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morgane.mc.scelt
Reviews
Ma femme est une actrice (2001)
France's sweethearts
It's not the first time that cinema wants to make us share the intimacy of its stars, F.Truffaut in "La Nuit Américaine", had already given us a magic , almost documentary-like sometimes, film about life on the shooting of a movie, and the problems of stardom in private life. Closer to us "Notthing Hill" and "America's Sweethearts" (both with the Bubly Julia Roberts) had shown an almost fairy tale-like vision of romance between stars and "anonymous", very disapointing and quite uninteresting by the way! But this french romantic comedy is a miracle! It avoids all the obstacles on which the 2 previous movies had crashed, in breef, its strengh , sucess and personality come from its "frenchness", and also, but it's so obvious that I quite forgot to say it(!),from the couple in life starring the couple in the film (!!) : Charlotte Gainsbourg & Yvan (and not Yvonne as calls him Terence Stamp!!!!) Attal. Attal films his wife with intelligence, sensibility and simplicity, as if he wanted us to understand and to share his love for her, and, guess what......he suceeds!! We can't help loving her! We saw her growing, become a woman, an actress, with her style , at the same time like her mother (Jane Birkin) but also herself, more fragile, more beautiful, gracious and...rare. Attal as chosen her because she's his wife, but she is the only actress that could have brought to the movie such a fresh touch, and that could have provoked such an enthousiasm; for she is that actress everyone knows almost since ever. Yvan Attal plays Yvan , Charlotte's husband, a sports journalist that somehow lives in her shaddow, he had already chosen in his short movie on this theme to be a John Doe. This choice is catchy for like this he "embodies" the spectator, but it also gives him the opportunity to have a kind of naive vision of the seventh art world...but maybe he just doesn't consider himself has a real star and leaves the spotlight to his wife..... chivalrous, French and talented, what a catch Charlotte!!! To put in a nutshell the movie works perfectly, and its chemistry works so well, so easily, that "heaven, we're in heaven(!)" and Terence Stamp's guest star's appearing is just perfect, a slight touch of Britain...rejoycing!
15 Minutes (2001)
TV as the power...
revelation at the end. I don't know how the U.S. audience reacted to this movie but I can swear here that French teenagers really did love it! For me, it's one of the best "action movie" I've seen in years. The first reason why it's so great is that after about 15 minutes, you don't know anymore what you should expect. This movie is playing with your reflexes. The story is quite basic: 2 guys from eastern Europe come to the States in order to get back their part of the money of the hold up they were in jail for (I hope you understand what I say, because the way I'm writing it may seem confusing!). They arrive at their friend's home and ask him for the money, the problem is that the guy as already spend it all. One of the guys gets mad and kill his friend and his girlfriend. The story could easily stop there, but the other guy, obsessed with movies, as filmed the whole scene, and a girl as seen everything. But she is illegaly in the U.S.A., and so doesn't really seems incline to go to the police. Whatever. 2 very different cops (Robert De Niro, the mediatic one, and Edward Burns, the purely professional one) are on the case... Yes, I know, it doesn't appears like something incredible, but even though we're sure they're going to catch the murderers, the construction of the scenario creates the uncertainess and the suspense. How are they going to find these guys with almost nothing? What are the guys going to do? What's going to happen to the only witness?... Well, you'll now it if you see the movie, but till then I can take the time to write about the directing and the story. John Herztfeld plays with the possibilities offered by the scenario, he films entire scenes with the digital camera of the murderer, using the visual effects and giving a new new vision of the violence. Steven Spielberg prefers filming the faces of the characters in front of horror or inexplainable, but Hertzfeld prefers to show only half of the violence, scarcely hiding it with ugly colors and so on, and leaving us imaginating what we can't see well. Even if the end is quite conventional (if you've seen Seven, you won't be so surprised), the movie is quite agressive. The critic of the trash T.V., of the "cowardice" of our society which always accuses someone else for its own faults, and of the "irrelevantness" of American laws is direct and maybe (as some might say) a little to explicit. But the denunciation of the abusive power and moral corruption of the medias which have turned the American audience into peeping Tom's is interesting and highly pleasing the European's audiences (we feel innocents and pure as new born babes when we leave the cinema!!!). It's also very "funny" and scary to see how in the country of G.W.Bush Jr where executions are aired on T.V., the laws can be used in such a way that the criminals appear like victims and can get money from the atrocities they've done. Obviously, the "Son of Sam Law" is not at all as well-thought as it seems! To finish with this movie, I recommand it to anyone more than 16 years old (for France) that is not really in love with the States. It interesting , violent, and Ed Burns is the new Richard Gere the ladies were waiting for ,you're going to like him! If you're fan or in love with the bright Bob De Niro, you will be deceived for he doesn't reach the end, and also because this is not at all a new part for him.
La bostella (2000)
after "let's dance the Carioca", "let's dance the Bostella", no french cinema isn't dead!
Hi everybody !!! I'm very proud to write about this VERY GOOD FRENCH MOVIE (it's such a pleasure to put this words together!!!!). Do I need to say that I really enjoyed it?... I don't think so, but what I want, And must tell you is why I liked it. To begin with, I must precise, for the foreigners or persons that don't know EDOUARD BAER ( THE director, actor, co-screenwriter). That this film is based on a serie of very short sketches shown in a french talk show: N.P.A. These little jokes were "directed" by Ed Baer and performed by him and his group of looney friends. The film is the story of this group which settles for a month in Provence to prepare a TV show . Of course it deals with humour, and telly, but also with the difficulties of beeing an actor and specialy a comic. *** I don't wan't to spoil your movie so be careful because I will reveal some things.*** the kind of humour that was used in "le centre de visionnage..."isn't really mine, but I laugh. Because of Jo dressed in girl, of Gillou who tries ( how pitiously) to copy M.Miers or Sceamy and of Ed who tells him when he discovers that is friend wants to kill him: "come on GIllou let's kill somebody else." But LA BOSTELLA isn't only a big joke, I found it very tragic and scaring, particularly when Ed and another guy, totally drunk go to "Corinne"'s room to " play the doctor". It's horrible because it can happen. Their frenesy also put some dizziness in this drama of comedy. The last trump of the film is Ed Baer, nevrotic , funny, awful ,lovable and so cute, he is FANTASTIC, to me ( after his great begining in RIEN SUR ROBERT) a star is born. This film is an evidence of his intelligence and talent. I don't think he's going to read it ( I can dream...)but:
THANK YOU M. BAER AND GO ON BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU!!!!!! To see without hesitation.
Armageddon (1998)
Isn't it a little bit like DEEP IMPACT ?
First I want to say that I am French so forgive my faults.
The principal thing that appeared to me while I was seeing this movie was: Why have they made a remake of Deep Impact? I must confess that it's better than it (to me) but it really is a problem to me.Personally I didn't like Armageddon but I just wanted to hightlight an important problem of this kind of action movies: the credibility and realism. Just an exemple particular to this movie: these kind of spacial missions require years, to prepare and to reach their objectives (if they ever reach them!). I know that people are not going to make research to know if they haven't been told anything but it's always that kind of detail that bothers me.
Anyway if you don't care about those things you're going to enjoy Bruce Willis who's saving the world once more.