Kung Fu Panda 4, No Waves, The Queen's Game: What's new at the cinema this week

What to see in theaters

THE EVENT
KUNG FU PANDA 4 ★★★☆☆

By Mike Mitchell

The essential

Return of the brawling panda in an opus mutedly traversed by a question about the passing of time… Funny, fast, effective: work by Po.

Eight years have passed since Kung Fu Panda 3. Time flies. Moreover, Master Shifu announces that it is time for Po, the kung fu expert panda, to cede his title of “Dragon Warrior” to someone else and to consider reconverting into spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace. But can Po, a hero who is still immature despite his years on the clock, calm down, he who loves nothing more than kicking ass between two ravioli tastings? The fourth opus of this franchise which thrives on generic intrigues and good times that are quickly forgotten, is filled with funny adventures, virtuoso fights and jokes delivered with enthusiasm by a stylish vocal cast. The series of Kung Fu Panda may not have produced very great films, but we must admit that through perseverance, Po earned his stripes as a true cinema hero.

Frédéric Foubert

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PREMIERE LIKED A LOT

DELINCUENTS ★★★★☆

By Rodrigo Moreno

Morán, an uneventful bank employee, decides one day to steal a large sum of money from his workplace safe. His plan ? After serving a short prison sentence, Morán will be able to benefit from the money previously hidden by his colleague Roman, a discreet man who knows how to be forgotten. From this delusional premise, Rodrigo Moreno bypasses the heist film to focus on the consequences of such an excessive act, preferring to ignore the stupidity of the gesture in order to better concentrate on those carrying out it. The reason for the robbery then becomes a wonderful pretext to talk about the hypocrisy of men obsessed with money, who do not hesitate to change their personality in order to satisfy their thirst for virility. Thanks to its long duration, Moreno takes the time to unfold his truculent story, connects the twists, and imposes a burlesque flavor which is reminiscent of the cinema of the Coen brothers. Happiness.

Yohan Haddad

FIRST TO LIKE

NO WAVES ★★★☆☆

By Teddy Lussi- Modeste

Teddy Lussi-Modeste seeks here to recount the complexity of situations too often told in a Manichean manner. In this case a situation that he experienced as a teacher (while being cleared of it): a schoolgirl accusing one of her teachers of harassment. And more than the truth of what really happened, No waves emphasizes the notion of perception of things. It shows how young Leslie really believed in this harassment because by wanting too much to be close to her students and cool, her teacher (François Civil, remarkable) created – unintentionally – competition between them and the feeling of abandon some. And this while describing how his hierarchy will abandon him for fear of when they say. In our world doped with news stories where any attempt at balanced speech is swept away by the race for buzz, No waves provides an essential counterbalance.

Thierry Cheze

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THE ABEL CASE TREM ★★★☆☆

By Gabor Reisz

It all starts with a fib. The one that a high school student naively goes to justify his failure in the history baccalaureate, without realizing that he has just activated a chain reaction. Because by explaining to his nationalist father that he was unfairly failed by his liberal teacher because he wore a cockade, the young man overwhelmed by events will trigger a virulent media scandal. From there, Gábor Reisz has fun. By presenting the story from three different points of view (Abel, the father, the teacher) and playing with ambiguity, the director takes great pleasure in trapping the viewer and his film proves particularly sagacious in its evocation of excesses of rumor-mongering.

Lucie Chiquer

SHIT DAY ★★★☆☆

By Kevin T. Landry

Harassed by her toxic ex-husband, belittled by her boss and accompanied by her unbearable kid, Maude must go to the middle of the Quebec forest to bring 7.5 million dollars to Gaétan Dubois, winner of the lottery, and interview him . At the end of her tether and drowned by obligations, she confronts a man disconnected from reality. What was supposed to be a quick round trip turns into an endless day when the lucky recipient turns out to be both strange and disconcerting. After around twenty short films, Kevin T. Landry signs for his first feature a closed-door thriller with a comedic feel which demonstrates his experience in editing and directing actors. By playing on humor shaped by its rhythm, Shitty day is dominated by a cold violence but always restrained: like a fed-up on the verge of explosion.

