Who shines in battle, Magellan, On a tune of the blues: what’s new at the cinema this week

What to see in theaters

THE EVENT
WHO SHINES IN FIGHT ★★★☆☆

By Joséphine Japy

The essentials

Joséphine Japy makes her debut as a filmmaker with this story of rare sensitivity on the impact of a child’s genetic disease on her family, in which Mélanie Laurent impresses

In 2014, in Breathe, Mélanie Laurent offered Joséphine Japy a character who would change the course of her career. Here, it’s Joséphine Japy’s turn to go behind the camera with a story inspired by her own little sister suffering from a genetic disorder and the deflagration that this serious handicap had on her family. And to play the mother on the verge of exhaustion of this child who is trying to manage what can be managed, she therefore chose to call on… Mélanie Laurent! A role as exciting as it is jaw-dropping as the contradictory emotional roller coaster emerges at all times that Mélanie Laurent transcends with a virtuosity that is never performative. But its composition would not have the same impact without the perspective of a director who above all makes an exciting debut behind the camera. His ability to transcend such a personal subject, to never let emotion take control without stifling it, proves impressive. The promise of a bright future.

Thierry Cheze

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PREMIERE LIKED A LOT

MAGELLAN ★★★★☆

By Lav Diaz

A great explorer of forms, the Filipino Lav Diaz (The Woman Who Left) chose to take on the figure of Magellan (1480 – 1521) A way for him to reflect on the past and current identity of his own country. It is in fact on the coasts of Cebu that the “great” Portuguese navigator will run aground and fail in 1521. A fan of the long term, Diaz offers strict frames whose sublime precision opens windows onto horizons of virginal purity. It is up to beings, things but also spectators to experience its power. Pictorial beauty is never the product of tinkering with vertigo. As it is said here, “no gesture” could be “more sacred than a tree”. This egalitarian, deeply sensitive look tells the story of the evolution of a man (the brilliant Gael Garcia Bernal), little by little guided by delusions of conquest of spaces and souls. This produces a dull tension from which a reflection on our own relationship to the world described can arise. Insane.

Thomas Baura

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FIRST TO LIKE

TO THE SOUND OF BLUES ★★★☆☆

By Craig Brewer

A musical romance dedicated to a couple of Wisconsin artists known for their Neil Diamond covers? In the United States, where the saw “Sweet Caroline” is sung at the top of the voice at every second family party, it may be an easy sell, but here, where Diamond’s beautiful baritone voice has never sparked great passions, it is more complicated. No problem: you can enter this film letting yourself be carried away by the contagious energy of a great Hugh Jackman, in Greatest Showman mode. The actor plays a galley singer who, after falling in love with a country musician (Kate Hudson), will launch a tribute band dedicated to Diamond, which will become cult, to the point of opening for the grunge juggernaut Pearl Jam. Artists in love will also experience many misfortunes, which one would not believe without the mention “inspired by a true story”. And the film tells very well, under its slightly marshmallowy coating, how pop music not only punctuates our lives, but can also save them, by making them bearable in the darkest moments.

Frédéric Foubert

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LOS TIGRES ★★★☆☆

By Alberto Rodriguez

Antonio de la Torre is a physical actor. Earthly, strong, gifted at being silent. We like to see him move in the frame, expressing himself without a word – whether he’s reloading his double-barreled shotgun in The Wrath of a Patient Man or running out of breath in El Reino. On this level, Los Tigres, the new Alberto Rodriguez (La Isla Minima), is a joy. De la Torre plays a non-talkative diver, specializing in the repair of merchant ships, alongside his sister (Barbara Lennie), with whom he shares a complicated family past. Cornered by financial problems, he decides to steal the drugs hidden in a cargo ship… The plot is classic, the metaphor on the suffocating weight of patriarchy is undoubtedly a little too sharp, but Los Tigres seduces with its quasi-documentary atmosphere, the meticulousness in its description of a little-known professional universe. For that – and the sound of the Torre in majesty – you can dive without hesitation.

