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Adieu les Cons: Review

Released for the first time in 2020 before the closure of theaters in France, “Adieu les cons” (Bye Bye Morons in English), directed by Albert Dupontel, was a success with the critics but also with the public. The film received 7 Césars last March, including Best Film and Best Director, and is now one of the flagship film of the reopening of theaters in France.

Albert Dupontel, mainly known for his film Bernie (1996) or for his role in Gaspard Noé’s Irreversible (2002), also recently shined with his film Au revoir là-haut (2017), a historical film about the consequences of the war, which won 5 Césars including Best Director. We also talked about him in 2017 when he announced his refusal to go to ceremonies dedicated to the cinema. He said that he was “perplexed by this kind of intellectual judgment” and had therefore decided to step aside.

In “Adieu les cons’” we follow two main characters, Suze Trappet (played by Virginie Efira) and Jean-Baptiste Cuchas (played by Albert Dupontel). One is suffering from an autoimmune disease that attacks her bronchial tubes and the other is planning to commit suicide after a burn-out. Suze Trappet has only one desire left, to find her daughter whom she was forced to abandon when she was fifteen. Her meeting with Jean-Baptiste Cuchas, allows her to get past the heaviness and slowness of the bureaucracy.

The strength of this film is, as Virginie Efira says, that “it can have several readings” and that it will therefore suit a large majority of the public. The first reading is composed of an adventure intermingled with scenes ranging from the burlesque to the tragic.

Then we have a second reading, which remains very accessible, which proposes a reflection on the society, on the shortcomings of technology but also on its potential benefits, on the social relationships at work and on the transformation and the loss of identity of our cities. However, the story of the adventure is not realistic in the strict sense of the word, there are scriptural facilities, but if you have managed to get into the film and into the world of Albert Dupontel, these facilities will not be a problem, we do not expect to attend a logical and realistic story but to a story who is more like a tale or a poetry.

During this quest of Suze and Jean-Baptiste, Albert Dupontel will make us meet endearing characters, sometimes annoying but always very interesting and well-worked.

We find Nicolas Marié who plays Sergeant Blin, a blind man who will also have a major role in this adventure, Jackie Berroyer who plays a former doctor, who is now suffering from alzheimer’s disease. Virginie Efira confirms that she is one of the most brilliant French actresses of her generation. She fits perfectly into the particular universe of Albert Dupontel. She will be the lead actress in Paul Verhoeven’s next film “Benedetta” which will be released in 2021, and this promises only good things.

Thanks to its characters, its direction and its narrative, the film alternates between different emotions, from laughter to sadness. But we can feel a great wave of melancholy, which asks us about the passage of time, the choices we make and will make throughout our lives. It’s a reflection on our existence, our place in society and the role we want to play in it.

Albert Dupontel confirms with “Adieu les cons” that he is a complete director and a very talented actor who masters his universe to perfection.

2nd June 2021
3 Ways To Overcome Boredom When You Have Nothing To Do

3 Ways To Overcome Boredom When You Have Nothing To Do.

Sometimes it seems like there is nothing you can do to keep the boredom at bay. Of course, it is good to take breaks every so often to avoid being overworked, but it can be just as bad for your health to sit idle and do nothing. This is especially true now, with many people staying at home due to the coronavirus, as boredom naturally comes with that. So, break away from the stagnation with these top three things that you can do to overcome your boredom.

1 – Obtain a New Skill

Most people prefer to do something with their free time rather than just sit. Yes, there are days when all you can do is lie on the couch and watch Netflix, but when that boredom kicks in, use it for something productive. Think about what you would like to know or learn about. It can be painting, arts and crafts, or learning a new language.

You might even discover that you have a creative side, or that you are skilled in something you never realized. Maybe you have a knack for building birdhouses or that guitar you always wanted to play is easier than you thought. There is a limitless number of resources online if you want to self-teach, or even find an art class or tutor. The main point is that you are doing something that will give you a feeling of satisfaction for being productive.

2 – Find an Online Game

Nowadays you can play almost any game online and connect with your friends. This is a great way to stay away from boredom while still interacting with loved ones during COVID-19. You can even use your smartphone which is ideal if you don’t have a lot of space in your house. Go to your smartphone’s app store and search for either online or offline games. There are thousands to choose from, so you are bound to find something that piques your interest.

If you have a desktop PC, your options are even better. There are card games like Solitaire or Rummy, car racing, and even co-op fighting that can be enjoyed online. Have a quick look at these available online games that you can easily get stuck into.

3 – Spring Clean Your Home

This may sound even more boring to some than just sitting on the couch, but your mental health and body will thank you for it. Dust has an amazing way of getting into the smallest cracks and collects more bacteria that you are breathing in daily. Start simple by going through all your drawers and closets, throwing away anything that you have not used in the last 6 months. If you have sentimental items, keep them, but the idea is that you declutter everything that is taking up unnecessary space.

When you are bored, it means that you are not being properly engaged and that feeling is your body’s way of telling you to get up and do something meaningful. It can be harmful to your health and mental wellbeing if you are not regularly exercising all your muscles, and the brain is a muscle that needs to be stimulated. Don’t let boredom stand in the way of doing something that will make you happy.

