The invisible life of Eurídice Gusmão (A vida invisível)

In the Brazil of the 1950s sisters Eurídice and Guida Gusmão will go through a cruel fate and be separated by a most patriarchal society. It all start when Guida (Julia Stockler) elopes to Athens with a Greek sailor she fell for. Pregnant and abandoned by her Greek lover, she comes back home to be soundly rejected by her father (Antônio Fonseca). He also lies to her about Eurídice. He tells her that Eurídice is now living in Vienna and studying classical piano at the conservatory. The truth is that Eurídice’s dreams of becoming a classical pianist was thwarted because she married Antenor (Gregorio Duvivier) who soon got her pregnant. Actually, both sisters will be living in the same city without ever meeting each other. Guida thinks Eurídice is in Austria, Eurídice believes that Guida is still in Greece. Despite the many unanswered letters that Guida sent to her mom (Flávia Gusmão), who was forbidden by her husband to tell the truth to either daughters, and Eurídice’s questions, both were kept in the dark.Yes, The invisible life of Eurídice Gusmão is a melodrama. But a mix of realism and artificiality saves the film from becoming too heavy. Yes, these things happened to women, no matter what country. The cast is excellent, but it is the rare appearance of Oscar nominated Fernanda Montenegro (Central station) that is the draw. Although there are some implausibility, I still enjoyed it.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

The invisible life of Eurídice Gusmão (A vida invisível)

 

Directed by:
Karim Aïnouz

Screenplay by:
Murilo Hauser, Inés Bortagaray, Karim Aïnouz
Based on the novel by Martha Batalha

Starring:
Julia Stockler
Carol Duarte
Fernanda Montenegro
Gregorio Duvivier
Bárbara Santos
Antônio Fonseca
Flávia Gusmão

139 min.

In Portuguese with English subtitles.

Il pleuvait des oiseaux (And the birds rained down)

Filmed in beautiful Forêt Montmorency in Québec, Louise Archambault’s Il pleuvait des oiseaux has more than enough to please the moviegoers. Rémy Girard and Gilbert Sicotte play Tom and Charlie, two elderly men who have escaped the city and found refuge in the forest. They get occasional visits from Raf (Ève Landry), a female photojournalist doing a project about the survivors of what she calls «the great fires». Raf comes to talk to Boychuck (Kenneth Welsh), one Tom and Charlie’s companion. Boychuck’s painting about the fires is what Raf is looking for. But Boychuck just recently passed away and was unceremoniously buried in the forest. And then there is Gertrude (Andrée Lachapelle in her last film at 87), hiding after escaping a psychiatric institution. Gertrude was placed there when she was only 16 years old for religious reasons. Gertrude suffered so much abuses and mistreatment (she talks about the electro shocks, but says she’s happy to not having been lobotomize) that she seems in a constant state of anxiety. But there, living in Boychuck’s cabin in the forest, watching her new friends swim in the river, and learning how to swim herself, Gertrude is finally free and at peace. It does not take a long time before Charlie and Gertrude fall in love. But their idyllic paradise is threatened by the possibility of another fire and the authorities who are searching the woods. They have to leave. Beside Mathieu Laverdière’s cinematography of splendid landscapes, Archambault’s film will be mostly remembered because of the three leads. Rémy Girard as Tom, the impulsive, taciturn singer, has to plays the guitar and sing several songs (including some Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits). Girard is best known in Québec for his comic performances, it’s a surprise to see how effective he can be as a singer, it gives him a large range of emotion as an actor. Gilbert Sicotte’s Charlie is so much calmer than Tom. Charlie is a cancer survivor who is happy to be still alive and loving Gertrude. But it’s Lachapelle that is the most troubling and stunning performer here. Lachapelle dares (and shall I say bares) a lot in her scenes. Gertrude is like a fragile bird who needs to be handled with care. The actress brilliantly shows the slow process of recovery and Gertrude, at last, discovering love and happiness. Great!