Downhold on Assie

APOLONIA, APOLONIA ★★★☆☆

By Lea Glob

Born from director Lea Glob’s love at first sight for her subject (the artist Apolonia Sokol), Apolonia, Apolonia follows the journey of this Danish painter over thirteen years, from her studies at the Beaux-Arts in Paris to the start of her career in the United States, until her full consecration. If there remains something fundamentally unresolved in this film (why did you follow this painter rather than another? What is special about her?), the trajectory of Apolonia Sokol turns out, in the end , rather exciting. From his shocking relationship with the Ukrainian Femen Okasana Shachko to the scandalously neoliberal practices of the American art market, the documentary shows enough original footage to go beyond the stage of a simple egocentric exercise. We will just regret that its form is too sparse to truly develop a statement on contemporary art today.

Nicholas Moreno

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FIRST TO MODERATELY LIKED

THE QUEEN'S GAME ★★☆☆☆

By Karim Aïnouz

Karim Aïnouz (The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao), changes gear with this prestigious project, shot in English, with stars in the credits (Alicia Vikander, Jude Law) and selection in competition at Cannes. But what made his cinema unique dissolves into an all-purpose film. Adapted from a bestseller by Elizabeth Fremantle, The Queen's Game paints the portrait of Catherine Parr, sixth and last wife of Henry VIII, sovereign with the reputation of Bluebeard who had the habit of beheading his wives. Aïnouz sees the relationship between Parr and her monstrous husband as a drama about domestic violence, on the edge of the horrific behind closed doors. But its celebration of female empowerment, which places a very contemporary point of view on the period, turns out to be quite banal, and ends up drawing the contours of a new academicism.

Frédéric Foubert

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P.A.ETERNAL ★★☆☆☆

By Ronan Tronchot

The inability of the Church to modernize inspires filmmakers. In Magnificat, Virginie Sauveur told the story of a woman who became a priest while managing to keep her sex a secret. Ronan Tronchot features a priest who sees his ex and the 11-year-old child he had with her before entering the orders come into his life. Carried by a once again remarkable Gregory Gadebois, the film remains too academic in the conduct of its story to go beyond the simple illustration of its subject

Thierry Cheze

THERE BOXER THEORY ★★☆☆☆

By Nathanaël Coste

What is the boxer theory? The thesis applies to fighters who are no longer able to take blows. Here, the doctrine characterizes the disappearance of French fauna and flora, which are no longer able to cope with the disasters linked to global warming. This educational documentary breaks up a French panorama, where artisans deliver, not without concern, their observations on the state of the soil, dried up by the extreme heat. This landscape fresco praises the role of whistleblower by directly addressing breathtaking sites, contrasted with derelict areas. The raw apple authenticity of the farmers is intertwined with this call for collective awareness, which, rightly, is striking. The trip is intended to be life-saving, refuting the knockout of vegetation.

Manon Bellahcene

O' CORNO: A HISTORY OF WOMEN ★★☆☆☆

By Jalone Camborda

In the privacy of a bedroom, a woman helps another to have an abortion. This opening scene constitutes the nerve center of this shocking drama, which tells the fate of a nurse converted to clandestine abortion during the Franco period. If the subject is important, the film lugs its heroine from one place to another without knowing where to go. From abortion to prostitution, from exile to sexual liberation, it is difficult to understand the director's intentions in this overflow of frameworks.

Yohan Haddad

FIRST DID NOT LIKE

THE WORM PROMISEYOU ★☆☆☆☆

By Edouard Bergeon

More than a success, a social phenomenon! With In the name of the earth, Edouard Bergeon left a lasting impression on people's minds, as we saw during the recent agricultural crisis where he still appears as a reference. If he hit the nail on the head, it was because he knew his subject like the back of his hand, the tragedy he was telling having been experienced by his family. For his second feature, instead of exploring the same terrain, he chose to go elsewhere. The Green Promise depicts the fight of a mother to save her son, unjustly sentenced to death in Indonesia because he was trapped after wanting to denounce the illegal actions of palm oil operators. The gesture is noble but his lack of precise mastery of the subject leads him to simply ape dozens of films of the same type in a lesser way. Without breathing, following agreed situations, its two hours seem interminable.

Thierry Cheze

Et also

Alienoid: The Prossensors of the future, by Choi Dong-hoon

The Yeargolden tilope, the vixen and the hare, short film program

THEREattack on the gold block, by Olivier Goujon

The Witch Fairies, short film program

The Flame wormyou, by Mohammad Reza Aslani

The thettre (Journey to the land before Me too- 2), by Anita Schultz-Moszkowski

We will be still there ! (Plogoff 1980), by Nicolas Guillou

Repeats

Man hunt (Manhunt), by Fritz Lang