2nd June 2021
Cruella: Disney+ Talk

Another year, another Disney film where a classic villain is taken out of the vaults and given an origin story. However, while 2014’s ‘Maleficent’ aimed to make the Sleeping Beauty villain sympathetic, ‘Cruella’ instead embraces its madness and just tells the story of how Cruella came to be the puppy killer that she is.

‘Cruella’ stars Emma Stone as the titular character as she unexpectedly moves to London, meets thieves Horace and Jasper and moves up in the fashion world, rivalling fashion goddess The Baroness (Emma Thompson).

Just as Glenn Close elevated the role of the older Cruella De Vil in the live action ‘101 Dalmatians’, Emma Stone brings a charm to the young Cruella. Despite developing into a villain, she’s captivating and demands attention whenever she’s onscreen. And, while she is sympathetic at first as the shy and innocent Estella, she eventually morphs into the iconic character (a little suddenly) and fully embraces it. Her interactions with Jasper and Horace are also meaningful and is consistent with what will eventually occur. However, my favourite interactions were between Cruella and fashion seller Artie (John McCrea – Everybody’s Talking About Jamie). They had amazing chemistry and were a delight to watch together. While Jasper and Horace accepted Cruella, it felt like Artie truly understood her. Overall, Emma Stone is phenomenal as Cruella and was the perfect casting choice. Emma Thompson is also fantastic as the strict and arrogant fashion star The Baroness. She brings a stern and straight-faced attitude to the role that would make Meryl Streep blush.

And this is said because, in making ‘Cruella’, Disney have also made their version of ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. And while the cast were amazing, the costume designer Jenny Beaven (Christopher Robin, Mad Max: Fury Road) deserves a standing ovation for her magnificent work on the costumes. Costumes rarely get mentioned in my reviews purely because they’re not a prominent aspect in the focal films. However, the outfits are just as much as a character here as the rest of the actors and they are outstanding and impressive. Specific outfits are one involving a 40 ft trail made of scrap fabric, a spotted punk outfit, and a red and black long dress in the realms of the Red Queen from ‘Alice in Wonderland’. They’re all unique and different from each other and, as someone who has no interest in fashion, I actually found myself wanting all of Cruella’s outfits! After this, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jenny Beaven announces a fashion line.

The film has a lot to do here in terms of plot: tell viewers about her childhood, how she met Horace and Jasper then explain how she became Cruella De Vil. And with the 2 hour 15-minute runtime, the film is, strangely, too long. There were a lot of scenes, specifically in the first act, that could’ve been cut mainly because it expected its audience to not have basic prior knowledge of ‘101 Dalmatians’. Which, for a classic like that, is ridiculous to think.

Cruella

The film’s soundtrack is also strange. ‘Cruella’ takes a page out of the book of 2016’s ‘Suicide Squad’ by placing various pop songs throughout. Some of the songs chosen do work but the film is overloaded with too many songs to the point where, while a scene was occurring, a song finished and the next one immediately started. They’re even placed in scenes that would’ve worked better with ambient sound or a score. With all of the film’s strengths, the soundtrack was more of an annoyance due to there being too much of it.

I originally thought ‘Cruella’ was going to be another unnecessary offering from Disney. However, this is a fabulous film. Emma Stone fully embraces the role of Cruella De Vil and captures her rebellious attitude perfectly. Emma Thompson is also fantastic as The Baroness. Each character is interesting and has a purpose for being in the film and even the impressive costumes are seen as a character, comfortably taking centre stage when the demand is needed. Interestingly, its biggest flaw is that Disney have based this around a well-known villain when the film should’ve centred on an original character, especially because it has to be consistent with the 1961 animated classic. There’s specifically a mid-credit scene that raises a couple of questions. However, it doesn’t overall hurt the film and it’s definitely enjoyable without having seen the source material. Disney now have their own ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and that is ‘Cruella’!

2nd June 2021
Gunda: Review

Anyone going into director Viktor Kosakovskiy’s Gunda expecting to see a customary nature documentary will be very disappointed. That Gunda is not your typical nature documentary, however, is a good thing. There is no human voice narrating the “action;” hence there is no anthropomorphizing of the animals or their “motivations.” There are no quick edits that jump from animal to animal in an effort to satisfy short attention spans. There are no “action” sequences of lions chasing water buffaloes. Kosakovskiy allows the animals—pigs, cows, and a one-legged chicken–to take centerstage and dictate things at their pace.

Gunda is filmed in black and white. The play of light and shadow upon the animals, the dark intimacy of their enclosures and pens, and their roaming about in the light of day gives Gunda an otherworldliness, a timelessness, a feeling of time lived and not measured by ticks on a clock or months on a calendar. The pacing is slow, but your patience is rewarded by breathtaking moments, too many to count. One such moment involves the careful, deliberate step of a chicken. Never before in the history of film has a suspended claw in midair, coming down, and finally meeting with soil been captured in such dramatic fashion. Kosakovskiy captures the exact moment a sow is awakened by her hungry piglets. A mad scramble for their mother’s milk ensues. These scenes of piglets maneuvering for a better position in hopes of obtaining milk from their mother’s nipple are intimate, primal, and yet beautiful.

