Petit Bulletin SAINT-ETIENNE - Cinema Saint-Etienne: And also… - To see by the end of the year - article published by Vincent Raymond

★★★★☆Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn by Radu Jude (Rou, int-16 with warning, 1h46). with Katia Pascariu, Claudia Ieremia, Olimpia Mălai… (15/12) The Golden Bears follow each other and are not alike… while having points in common. As The Devil does not exist, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn evokes a taboo — not death but sex, with the ordeal of a highly rated professor, whose (very) intimate video has been publicly posted online and seen by her students and forced to save her job during a meeting with the parents of the school where she works. In three well-felt acts, Radu Jude strikes a chord with the hypocrisy of his proudly nationalist country (long shots of its duality of decrepit neighborhoods/global-standardized commercial zones), and of his fellow citizens who are quick to set themselves up as champions of good morals (but nevertheless willingly libidinous, voyeurs, informers, prevaricators, revisionists, homophobes, misogynists, racists, no longer even seeking to repress their hideous inclinations under the mask of propriety; one would think part of the French electorate). Between the two, he composes an alphabetical and visual mix of great inventiveness, which will reveal the details of the Romanian unconscious to neophytes. With a prodigious dialectical and critical richness, intensely funny (even if we laugh out loud) and surprising right down to its outcome, this film includes in its acknowledgments the late group of cinephiles La Loupe - which encouraged the sharing of untraceable works than piracy. And so, the proof, at creation.

★★★★☆A hero by Asghar Farhadi (Ir.-Fr., 2h07) with Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh, Sahar Goldust… Asghar Farhadi builds a new infernal mechanism for an absurd tragedy where a poor fellow finds himself forced (by the some and to accommodate others) to claim a good deed that he did not commit. His gesture will complete the devastation of his existence and underline the moral paradoxes, the daily spinelessness in an implacable fall of dominoes - proof that one should not be of service? Against a background of debt of honor and money, of morals and appearances, of real vanity disguised as false devotion, this always ambiguous portrait of Iranian society passed by Cannes is a big favorite for the third Oscar for foreign language film. by Farhadi.

★★★☆☆Dear Léa By Jérôme Bonnell (Fr., 1h30) with Grégory Montel, Grégory Gadebois, Anaïs Demoustier… Excelling in the art of delicacy and the capture of ordinary sentimental fragilities, Jérôme Bonnell finds Anaïs Demoustier for this tender story where a man, taking refuge in a café to write a long letter to his mistress, befriends the café owner during a day that is more than incredible. A bromance between the electric Grégory Montel and the reassuring Grégory Gadebois, crossed by luminous female characters, and a gallery of portraits of people from this neighborhood bistro reminiscent of the poetic realism of Renoir. A lesson in staging, too: rarely is there such intelligent use of an almost unique place.

★★★☆☆The Test by Emmanuel Poulain-Arnaud (Fr., 1h30) with Alexandra Lamy, Philippe Katerine, Matteo Perez… (29/12) Hectic chase where a family ruled by a supercharged executive mother must find who has could well have abandoned a positive pregnancy test in the toilets, this beautifully quirky comedy, remarkably well interpreted (especially by young actors) does not hesitate to tarnish the educational manias of CSP+, ridiculous in their “benevolent” interactions with their offspring . A memorable psychoanalysis session completes the conviction that this little world is indeed neurotic.

★★★☆☆Belle by Mamoru Hosoda (Jap, 2h02) with the voices of Louane Emera, Kaho Nakamura, Koji Yakusho… (29/12) Ok, it doesn't reach the stratospheric heights of its previous anime — n prevents: a Mamoru Hosoda remains an event. New fable on the hiatus between the real world and its “double” — particularly topical here since it deals with a metaverse where a complexed and lonely teenager flourishes thanks to her avatar, pop icon — Belle reconnects with his beloved Hosoda themes and his impressive graphic mastery (paying his tribute to Satoshi Kon). Caviar for the eyes; we can however have the eardrum weakened by the songs…

For the last couple of years I have been teaching a lot of journalists how to tell a story. In 2020 I hope to get t… https://t.co/AtE1PfwoZA

— WytseVellinga Wed Jan 01 16:29:03 +0000 2020

★★☆☆☆The Snow Panther by and with Marie Amiguet & Vincent Munier (Fr., 1h32) also with Sylvain Tesson… (15/12) Narrating the photographic hunt for the aforementioned feline in Tibet, this documentary is none other than the starting point (and therefore the making of) of Sylvain Tesson's best seller, Prix Renaudot 2019 — one of those schools of patience and self-exploration-of-the-inner-self which flourish nowadays, transforming their authors into personal development gurus. As the film focuses on the long unsuccessful quest for the secret tomcat, we could have expected a pretty exotic postcard; alas, Tesson's logorrhea, whose voice-over fills the silence with excerpts from his story, deprives us of the meditation of the lookout and the landscapes.

★★☆☆☆Mystère by Denis Imbert (Fr., 1h23) with Vincent Elbaz, Shanna Keil, Marie Gillain… (15/12) A girl devastated by the disappearance of her mother rediscovers a taste for country life by collecting a puppy in hiding from his father. Only, it is actually a wolf cub and his house is surrounded by breeders hostile to wolves, so inevitably, it will get stuck. Thanks to a nice veterinarian (ideal maternal substitute), all this will end classically well. Otherwise, this film raises a fundamental question: has Tchéky Karyo converted into a part-time alpine farmer?

★☆☆☆☆ The Cloud in Her Room by Xinyuan Zheng Lu (Chi.-H.-K., 1h41) with Zhou Chen, Ye Hongming, Jin Jing… (22/12) We undoubtedly owe the Bogeyman the idea of ​​stalling this abstract and abstruse filmic object made in China just before Christmas. Probably concealing one or more stories behind its slightly flashy semi-experimental form and a very aesthetic black and white (that's already it) The Cloud in Her Room possibly tells the remains of sentimental relationships but above all gives the impression of contemplating oneself. Golden Tiger at the Rotterdam festival in February 2020. Like what…

Not (yet) seen

12/15: Spider-Man: No Way Home by Jon Watts; 12/22: All in Scene 2 by Garth Jennings; Matrix Resurrections by Lana Wachowski; 12/29 The Card Counter by Paul Schrader; The King's Man: Matthew Vaughn's First Mission; Lamb by Valdimar Jóhannsson; Deception by Arnaud Desplechin.