Basic principles of trailers.
Pop and strict
Our selection of the most exciting independent movies of the season. Trailers.
By Sophie Castelain and Jacques Braunstein
GUY by Alex Lutz, the August 29
Second film by humorist Alex Lutz as director, which tells the story of Guy Jamet, former fictitious glory of the French pop music. Lutz appears metamorphosed into a 70-year-old man. Always adept transformations (Catherine and Liliane), it seems really credible senior. The film is a fake documentary on the singer, followed by a shoulder camera, by a journalist who reveals that he is his illegitimate son. But this comedy presented in Cannes, as part of the Semaine de la Critique and rather well received, is mostly an exercise in style on the passing of time. Through the story of a popular singer, it is the whole story of entertainment that Lutz reviews.
Thelma & Louise by Ridley Scott, the August 29
The road movie had a revival in the 90s with Wild at Heart, True Romance or Natural Born Killers … When Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) seizes on it in 1996, he adds a feminist dimension by replacing the usual couple by a duo of friends (Susan Sharandon and Gena Davis). Tired of being the eternal victims of male dominance, they set off on the road at the wheel of a 1966 Ford Thunderbird cabriolet. Pursued by a strangely benevolent cop (Harvey Keitel), they cross the path of Brad Pitt in one of his first roles. A movie #metoo before the letter to the style resolutely 90 … It is difficult to imagine recovery more in the air time.
Sofia by Meryem Benm’Barek, the September 5
A topic not much seen in the cinema until then : procreation out of weeding in Morocco … A story yet quite ordinary in the country. “All Moroccans know someone around them who has been confronted with this kind of thing,” says director Meryem Benm’Barek. A strong social fact for a first film screened in the Un Certain Regard selection at the last Cannes Film Festival.
Whitney by Kevin McDonald, the September 5
After Marley in 2012, Kevin McDonald presents today a documentary on the fallen diva Whitney Houston. He focused on the hidden face of the singer behind the very celebrity image of the tabloids. For this he interviewed 75 people, collected unpublished images and carried out a real work of investigation. The result is surprising ! We spend euphoric moments, where we see the singer takes herself in the game of the scene, at times more intimate and darker or Whitney seems stifled by his celebrity … A documentary full of anecdotes which looks at himself that you’re or not a Whitney fan.
Searching, by Aneesh Chaganty, the September 12
A bit in the style of Cédric Jimenez with Secret in there Eyes (2012), Aneesh Chaganty has managed the crazy bet of mounting a film entirely from computer images, go-pro, phone screen and television ! A thriller in which Margot 16 years old disappears and where her father will do everything to find her, and especially use all the possible means at her disposal, in other words social networks. And this is the novelty compared to Jimenez’s film. At first sight the viewer might be frightened by such a montage, but the suspense is there, and the dialogues prove solid enough to sustain the attention …
Mademoiselle de Joncquières by Emmanuel Mouret, the September 12.
Somewhere between Dangerous Liaisons and The Games of Love and Chance, Emmanuel Mouret adapts a secondary plot of Jacques Le Fataliste by Denis Diderot. A love triangle between a Marquise (Cécile de France), a courtesan who pretends to be a bigot and a libertine camped by Edouard Baer. He who made himself known by the use a little snobby of a slightly old-fashioned language, seems perfectly contemporary when he hugs that of the eighteenth century. The fluidity of the staging and the naturalness of the actresses who seem to really inhabit the period decorations make Mademoiselle de la Joncquières a particularly attractive comedy.
Vaurien (good-for-nothing) by Mehdi Senoussi, the September 19
A trailer that plunges us into a world that the media often describe, the of of job search, precariousness, and unemployment … Deciphering a mechanism that affects not only the unemployed, but also their entourage, this drama reveals how easy it is to become a “good-for-nothing” in the eyes of society and how hard it is to get out of this spiral. Evoking the best-seller of Florence Aubenas Le Quai de Ouistreham, or the movie I, Daniel Blake by Ken Loach, Palme d’Or 2016.
Le vent tourne by Bettina Oberli, The September 26
A quiet farming couple (Mélanie Thierry and Pierre Deladonchamps) sees their life turned upside down with the arrival of a technician who installs a wind turbine near their farm (Nuno Lopez). The first feature film in French by Swiss filmmaker Bettina Oberli. Are we really happy? Yes, until we ask the question! And the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence…
A Simple Favor by Paul Feig, the September 26
A promotion launched months ago, an unseen duet of actresses (Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick), a director (Paul Feig) more accustomed to comedies (Bridesmaids, Ghostbusters …), and an attractive cast (Rupert Friend …). We would like to believe this thriller full of promises, and understand what happened to Emily. The images unveiled in the various trailers that look like Gone Girl, and the instrumental version of “Crier tout bas” by Cœur de Pirate, let us hope for a pretty original soundtrack … Verdict end of September.
Girls by Lukas Dhont, the October 10.
First film and already a track record worthy of Didier Deschamps. With Girl, the Flemish Lukas Dhont won this year in Cannes the Caméra d’Or which rewards the best first film of all selections … The Queer Palm of the best LGBT + film in front of serious candidate like Knife + Heart and Plaire, Aimer et Courir vite by Christophe Honoré. While its principal actor, Victor Polster, was given the prize of interpretation of Un Certain Regard. The different juries were sensitive to this story of teen who wants to become a dancer but is a prisoner of a body of man.
