Problemos: the pandemic version Eric Judor (review)
An absurd, unfinished eco-fable, but which nevertheless exudes a pleasant scent of anarchy, to be (re)watched this evening on Cstar.
Rather shunned by the public during its theatrical release in 2017, Problems has since (almost) earned its stripes as a cult comedy. This Zadist story caught in the middle of a global pandemic, rebroadcast this evening on television, has even taken on a new meaning following the global Covid-19 epidemic…
To wait until his return to television, we are sharing the review of First.
Eric Judor: “Our job is to give people humorous punches”
There is in this title, Problems, like a sort of I-don't-care, DIY side which defines the film quite well, portrait of a Zadist community established in the open countryside and fighting against the construction of a water park. Like its protagonists, dressed like sacks and with greasy hair, the staging shows no particular effort: the photography and the cutting are nicely lazy. Yes, but there is Judor. Judor, the bad kid in an adult's body. Capable, like Jerry Lewis, of twisting reality, of twisting it with his regressive humor and of occasionally masking the culpable weaknesses of the artistic direction.
Without too many problems
Judor, then. Both conductor and soloist, surrounded by strangers and complementary actors, who does not give himself the beautiful role of a father obsessed with routine (irony) and with young girls. Who fights, for an hour and a half, against his scat and libidinous impulses, giving Problems looks like a great pinched comedy, quite far from the expected burlesque and trashy fireworks, despite some formidable outbursts – the teenager who confuses “sandwich bread” and “pandemic” in his virtual news feed, the kid nicknamed “ the child” so as not to stigmatize him. Doesn't the incredible last shot, which comes like a hair in the soup, testify to a dying desire to move towards something much more radical? This Problems hidden, however, remains to be fantasized.
Eric Judor in Week-end Family: “I needed time to adapt” (excluded)