Film Review: MadS

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Sunday, 06 October 2024 23:03

Written by Gilbert Seah

MadS (France 2024) ***

Written and Directed by David Moreau

Nothing in the movie is what it seems.  What appears to be an animal scouring around his car turns out to be an older woman.  Her supposed injury turns out to be something else.

And nothing is what Romain (Milton Riche) has expected.  He never expected to drop his lit cigarette in the car and to shop by the roadside as a result  If not the woman would not have entered his vehicle.   The question also arises whether the audience is put in Romain’s shoes, as he is high as a kite, after experimenting with a new drug at his dealer’s.

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Film Review: Nice Girls

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Thursday, 22 August 2024 14:02

Written by Gilbert Seah

NICE GIRLS (France 2024) ***
Directed by Noémie Saglio

The synopsis from Allocine:  The intrepid Léo, self-proclaimed "best cop on the Riviera" " learns that her colleague and brother-in-law Ludo has been killed in Hamburg. While she wants to discover the truth, she is forced by her superior to let a German supercop do it. Out of the question to let a "loser in a suit" investigate, especially when she discovers that it is in fact the attractive and highly trained Mélanie. Forced to team up, these two women with characters as explosive as they are opposed do not suspect that Nice is facing an imminent threat and that they are more linked than they imagine.

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Film Review: The Other Laurens

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Thursday, 22 August 2024 22:47

Written by Gilbert Seah

THE OTHER LAURENS (Belgium/France 2023) ***
Directed by Carl Schmitz

THE OTHER LAURENS implies that there are two of them.  In fact, there are and they are twins.  When one apparently is done away with, the other investigates the brother’s death with skeletons coming unhidden from the closet.  The film plays like a neo-detective misery and it feels like the Raymond Chandler films.  The only difference is that this film is from Belgium, with locations in the United States (the Grand Canyon) and that there is more family relationship drama in this neo-black thriller.

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Toronto International Film Festival 2024 Capsule Reviews (French Version)

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Saturday, 17 August 2024 23:16

Written by Gilbert Seah

MEET THE BARBARIANS (Les Barbares)(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 disincorporated in the script), and its flattering self-image. A marvellous surprise from Delpy.

Read more: Toronto International Film Festival 2024 Capsule Reviews (French Version)