Gunda presents a world of wonder for a human species that has forgotten how to find wonder in other species. Humans all too often see animals in terms of agricultural standing reserve, profit, and efficient exploitation. Gunda presents these animals with dignity, with a vitality that goes beyond economic exploitation. Cows stare at the camera, at us, in their eyes the sublime mystery of a consciousness we will never fully understand. There is also an unexpected scene in which a passing storm allows the pigs a chance to drink rainwater as it falls from the sky. As beautiful as the images in Gunda may be, it is the sounds created by these animals and their natural surroundings that steal the show. Gunda’s pacing allows us to focus on a rich cacophony on non-human, non-industrial, and non-technological sounds—the squeal of piglets, the steps of a chicken upon soil, the buzzing of insects, and the varied songs of birds beyond the camera frame.

Gunda makes you think about human time and its pacing. Watch the news and you become aware of the hyperkinetic pacing of humans—breaking news, disasters every minute, murders by the second, constant updates on our phones. Our phones buzz, traffic lights change, work demands make us move about hastily, and the hurly-burly of late capitalism captures us in its hyper-speed as our thoughts jump from one thing to another without pause. Nature moves at a different pace. When you go on a hike or even sit in your backyard you notice that nature is slower, more deliberate. You also find that your mind and your senses slow down and become keener. Once you allow nature’s clock to converge with your own clock, you may find yourself more aware of the sounds around you, the sights around you, and you are more likely to catch a wondrous natural event. Gunda offers us many of those wondrous events.

2nd June 2021
Fast And Furious 9: The BRWC Review

Fast And Furious 9: The BRWC Review. By Alif Majeed.

An unavoidable part of the conversation involving Vin Diesel is his love for Dungeons and Dragons. He no doubt had a massive hand in creating the behemoth that the Fast and Furious series has become and expanding its mythology. Starting from Fast Five, the series has got to a point where you wonder how much more they can or would raise the stakes. So when you watch the latest installment, you can’t help but feel a little conflicted. Justin Lin, back in the captain’s chair, has certainly created a popcorn blockbuster that cntinues to shock and awe. But despite its many highs, you can’t also help but think the series is slowly showing its age.

It takes a little while to get going and atleast in these initial portions you miss the charisma of someone like Dwayne Johnson. You want them to get on with it and start shooting Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez from one cliff to another, hooked on to the side of a fallen bridge. The moment that happens though, the movie rarely lets up.

Fast And Furious 9 (F9) gets out of its slumber when the ‘family’ begins the hunt for a super mystery device that is missing along with its handler, Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell). After they fail to stop the device from falling into the hands of Jakob Toretto (John Cena, as Dominic Toretto’s hitherto unmentioned brother), they realize once again, that they are up against a master thief and criminal. They also realize what they lost was just one half of the device and the other half is in a hidden vault (of course it is, as the similar troupes of the series keep adding up) in Scotland. All of that is just a reason for them to jump from one explosive stunt to another.

The stunts have always been the highlight of the series, and it remains so with F9. The stunts have almost got a supernatural air to them here that they even joke about it. Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson even has a recurring gag throughout about how they never seem to get hurt despite being shot at while jumping off cars, planes, and whatnot. One particular highlight is when they go full Moonraker and straight up shoot a car into outer space to save the world. They probably read all the reviews that went, ‘where are they going to go now? Outer space?’ and thought, “You know what? That’s exactly where we are going to go.”

One way they have always upped the ante is by seamlessly switching or even mixing genres. They have jumped from heist movies to spy movies to now riffing off the Marvel universe this time. Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody here has become comfortable in his position as the Nick Fury of the Fast and Furious universe. It also doesn’t take long to realize that John Cena is the Winter Soldier to Vin Diesel’s Captain America. The inevitable shift in loyalty is something you can sense from miles away. But after being a ‘family’ for so long, and it great seeing the cast continue to play off each other amidst eye popping stunts. While still being rubber skinned and bullet proof.

Many studios usually get selective and try to sidestep the worst parts of a series. But good, bad or ugly, Vin Diesel goes to great length to acknowledge them and even make it a part of the series’ legacy. (Ice Cube popping up in Xander Cage was an example of that). So we have Lukas Haas back from Tokyo Drift show up here and once again, they still find it hard to use him well. Haan is also back with his natural, laid back charisma and though you are pleased at his return, the way they bring him back is not really convincing.

That is one of the issues you can have with it. The way the characters keep dying and coming back stopped making no sense a long time ago. The familiar storyline, some of the puffed-up chest-thumping dialogues are all in line with the troupes the series has been following all this while. All of it adds to a franchise that seem to have painted itself into a corner. But when you watch a car getting slingshot into space off the back of a plane, you can’t help but watch in awe at the confidence they showed in going there. It is an entertaining blockbuster well worth the wait, especially considering how long we had to wait for it.

Fast And Furious 9: The BRWC Review. By Alif Majeed.

1st June 2021