Frédéric Foubert

LAURENT IN THE WIND ★★★☆☆

By Anton Balekdjian, Léo Couture and Mattéo Eustachon

Since he has no ties, Laurent suddenly arrives in the valley of a ski resort in the middle of the off-season. He has no home or fixed project, he is looking for a new start. The film very quickly leaves the tracks of redemption and social reintegration, preferring the chance of wandering and the subversion of marginal models. This 29-year-old young man arouses magnificent curiosity (where does he come from? Is he depressed or just shy?), and touches on a certain existential drift specific to today’s young generation. But the secondary characters he meets are unfortunately not quite up to his standards, as if they are too marked out by their sociotypes; we have all seen them elsewhere and better, for example at Guiraudie… The seasons pass but Laurent remains the same indeterminate being with whom we do not know what to do. The film therefore ends too soon: what happens to people like Laurent after six months? A year? Ten years? We’re still a little hungry.

Nicholas Moreno

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FIRST TO MODERATELY LIKED

THE COUNTRY OF ARTO ★★☆☆☆

By Tamara Stepanyan

Céline (Camille Cottin), a French woman, arrives in Armenia on the native lands of her late husband. Unfortunately the local administration was unable to identify this man who apparently had things to hide. Then begins a road trip for her in a country fractured everywhere (after-effects still visible from the 1988 earthquake, tensions still high with neighboring Azerbaijan, etc.). She will soon meet a young woman (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) who will unknowingly involve her in dangerous trafficking. As Céline progresses in this obstacle course, her husband’s troubled past is revealed in all its tragic complexity. “Men are all liars…” says a bureaucrat. If with this first fiction feature the Armenian filmmaker with a background in documentary does not always manage to give rhythm to her story, the extreme sensitivity of the whole wins (almost) everything.

Thomas Baura

ON CUSTODY ★★☆☆☆

By Nelicia Low

This first feature features the reunion between Jie, a promising young fencing talent and his big brother, coming out of 7 years behind bars for killing an opponent during a competition. Accident or voluntary action? Years later, doubt remains present in Jie’s mind and fuels all the ambiguity of the film. This suspense is undeniably catchy but suffers from a scenario that tends to purr and lock its characters in too many archetypal shackles when it comes to freeing them in the home stretch.

Thierry Cheze

THE LAST WALTZ ★★☆☆☆

By Anselm Chan

It’s impossible not to be hooked by the start of this film, a huge hit at the Hong Kong box office and chosen as its representative in the race for the Oscar. We see Dominic, a wedding planner, riddled with debt after COVID, saved at the last minute by the outstretched hand of a retiring funeral director who entrusts him with his business. Everything is immediately said about the mixture of opposites which will be at work here and symbolized by the duo formed by Dominic and Master Man (played by Michael Hui, legend of Hong Kong comedy of the 70’s and 80’s, source of inspiration for Stephen Chow), a respected Taoist priest who has little taste for the creative – successful – touch brought to funeral ceremonies. But its duration works against this singular exploration of mourning and traditions which runs out of steam over its 2h20 concluded by a syrupy finale breaking the perfect balance which existed until then between laughter and tears. Damage.

Thierry Cheze

FIRST DID NOT LIKE

RETRO VADE ★☆☆☆☆

By Antonin Peretjatko

When we loved the brilliantly absurd humor of The Girl from July 14, it’s hard not to suffer in front of the new Antonin Peretjatko. There was, however, material for a delirious, biting and political comedy through the story of a vampire from a good Aristo-Reac family ordered to find a pure-blooded woman to bite and marry if he wants to survive and not be disowned by his parents. But once the pitch is made, nothing works. And calling on offbeat actors (Estéban, Arielle Dombasle) in an offbeat film has the direct consequence of making you go in circles.

Thierry Cheze

And also

Anaconda, by Tom Gormican