rock or sediment offshore.
Other more common materials used are roses.The doc takes the audience to Grasse where the essence of the roses is distilled.Around 15 to 50 different raw materials go into the making of a single perfume and hence the high price of the product.
NOSE is available on demand on the following platforms: iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and Microsoft, February the 22nd.
DEUX (TWO OF US) (France/Luxembourg/Belgium 2019) ***** Top 10
Directed byFilippo Meneghetti
DEUX (TWO OF US) has already gone around the festival circuit winning accolades and dozens of awards, hard to believe as this is writer/director Filippo Meneghetti’s first narrative feature.The film is also France’s entry for the 93 Academy Awards for Best International Feature.
It is the story of two pensioners who live across each other in an apartment building.Their two decade clandestine love affair is challenged when an unexpected event changes their lives.
The film's best and brilliant segment occurs at the start when two young girls play hide and seek and Mado disappears from her hidng place to the astonishment of Nina - the dream-like sequence a metaphor of what will happen later when Mado gets lost suffering a stroke and Nina has to find her hiding place.
The above summary of the film makes it all sound boring - a romantic story of two aged lesbians with their love put to the test.Far from it.DEUX turns out to be a perfect little gem proving that love conquers all - not to sound so cliched.But this film, written and directed by Filippo Meneghetti has a plot even Hitchcock could be proud of.There are moments of intense suspense, emotions and mystery together with characters of questionable background and an ending with a twist to boot.
Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine or Mado (Martine Chevallier) have hidden their deep and passionate love for many decades. From the point of view of those surrounding them, including Madeleine's meddling daughter (Léa Drucker), they are simply two neighbours sharing a hallway during their sunset years.The ultimate test of their love occurs when Mado has a stroke (that could have been caused by Nina in her outburst) and Nina not allowed to visit Made due to the interfering daughter and the caregiver nurse from hell, Muriel (Muriel Bénazéra).
German actress Sukowa (known for her Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta films) is simply marvellous as the chain smoking widow who decides to take meddling to a new level.Martine Chevallier (de la Comédie-Française) is equally good, acting with the limited ability of a character who has suffered a stroke. Director Meneghetti centres the film on Madeleine for the first third before switching the protagonist to Nina after Madeleine’s stroke.The script offers more background for Mado but Nina’s is kept out of the picture.This makes her more mysterious.The audience cannot guess what is on her mind or what she would do next. She tells Mado’s daughter a bit about her past, but keeps it private.The introduction of the caregiver Muriel into the story is a touch of sinister genius.
The Italian version of the 1963 Ricky Nelson song “I will Follow You” is used in the soundtrack a number of times. The English lyrics which include “I will follow you… no matter wherever you may go… there isn’t an ocean so deep……a mountain so high it can keep, keepme away, away from my love…”tells of their love.The two had met in Rome and had planned to retire there and hence this is their Italian love song.
DEUX really arouses the emotions of the audience.It is simply not right that two lovers are prevented from spending the rest of their twilight years together because of prejudice.Clearly something needs to be done.And when Nina takes charge, everyone cheers.
If it all seems that director Meneghetti has taken too much on his plate, he actually brings all the elements neatly together - the suspense, the romance, the mystery and the excitement without making any part of the material too forced.The film also promotes LGBT relationships that they should be accepted and treated as normal for the benefit of all.
This one gets my vote for both Best International Feature as well as Best First Feature.
4 new films are capsule revuewed here. The festival runs from Feb 12th- 15th and free for youth. Check website.
COCOON (KOKON)(Germany 2020) ***1/2
Directed by Leonie Krippendorff
Girls just want to have fun… as the Madonna song goes.German director Krippendorff’s new film takes her protagonist Nora out of her cocoon to experience life as this coming-of-age story shows. Nora, a Berlin teen is bored.A silent observer most of the time, she is always tagging along instead of participating— at parties, at school, at the pool, on rooftops.She drifts around the housing blocks of Berlin’s Kreuzberg district with her big sister and her friends, where everything she sees seems to fade in the summer light.Nora has her own way of looking at the world, and when she meets Romy, she realizes why. Director Krippendorff’s use of the cocoon is also hilarious.In one scene a caterpillar escapes from the jar Nora’s collection.“If another escapes, I will kill it,”says Nora’s sister as they share the same bedroom.Nora comes off her and transforms into a beautiful butterfly, metaphorically speaking.Krippendorff’s breezy film is an honest ode to the joy of youth and self-discovery.The film also bravely deals with the issue of discovering one’s sexual orientation.