In memoriam… Andrée Lachapelle (1931 – 2019). A legend of Québec stage, TV and cinema, Andrée Lachapelle was loved and respected by all. One of our greatest actress. Following a battle with cancer, Lachapelle died by medical assistance in dying at the age of 88.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

Il pleuvait des oiseaux (And the birds rained down)

 

Directed by:
Louise Archambault

Screenplay by:
Louise Archambault
Based on the novel by Jocelyne Saucier

Starring:

Gilbert Sicotte
Rémy Girard
Andrée Lachapelle
Ève Landry
Éric Robidoux
Kenneth Welsh
Marie-Ginette Guay
Louise Portal
Patricia Nolin

127 min.

Rated Parental Guidance

In French with English subtitles.

The song of names

The song of names begins one evening in 1951 at a concert hall where young Dovidl Rapoport was schedule to perform. But to the dismay of his adopted family, who are also the concert’s promoters, Dovidl is nowhere to be found. He never shows up. Flash forward 35 years, and Dovidl’s adopted brother Martin (played as an adult by Tim Roth, as a young man by Gerran Howell and as a child by Luke Doyle) is triggered to start investigating what happened to Dovidl (Clive Owen plays him as an adult, Jonah Hauer-King as a young man and Misha Handley as a child). He seemed to have disappeared. Dovidl was a Polish Jew who, during the war, was placed in Martin’s family. They took care of him, respecting the boy’s religion. Martin was initially jealous of this new arrival, but the two soon became best friends. Dovidl is a violin prodigy (although it is not always easy for actors to be believable). When Martin has found his brother, he also finds out why Dovidl missed the concert all these years ago and has not been seen since. And there is a promise that he will finally perform that concert. Adapted from a Norman Lebrecht novel, The song of names is at times touching but often frustrating. It suffers greatly from its labyrinthine plot. There so many flashbacks that we don’t have time to get to know any characters, so why should we care. If the film is well photographed and the production values are fine, we can’t say the same about the acting. What is worse, the film’s climactic concert is build up but doesn’t pan out. A dud, a total let down. Yes, there are some emotional scenes, but this isn’t it. At best The song of names is ordinary, at worse, it’s a mess.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

 

The song of names

 

Directed by:
François Girard

Screenplay by:
Jeffrey Caine
Based on the novel by Norman Lebrecht

Starring:
Tim Roth
Clive Owen
Jonah Hauer-King
Gerran Howell
Luke Doyle
Misha Handley
Catherine McCormack
Saul Rubinek

113 min.

Rated Parental Guidance

Antigone

Sophie Deraspe’s Antigone is based on Sophocles’s Greek tragedy, but also on the 2008 Montréal shooting of Fredy Villanueva. The action has been transposed to modern day Montréal. Teenager Antigone (Nahéma Ricci) and her family fled their country following the violent murder of their parents. The head of the family is grandmother Ménécée (Rashida Oussaada). They lead a peaceful life. Sister Ismène (Nour Belkhiria) is a Ismène hairdresser, and at school Antigone and Haemon (Antoine Desrochers) start a tentative romance. The calm is shattered when Antigone’s brothers, Étéocle (Hakim Brahimi) and Polynice (Rawad El-Zein), are involved in a scuffle with the police. Étéocle is shot dead, and Polynice is arrested and threatened with deportation. (We latter find out that the brothers were in a gang) Afraid that Polynice will be killed if he is returned to his country, Antigone has to act quickly. Her plan to help him escape works but Antigone is now a criminal. She becomes a hero when the population and social medias takes on her case. But the legal system – judges, lawyers, social workers and politicians (Paul Doucet as Haemon’s dad) – is stacked against Antigone and her family. They had no chance from the start. From what I know, some of the themes of Sophocles’s play are present here. Antigone’s passionate defiance of authorities and the uncaring, nasty ways she is being treated, not only by the system, but ultimately by some of the people closest to her. Even though her film is set in today’s Montréal, with characters who speak and live like Québecois, Deraspe has kept Sophocles’s theatrical and ritualistic poetry. She’s helped by a cast of mostly unknown actors. Nahéma Ricci is a real find, especially impressive since the film revolves almost entirely on her character. Invested emotionally as well as physically. To see.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

Antigone

 

Directed by:
Sophie Deraspe

Screenplay by:
Sophie Deraspe
Adapted from Sophocles’s Greek tragedy Antigone

Starring:
Nahéma Ricci
Rawad El-Zein
Hakim Brahimi
Rachida Oussaada
Nour Belkhiria
Antoine Desrochers
Paul Doucet

109 min.

