Pasky74 Reviews

Housekeeping for Beginners (2023)

Little gem that should find its public, hopefully

[8/10 · 17 April 2024]

I didn't know what to expect from this unknown director and cast (at least, to me), but I was pleasantly surprised by this bittersweet drama. Direction was very good, as well as the acting. The story is interesting and credible (I thought), and you really feel for 'mamma Dita' and her two 'adopted' kids.

The story goes as follows: Dita never wanted to become a mother, but is forced by circumstances to take care of her friend's two daughters: the little troublemaker Mia and the rebellious teenager Vanesa. The three strong personalities clash, but against all odds they grow into a close-knit family that has to fight to stay together.

As someone put it, it's 'a messy look at class divisions in Macedonia', and also at how the LGBT community copes with a not-so-tolerant environment.

A little gem that should definitely find its public.

At least, I hope so.

Bo (2022)

I stayed until the end... Unfortunately

[4/10 · 3 October 2022]

A young woman goes in search of the grave of her father, a famous trumpet player. At the cemetery, she meets Levan, a childhood friend of his, who, confusingly, only appears to be ten years older than her. Maybe it's the Georgian mountain air that makes him look younger, maybe he's just not that well cast. He is handsome, and troubled. The two begin to hang out and slowly a strange relationship develops.

Bo's plot relies heavily on flashbacks, as the story doesn't unfold in a clear way. Until the end it remains a mystery why the story actually takes place in Georgia and the character Levan is also full of holes. The memories that we are presented with work like a kind of puzzle pieces of a puzzle of which you are still missing half of the pieces.

In addition, we are also taken in tow by a complicated main character. Bo makes inimitable choices, is now and then suddenly very aggressive or emotional and mainly behaves like a spoiled 13-year-old teenager, while according to the plot she should already be at least 18. Those facts make it pretty hard to empathize with her character, and she's not particularly fun either. Levan seems to think so too, until the atmosphere between the two suddenly turns 180 degrees. That unexpected twist is followed by a disturbing revelation about Levan's grim past. The latter is perhaps exciting but not well developed, which makes the whole plot feel contrived.

The film was mainly shot in Georgia, but we actually get to see very little of the beautiful and diverse country. The local culture is also not really included in the story, while that could have made things a lot more interesting. In addition, the way the characters are written is quite stereotypical: men are all aggressive, unpredictable creatures and women are emotional, seductive and untrustworthy. The plot depends on this notion, and that makes you feel as a viewer not exactly taken seriously. Even the wild plot twist towards the end doesn't make up for that.

I kept thinking: OK, I give it another 10 minutes and if it still gets on my nerves (especially the girl), I get out of the theater. But I stayed until the end. Unfortunately.

The Perfect Dinner (2022)

Three-course menu of (Italian) clichés

[5/10 · 1 August 2022]

Unfortunately, this cringe-making film didn't even make me hungry.

I should have known better and avoided this unsavory farce.

The only positive aspect to this three-course menu of typical Italian clichés (mafiosi, people waving their hands while screaming at each other, completely unrealistic situations...) is that it made me feel like watching again 'Big Night' (1996) by Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci, and maybe cook a huge 'timpano' with some friends.

My Donkey, My Lover & I (2020)

A charming, popular success

[9/10 · 26 October 2020]

This charming, bucolic comedy is undeniably the most beautiful surprise that French cinema has given us lately. At times, it made me think of 'Wild' (with Reese Witherspoon), but without the dramatic side of it. It's more a 'light' comedy, with a 'screwball' side to it. Caroline Vignal initiates a dialogue with Stevenson's own novel, 'Travels With a Donkey in the Cévennes', a book that has since become one of the pillars of modern 'travel literature' and that is linked with the emotional journey of Antoinette. The latter is played by Laure Calamy who finds with this project her first leading role that allows her to fully display her tremendous acting skills. In addition of being in every frames and frequently alone on the screen, facing an imperturbable donkey, she composes a complex comic performance. Oftenly funny without ever appearing like an idiot, she succeeds to express, between her moments of touching clumsiness, a strong sensitivity though marvelously avoiding any boring lament tirades. My Donkey, My Lover & I is a very sweet portrait of a very likeable human being, and her sincere energy is so irresistible you can only follow her in her great journey.

Marona's Fantastic Tale (2019)

Pure magic and a feast for the eyes

[10/10 · 22 October 2020]

Death and the hardship of life (above all abandonment) are the two main themes in Anca Damian's beautiful animated film. We follow Marona's solitude, from one home to another, told in voiceover. Marona's life is a tale, embellished by poetry and a generous philosophy. Anca Damian takes us in flashback in the spirit of Number Nine (her first name, as she was the last puppy to be born). Rejected by her purebred father because she was a bastard, she ends up in a trash can where she would have let herself die of despair if a pair of hands had not saved her and offered her to Manole, a tightrope walker and acrobat. This is the beginning of Marona's odyssey. From those hands to the next human (she does not say "master"), our heroine is tossed from one home to another, until a little girl names her Marona. Like the little girl, we get attached to this ball of black fur with big ears. Anyone who has had a pet (especially a dog) will find a piece of it in Marona. Each stage is underlined by its own graphic style. Marona's journey is a firework of colors, lines and sensual curves, due in particular to the expressionist visual contribution of Belgian comic book author, Brecht Evens. Over the course of her short life, Marona learns that happiness is only a fleeting moment. She therefore enjoys every second of it, which she puts in a box. Avoiding the pitfall of sentimentality, this little gem offers (in spite of the death that opens it) a real lesson in life and love. That love that Marona so generoulsy dispenses to all her "humans".

Sorry Angel (2018)

Love - and romanticism - in the days of AIDS

[9/10 · 4 September 2018]

It could be only the story of Arthur, a young gay (bisexual?) student who, in the early 90s, arrives in Paris to find the one he loves. It could be almost a cliché, which actually find its place in Christophe Honoré's film, but it arrives only later in the film, at a time when everything is already almost lost. Because Jacques, the writer Arthur met in Rennes (a provincial town about 400 km in the west of Paris), is fatally ill. He knows his death is near and he tries to hide it from his lover, above all to avoid subjecting him to his decay. He hides in his neighbor's apartment, but when he sees his lover wandering sadly in the streets of Paris, he cannot resist. He finds him, hugs him, and abandons himself. One could compare this film to Robin Campillo's "BPM (Beats Per Minute)", which was also set in Paris in the 90s, but it hasn't much to do with it. Even if we feel the same distress in Christophe Honoré's film, this one is more of a romantic chronicle of 'Love in the days of AIDS'. We find some remains of 'Love Song' - the film/musical that made Honoré famous -, but without the affectation of that film. What he films today has much more gravity, and melancholy. Actor Pierre Deladonchamps (Jacques), who was also in Alain Guiraudie's fantastic 'Stranger by the Lake' and in André Téchiné's 'Golden Years', is amazing. He manages to express so much, with his face, the way he walks, speaks... He makes this character more human, asking questions as: how do you survive when you have almost no time left to live? This 'darker' film also has some 'light' moments, and some quite funny: when he comes out of a theater in Rennes, late at night, Jacques would like to meet Arthur, who follows them secretly, but he first has to listen to the horrible chatter of an actress with an inflated ego. The film is sometimes a bit lengthy, but Christophe Honoré has grasped here very well the hesitations of love, the certainty of the ephemeral and the intriguing osmosis between the sweetness of sex and its crudity.