048. Le Moine / The Monk (France - 2011)

Dominik Moll recreates one of the most famous Gothic tales on film. And what a surprisingly pleasant rendition Le Moine was, from the spectacular acting of Cassel and Mouchet to the use of framing and clever editing in order to create an atmosphere of clerical dissolution. Ambrosio is an icon of religious genius being the gateway to ultimate sin and rupture with the Christian institution. A film well constructed in terms of setting and authenticity, it tells the story of a Spanish context in French, a genuinely Gothic modus operandi (Gothic fiction usually tells stories set in foreign lands, in different territories and mentalities). The story of incest and imminent doom gives way to beautiful photography and sound, and odd montage construction in scenes that depict dreamy situations. Great rendition of Matthew Lewis' text.

Director: Dominik Moll.

Score
Cinematography: 8.5
Acting: 8.5
Editing: 8.0
Sound: 8.0
Text: 7.5
Concept: 7.5
Premise Execution: 8.0

Average Score: 8.0

046. Oktapodi (France - 2007)

Another short-length animation. Last film before this long hiatus in which I'm going through a major change in my life, starting my doctorate in English Literature and Film in Florianópolis (I apologise for not having updated the blog in a long while). This one much better and more concise in its purposes than the last one. Two octopuses escape from their roles of attraction and decoration in a restaurant and fight their way through a small town to get to sea. It's a beautiful piece, and very well done in terms of animation, of mechanics. The sound is also synchronised, consonant with the premise of the film. Nice idea and well executed. And the first film on this blog with multiple directors.

Director: Julien Bocabeille, François-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier, and Emud Mokhberi.

Score
Cinematography: 8.0
(No Acting/Voice Acting)
Editing: 8.0
Sound: 8.0
(No Text)
Concept: 7.5
Premise Execution: 8.0

Average Score: 7.9

033. Les 400 Coups / The 400 Blows (France - 1959)

Another great film about family dissolution. The myth of school as a redeeming institution in the life of every man and woman doesn't sound convincing enough to the ears of Antoine Doinel. Truffaut creates a compelling tale of parents-child conflicts over the difficulties in raising a problematic son. Antoine is never successful at school, and his rebelling character strengthens itself with time, leading him to a life of thievery and lies, until his parents cannot stand it any longer, and finally send the lad to a correctional centre for youngsters. The problem is: are these parents - like many in real life - aware of their mistakes and negligence in raising their kid? They never seek any sensible dialogue, they never reconcile with the difficulties and try to face it realistically. To me, that was the point that stood out in Les 400 Coups.

Director: François Truffaut.

Score
Cinematography: 8.0

Acting: 8.5
Editing: 8.5
Sound: 7.5
Text: 7.5
Concept: 8.0
Premise Execution: 8.5

Average Score: 8.0

026. Marie Antoinette (United States and France - 2006)

A lavish production with empty premises. Sure, the parodic way Sofia Coppola found to depict the historical figure of Marie Antoinette can be a bit interesting, but that's as far as it goes. A bit interesting. The film contains beautiful images, both of scenery and of costumes/make-up/setting, but the dialogues are completely out of place. It seemed as though Sofia hadn't made up her mind about whether she wanted a historical film or a temporal adaptation, bringing the thematic nuances of the production to today's fads and language, as well as music. But it was a failure. Empty dialogues, messed up dramas and conflicts, and a disservice as regards social conscience: the working classes are seriously taken as a rather dull hindrance to the queen's luxury, while she celebrates her own futile events and indifference to her people. And there's no resolution that justifies that in the end. The subjective figure of Marie keeps on going as materialistic as possible.
What a lousy job, Sofia...

Director: Sofia Coppola.