Rated 14A

In French with English subtitles.

The Irishman

Legendary director Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas and Casino were based on the life of famous mobsters. His latest film tells the story of Frank Sheeran, hitman for the Northeastern Pennsylvania Bufalino crime family. As told by the aging Sheeran (Robert De Niro), spending his last years in a nursing home, the early scenes are expository. Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran started his crime career as a truck driver who was sold to local gangsters the meat he was suppose to deliver. Then Sheeran meets Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci), head of the Bufalino family, who hires him to be a killer. Sheeran marries twice and fathers a few children, and he becomes estranged from Peggy, one of his daughters (played as a child by Lucy Gallina and as an adult by Oscar winner Anna Paquin), who is aware of her father’s criminal career. We see Sheeran’s life as a killing machine, but these moments are only an introduction to the story about Jimmy Hoffa.  Jimmy Hoffa was the President of the teamsters union who disappeared in 1975. Sheeran becomes Hoffa’s bodyguard. They travel together, sleep in the same hotel rooms and become quite friendly. But after Hoffa spends time in prison and looses the teamsters’ presidency, he becomes too much of a problem for the mob. In Charles Brandt’s book, I heard you paint houses: Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran and closing the case on Jimmy Hoffa, Sheeran claimed in 2003 that he killed Hoffa. That has never been ascertained, but it makes for an exciting film. Why? Partly because of Al Pacino as Hoffa. Nobody is angry or swears like Pacino. He rips every scenes he’s in, but there’s more. It’s because of Al Pacino’s extreme acting, that we become conscious of De Niro and Pesci’s minimalist acting. At times they whisper their lines as we are on the edge of our seats. And it’s those two schools of acting that made The Irishman such a powerful experience. This is a different type of gangster film, where mobsters get older, are put in nursing homes, in wheelchairs and they die alone, estranged from their families. It is touching and troubling. The Irishman is an epic film. Robert De Niro (also one of the producers) brought the project to Scorsese after reading Brandt’s book. It took 14 years for the film to be produced. It is now produced and distributed by Netflix. Another fascinating aspect of the film is its de-aging CGI special effects. They are quite effective and seamless, but for a time I thought I was watching De Niro, Pacino and Pesci in make up. Scorcese has a loving way of filming his actors. We feel the affection he has for these characters. Here, he is not overburdened by heavy technical wizardry, it is just a beautiful directing job. The running time is 3 hours 29 minutes. We are lucky to get to see The Irishman in the cinemas. It has received limited release is a few repertory houses. Hurry up! This the movie event of the year.

And the winner was… The biggest loser. Ten nominations, not a single win.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

The Irishman

Directed by:
Martin Scorsese

Screenplay by:
Steven Zaillian
Based on the memoir I heard you paint houses: Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran and closing the case on Jimmy Hoffa by Charles Brandt

Starring:
Robert De Niro
Al Pacino
Joe Pesci
Ray Romano
Anna Paquin
Bobby Cannavale
Kathrine Narducci
Harvey Keitel

209 min.

Britt-Marie was here (Britt-Marie var här)

Pernilla August plays the 63-year-old Britt-Marie, a woman married to the same man for the last 40 years. Britt-Marie certainly knows how to clean a house. After she vacuums, polish the cutlery and do the laundry, her husband Kent (Peter Haber) comes home, eats the meal that Britt-Marie lovingly cooked and sits in front of the TV to watch soccer. Every night. Britt-Marie hates soccer. It’s a bit ironic that when she leaves him after finding out he’s been cheating on her, the only job she can find is as a soccer coach. The job is in the small village of Borg and the young people in the team really need help since the old coach has died. But is a 63-year-old housewife what they need? Meanwhile, Britt-Marie strikes a flirtatious friendship with Sven (Anders Mossling), Borg’s policeman. And Kent comes to Borg and ask her to come back home. This light drama is based on a Swedish novel by Fredrik Backman (who also wrote A man called Ove). I’ve seen so many of those films: A middle aged/elderly woman finds a new lease on life after she leaves her husband. Those films are very popular with a certain crowd, depending who is the main actress. August does the best she can, but the production lacks a bit of energy and originality. If I could describe it I would call it “cute”.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

Britt-Marie was here (Britt-Marie var här)

 

Directed by:
Tuva Novotny

Screenplay by:
Anders Frithiof August
Øystein Karlson
Tuva Novotny
Based on the novel by Fredrik Backman

Starring:
Pernilla August
Malin Levanon
Peter Haber
Anders Mossling
Vera Vitali
Stella Oyoko Bengtsson

94 min.

