Cannes I have some more?
Congrats to Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet, 2023). Didn’t see it of course. I’m tired of Cannes, have nothing left to say. The remaining two reviews:
In Our Day Find Profundity in the Very Smallest of Things
Hong Sangsoo’s films have always been thinly veiled fictions about his own life and art. In Our Day (2023) is no exception, making the comparison exceptionally obvious by focussing on a poet literally called Mr. Uiju Hong (Ki Joobong). He’s a pleasant, if slightly irritable old man, receiving renewed fame for his work. He hosts a young student documentarian, Kim Kijoo (Kim Seungyun) and an acting student/super fan, Song Jaewon (Ha Seongguk), at his small apartment. He has been told by his doctor not to drink or smoke anymore. To compensate, he’s putting strong pepper paste into his ramyun.
Pepper paste is the thin line that connects his story to Sangwon’s (Kim Minhee), also playing a variation on herself, a semi-retired actress looking to figure out the next stage of her life. She’s staying with her friend Jungsoo (Song Sunmi). Both of them enjoy feeding their cat, Us, snacks; a big, fluffy white boy, who is getting fat. In a long and casual take, the cat seems to dictate Hong’s camera movements, themselves filled with the spontaneity and languidness of life itself. To some, it’s pointless and self-absorbed: to me, it’s pure cinema catnip.
All To Play For. Not Enough to Stay For.
Sylvie (Virginie Efira) is a good mother. She loves her two sons, Jean-Jacques (Félix Lefebvre) and Sofiane (Alexis Tonetti). But she is also a single mother, caught in the paradox between needing to be there for her children and provide for them financially. While working as a barmaid in a local club, the nine-year-old Sofiane fries some chips. When the fire gets out of control, he chucks water on it, resulting in severe burns across his body.
It’s unfortunate. The scars will last a lifetime. But in this tightly-knit, slightly off-kilter family — the type that adopts a chicken, or leaves a broken cooker in the middle of a kitchen instead of trying to remove it properly — both boys will recover emotionally. For social services, Sylvie has committed the ultimate sin. Sofiane must be taken away.
It’s All To Play For (Delphine Deloget, 2023).
Up next: Transylvania International Film Festival, 12-16th June!