Score
Cinematography: 7.5
Acting: 7.0
Editing: 6.0
Sound: 6.0
Text: 5.0
Concept: 6.0
Premise execution: 4.5

Average Score: 5.9

023. La Vie d'Adèle / Blue is the Warmest Colour (France - 2013)

Adèle is a girl like any other, but who has always been in some bothersome conflicts concerning her love life. As the film goes, she finds people in whom she'd be interested, but her doubts about her sexuality start tormenting her. That's before she meets Emma, a plastic artist whose blue hair possesses the main mise-en-scene element in the whole film. Not in vain, since Kechiche chooses well when to use the colour blue and what transitions it can trigger in the mood of the story. The strong scenes of love and sex between Adèle and Emma are probably the forte of the film, atmosphere-wise. Both "protagonists'" performances are great, and the drama generated by their conflicts (also caused by the ever tormenting doubt Adèle has towards her sexuality) divides the film in two major sections: the peaceful and caring living between the two of them (still when Emma has her charming blue hair) and the quarrelsome dilemmas in Adèle's life, especially when seeing her sweetheart already re-married and well-off with her art (and whose hair no longer responds to the English-language title of the film).

And the ending is superbly unconventional.

Director:  Abdellatif Kechiche.

Score
Cinematography: 8.5
Acting: 9.0
Editing: 8.5
Sound: 8.0
Text: 8.0
Concept: 7.5
Premise execution: 8.5

Average Score: 8.2

019. Je Vais Bien, ne t'en Fais Pas / Dont Worry, I'm Fine (France - 2006)

Adapted from a novel of same name by Olivier Adam, this is a film with a poor execution of a great concept. A young woman (Elise) returns home in Paris from a long trip to Spain to find that her brother - to whom she is extremely close; they're twins, you see - has had a violent argument with her father, and left home. The problem is, no one in her family knows where he is. Seeing as he is a talented musician, everyone pretends to assume that the young man is travelling all around the country, visiting cities and playing the guitar. No one seems to care much. Elise becomes obsessed with finding her brother, suffers from serious health problems resulting from her denial to eat anything. Ultimately, she finds out her brother has been dead all along, and that her parents have been covering up the story with his made up trips to exotic cities in France. Strong acting, good writing, gorgeous mise-en-scene elements.

The big issue here is the predictability of the film. From the very moment when the father sits in his armchair to watch the telly and bears a rather melancholic look on his eyes: we know what's happened. And that's about 10 min into the plot. That's a problem, Mr. Director. A big problem. Such a strong outcome of events shouldn't be so out there, and so early, for the narrative's sake. Halfway through the film he tries to turn the story around with the fake letters from Loïc to Elise, but by then the viewer has probably found cunning clues against the authenticity of such letters.
And don't you worry about spoilers, the film really establishes a sort of plotline forecast right at the beginning. A disappointment.

Director: Philippe Lioret.

Score
Cinematography: 8.0

Acting: 9.0
Editing: 5.5
Sound: 7.0
Text: 7.0

Average Score: 7.3

002. Mammuth (France - 2010)

Not sure what I felt when I watched Mammuth. It was also on the 11th, right after Summer Wars. From a relatively flamboyant filmic experience (typical of animes) to an apathetic, dull session of this French drama. Don't get me wrong, this is not necessarily bad. I quite like apathetic, dull narratives. Serge Pilardosse is a misanthrope that will win one's heart either by his honesty or his stupidity as he sets out on a French motorcycle quest in search for documents needed for him to be entitled to a retirement pension.
How can't one love Depardieu's acting? It's great here too, as usual.
However, the film has got plenty of cons, beginning with the confusing camera movement and cuts. Editing here is an enigma, floating from sequence to sequence without so much as a random blink. Dialogues are not special, but the general idea of the narrative is quite pleasing and dramatic. A subtle schizophrenia, dream-like existence, and the suffocating reality of Serge. I liked it.

Directors: Benoît Delépine & Gustave de Kervern.

Score (all the categories are score out of 10)
Cinematography: 8.0
Acting: 8.5
Editing: 5.5
Sound: 5.5
Text: 7.5

Average Score: 7.0