In Swedish and German with English subtitles.

Le mystère Henri Pick (The mystery of Henry Pick)

Young editor Daphné (Alice Isaaz) finds a new unpublished and rejected novel she thinks might be a masterpiece and a bestseller. “The last hours of a love story” authored by Henry Pick, owner of a pizza parlor in Brittany. Madeleine (Josiane Stoléru), his widow is gobsmacked. She never knew her husband could write, especially a novel on Russian author Alexander Pushkin. The same goes for Joséphine (Camille Cottin), Pick’s daughter. The novel is published and becomes an enormous hit and a sensation. Daphné and Madeleine are invited to a popular literary talk-show. Jean-Michel Rouche (Fabrice Luchini), the show’s pompous host starts questioning the authorship of such a great novel. How could a simple pizza maker, Rouche asks, write a masterpiece? Understandably, Madame Pick walks off the set, and Rouche gets an earful from Joséphine. As a result, Rouche is fired from the show and his wife divorces him. But Rouche persists and becomes obsessed with proving that he is right. He plays detective and goes back to visit Madeleine and her daughter. Joséphine follows his lead, in her case to prove Rouche wrong. I found the film and the story amusing, peopled with great characters, perfectly cast. And even though Fabrice Luchini plays a most annoying person, this time it was tolerable and even fun. And a good time was had by all.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

Le mystère Henri Pick (The mystery of Henry Pick)

 

Directed by:
Rémi Bazançon

Screenplay by:
Rémi Bazançon
Vanessa Portal
Based on the novel by David Foenkinos

Starring:
Fabrice Luchini
Camille Cottin
Alice Isaaz
Bastien Bouillon
Vincent Winterhalter
Josiane Stoléru

100 min.

In French and Russian with English subtitles.

Vita & Virginia

Vita & Virginia is about the 10-year love affair between famed authors Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. Eileen Atkins wrote and performed a play, also titled Vita & Virginia, adapted from the letters they wrote to each other and their diaries. Now Atkins and director Chanya Button have opened it up to include other members of the Bloomsbury group of intellectual friends in the first half of the 20th century. Among the group there was Virginia Woolf and her husband publisher Leonard Woolf (Peter Ferdinando), Vita and her husband, author, diplomat and politician Sir Harold Nicolson (Rupert Penry-Jones), and others. There was a lot of bisexuals and homosexuals, even though most were married, probably more out of appearances than real love. Vita (Gemma Arterton) romantically pursues Virginia Woolf (Elizabeth Debicki) and the two have a passionate off-and-on relationship. It centers the creation of Woolf’s novel Orlando modeled on Vita’s life and personality. Beside that you have countless scenes of boring table conversations between artists from the Bloomsbury group. Except from the historical context where one can say “Yes, Virginia there were LGBTQ people before Stonewall!”, it doesn’t really varies from your usual Masterpiece theatre presentation. More visually stunning is the treatment of Virginia Woolf’s mental illness. One scene has her walking in a room where plants are growing out of the floorboards and from the chair where Leonard is smoking his pipe. In other places you have the actresses reading from the love letters. You want more moments that centers on the women’s work rather than their surroundings. On the acting side the only saving grace is Isabella Rossellini (Ingrid Bergman’s daughter) as Vita Sackville-West’s mother. Lady Sackville does not approve of her daughter’s lesbian affairs and Rossellini and her piercing eyes are perfect here. Unfortunately she has only two short scenes. Like the rest of the film, there is too little of the good stuff, and too much of the pomposity. A missed opportunity.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

 

Vita & Virginia

 

Directed by:
Chanya Button

Screenplay by:
Eileen Atkins
Chanya Button
Based on the letters of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West

Starring:
Gemma Arterton
Elizabeth Debicki
Isabella Rossellini
Rupert Penry-Jones
Peter Ferdinando

110 min.

