We are officially movied-out. At least for the next couple of days anyways. Cinemania wrapped this past weekend with another full slate of films, most of which we covered last week during the matinee screenings. However, among the highlights this past weekend was a screening of a new print of Costa-Gavras’ classic political thriller “Z” followed by a master class with the acclaimed director. The weekend also saw the North American debut of Radu Mihaileanu’s “The Concert,” (reviewed below), as well as a schedule full of the last blast of French films that by Sunday evening, brought an end to Montreal’s busy film festival season. For those of you who have been reading along over the past week and a bit, thanks for tuning in. The French film industry cranks out about 250 films per year and we hope we were able to give you a small glimpse of just what they have to offer.
“The Concert” – Director Radu Milhaileanu, best know for his films “Train Of Life” and “Live And Become” returns with an odd, bittersweet comedy that is literally split between one very good half, and one truly awful one. The film opens with a comedicly ripe premise. Andrei Filipov (Alekei Guskov) was once the great conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra conductor, when he was reduced to being a janitor for the presitigous group for refusing to fire Jewish musicians during the Communist era. However, one day he catches a fax inviting the orchestra to Paris for a last minute replacement performance when he decides to round up all the old musicians, and take the gig, posing as the Bolshoi. The first act of the film, with Andrei gathering up the old group, getting sponsorship, passports and arranging the gig outside of official channels is a lot of fun, but when he and orchestra get to Paris the film goes right off the rails. Of course, on top of trying to get the group together to rehearse, the second act has about an hour to resolve about about two or three other subplots – including one involving Andrei’s relationship to requested French soloist Anne-Marie Jaquet (Melanie Laurent) – that Milhaileanu doesn’t have time to flesh them out. The result is a lot of embarassing stock, stereotypical shortcuts to comedy that are borderline offensive while trying a weave a more poignant melodramatic arc that really doesn’t work. So why aren’t the Russians, gypsies and Jews that make up the fake orchestra making it to rehearsal? Because they are out getting drunk, playing for money on the subway and selling black market cell phones. And no, I’m not exaggerating. In fact, Milhaileanu flounders so much in the second half of the film boucing from marginal storyline to ethnic humor gag to marginal storyline, that when the orchestra finally takes the stage for their Big Moment at the end of the film, the director is reduced to a using a voiceover, flashback and montage in the span of ten minutes to (barely) tie up the loose ends. We can’t remember the last time the director used every directorial hand grenade in the Emergency Ending Kit in such a compressed period of screentime. It’s sort of remarkable in its desperate ineptitude. It should also be noted – and perhaps submitted as evidence to Milhaileanu’s meandering script – Jacqueline Bisset filmed scenes for the movie that were ultimately cut.
“The Concert” has been picked up by the The Weinstein Company and based on the audience we saw it with – many of whom were moved to tears by the end of the film despite/because of Milhaileanu’s contrivances – it will be crowd pleaser for the studio. But while Milhaileanu gained serious festival attention for his aforementioned films, we will be very surprised if this is being considered for any kind of awards fodder. [C+]
“Home Sweet Home” – It seemed to be a weekend for films divided against themselves as the Didier Le Pecheur’s unwise genre mashup between a murder mystery and a romantic comedy yielded neither sufficient suspense or genuine laughs. The overly delerious plot follows Claire (Judith Godrèche), a popular Parisian TV journalist who, after a break-up, returns to the small town where she grew up to see her father and his best friend who raised her. As it happens, someone has died in the town in some rather mysterious circumstances and big city detective Joubert (Alexandre Astier) has come in to try and solve the case. Naturally, Claire and her family become involved leading to many romantic and dramatic misunderstandings. As we mentioned, there isn’t enough dramatic tension or amourous sparks to make the wacky plot work. And frankly, it’s mostly the fault of Godrèche who gives us one of the most uninterested lead performances we’ve seen in a long time. Maybe she wanted to be in a different movie or her and Pecheur didn’t get along, but Godrèche is so plain, closed and sourfaced for most of the film, it was entirely difficult to root for her. It really seems like she was just going through the motions on this one. “Home Sweet Home” is not without some laughs, but the preposterous story, coupled with an indifferent lead performance and a predictable arc in an overly long film made this one a bit of a slog. [C-]