Trailer:
DEATH OF NINTENDO (USA/Philippines 2019) *** Directed by Raya Martin
Raya Martin’s warm homage to puberty and adolescence, set in 1990s Manila, follows a quartet of teens as their relationships, lives and bodies change.Director Martin chooses Paulo, the cutest one among the teens as his lead character.Paulo is interested in the new girl in town Shiara, who he tries to get more information from with the help of Mimaw, the girl in his group.Trouble is that Mimaw is herself interested in Paulo while always dressing up as a tomboy.Director Martin includes other factors that influence the lives of the kids like the frequent earthquakes. ghost hunting in the local cemetery, basketball, and of course video games like Nintendo.The film also gives the audience a good look at suburban Philippine life.The film is breezy, light and easy going, reflecting the joy and exuberance of youth.
Trailer:
MY NAME IS BAGHDAD (Meu Nome e Bagda)(Brazil 2020) *** Directed by Cars Alves de Souza
A teen film about female abuse as seen from the eye of an independent female teen.The film begins with her, her name is Baghdad, at a party she attends with her sister.While accompanying her to the toilet, a boy covers her mouth to prevent her from screaming, and pushes his body on her, against a wall.The film goes back to the events that lead up to the party.It turns out that both are skaters at the local skater park.The film follows Baghdad who lives in Freguesia do Ó, a working-class neighbourhood in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.Baghdad skateboards with a group of male friends and spends a lot of time with her family and with her mother's friends.Together, the women around her form a network of people who are out of the ordinary. When Baghdad meets a group of female skateboarders, her life suddenly changes.She and her new group of skater female friends confront her attacker at the park.Director de Sousa’s film freely moves among the characters though the female abuse part, though central to the film’s theme seems to come out of the blue.Grace Orsato gives a fresh look to her main character which makes the movie.
Trailer:
THE NIGHT OF THE BEAST (LA NOCHE DE LA BESTIA) (Colombia/Mexico 2020) ***
Directed by Mauricio Leiva Cock
This low budget teen film, NIGHT OF THE BEAST, set in Bogota, Colombia follows two young teens friends.Awkward that they are as heavy metal fans, they are good buddies, going about in the film wearing an AC/DC and the other an iron Maiden T-shirt.Nothing much happens as the camera follows the two on their unexciting routines around their lives.But the spark comes one evening, the night of their lives of the NIGHT OF THE BEAST when they plan to attend a heavy metal concert, with a live performance by Iron Maiden. But something happens to make their evening more exciting.But not in a good way.They get robbed of their tickets.They desperately try to reclaim their stolen Iron Maiden concert tickets, in Mauricio Leiva-Cock’s heartwarming film that shows friendship, youth and obsession.
The site will not be covering the DOC NYC 2020 this year.However, one film will be mentioned and reviewed.
DOC NYC 2020 Film Festival (Special Review)
BARE (Belgium 2020) ***1/2
Directed by Aleksandr M. Vinogradov
This eye-opening dance documentary begins with shots of parts of the male human body.With close ups, its takes time to distinguish which part of the body the camera is focussing on.When the image of a hairy penis appears, it would seem that one should be comfortable with male nudity to watch this doc - just as one should be comfortable with male nudity in order to appreciate the choreography of Belgian dance Master Thierry Smits.
The doc continues with a short clip of the auction process where the dancers are selected and the unsuccessful ones sent off.Practices ensue.During the process Smits, speaking in a blend of French and English is totally respectful and polite to the dancers.One would envision some friction between Smits and his dancers, but none are shown.
Eleven naked men audition, rehearse and perform for the premiere of master Belgian choreographer Thierry Smits’s new contemporary dance piece called Anima Ardens.Mixing intimate rehearsal footage with extensive and breathtaking dance sequences, BARE follows the choreographer and his team as they work (from audition to premiere) to explore difficult, often taboo subjects through nudity and dance.It is a bold and enlightening exploration, erotic no doubt, with BARE skin on display, of artistic conflict, gender, and sexuality the one constant is the conceit that the body is the last bastion of personal freedom.
In the words of Smits, it is erotic nudity not obscene nudity but beautiful nudity on display.
Russian director Aleksandr M. Vinogradov is also of dance background.Together with Thierry Smits, they provide an unforgettable experience, with yet another insightful view of the art of dance.
The climax of the film is the premiere performance.This is reserved for the doc’s last 5 minutes which only short clips of the dance are shown.
The virtual 11th edition of America’s largest documentary festival, DOC NYC runs from November 11th to 19th and will be available online throughout the US.
Capsule Reviews:
AMOUR APOCALYPSE (Peak Everything) (Canada 2025) **Directed by Anne Emond
Director Anne Emond tackles male trauma with her forty-year-old protagonist suffering from insecurity...