Rated 14A

JT LeRoy

Truth is stranger than fiction, they say. And the case of JT LeRoy it’s so weird that it’s hard to believe. In 2000 author Laura Albert (Laura Dern) penned a novel called Sarah, but published it under the pseudonym of “JT LeRoy”, a kind of fake literary persona, what Laura described as an “avatar”. Sarah was supposed to be based on LeRoy’s own abused childhood, living with his prostitute mother and his coming out as an androgynous boy/girl. Through e-mails and on the phone, Laura Albert pretends to be JT LeRoy. But since he doesn’t really exist, JT can’t do interviews in person or make public appearances. That’s until Savannah Knoop (Kristen Stewart), Albert’s sister-in-law is asked to impersonate JT LeRoy. Wearing a blond wig, Knoop is always accompanied be Laura posing as “Speedie”, her British agent. While posing as JT, Savannah falls for Eva (Diane Kruger), a German filmmaker who wants to make a film version of Sarah. It gets messier when Laura’s boyfriend (Savannah’s brother) threatens to leave if she doesn’t stop the masquerade. But she is obsessed and can’t seem to be able to stop. Laura Dern gives enough hysterical energy to win several Oscars, and a Nobel prize. It’s too much too many times. Contrast that with Kristen Stewart’s evasive minimalism as Savannah/JT. Does Stewart know why she is making that film or did she make a conscious decision to be so vague that nothing on an emotional level registers with the audience? It’s a collage of unaccomplished ideas. And lets not talk about credibility. I could never believe that Stewart/Savannah could pass as a boy (androgynous or not). And that wig is laughable. As it stands now JT LeRoy is a mess to be put in the WTF file.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

JT LeRoy

 

Directed by:
Justin Kelly

Screenplay by:
Justin Kelly
Savannah Knoop
Based on Knoope’s memoir Girl boy girl: How I became JT LeRoy

Starring:
Laura Dern
Kristen Stewart
Diane Kruger
Jim Sturgess
Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Courtney Love

108 min.

Un amour impossible (An impossible love)

What makes Un amour impossible a fairly good film is that we have never seen a character like Philippe Arnold, so perfectly and clearly defined by Franco-Canadian actor Niels Schneider. But the film’s main character is Rachel Steiner (Virginie Efira, Schneider’s partner in real life). Rachel and Philippe meet in 1958. They have sex and a daughter, Chantal, is born. That’s when Philippe becomes illusive. It seems to us that Rachel has no clue what is happening. But we’re ahead of her. Philippe Arnold is a young man from a wealthy family, would not let it be known that he had a daughter with a simple office worker. It’s all about of class. But that is OK with Rachel, who loves Philippe and is ready to love him whenever he shows up, which is not very often actually. As for their daughter, Philippe simply stays away for a few years. He really starts to try having a relationship with Chantal (Estelle Lescur) when she is a teenager. But he stays cold and distant. He is resisting to the proposition that she officially take is family name. Then he gets closer to Chantal, to the point that the young lady gets along better with her dad than her mom. A weird reversal. That’s when Rachel discovers the truth about Philippe and Chantal. Un amour impossible is very good at understanding, and making us understand, where everyone positions themselves. Like many woman of her time, Rachel let men walk all over them. Men of Philippe’s standing knew they could get away with it. And so they did. Philippe’s impositions are not violent, but he’s just a very imposing man who knows how to control people. Virginie Efira, who was playing comedy in Le grand bain a few month ago, carries the film with her raw emotions. Rachel’s frustrating paralysis is terrible to watch, but so real. Niels Schneider is so dark here that he certainly won’t win any popularity contest. But he does well for the film. At the end teenage and adult Chantal (Jehnny Beth) becomes estranged from her mom. The love that is impossible is also between Rachel and Chantal. It’s daughter against mother, woman against woman. Typically French! And it justifies this turn around by over intellectual over analysis. For sure it is a highly dysfunctional situation, but it got worse, in my opinion, when he got back into the picture. So half of a good film. Close, but no cigar!

Rémi-Serge Gratton

Un amour impossible (An impossible love)

 

Directed by:
Catherine Corsini

Screenplay by:
Catherine Corsini
Laurette Polmanss
Based on the novel by Christine Angot

Starring:
Virginie Efira
Niels Schneider
Estelle Lescur
Jehnny Beth

135 min.

In French with English subtitles.