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À boire (2004)
French fun in an Alpine setting, with lots of drunken humour, but maybe not too many belly-laughs!
I really enjoy this film. For me it is one of those films, a bit like Sideways, which take the place, as you get older, of films you may have watched before, like Dazed and Confused, Kicking and Screaming or Swingers. The themes relevant to all of these stories are the drop-out protagonists, a sort of self destructive alcohol consumption, empathy for the loser, and following characters through scenarios rather than following a storyline.
And this is what shines through A Boire. The film revolves around Edouard Baer's character (Pierre-Marie) who, at the failing of his marriage, takes up a temporary posting as a GP Doctor at a tourist ski resort. His escape from his life commences with a descent into alcoholism as we follow this unorthodox character's sad and lonesome tale. Meanwhile several other unorthodox and maladjusted characters also arrive in the little ski town, and a chance event brings these misfits together, for better or worse. A romantic connection is made between the doctor and Emmanuelle Béart's character, Inès, whose rich older partner leaves her suddenly, with a 12,000 hotel bill and no money. The third character who brings the group together is Seb Abd Al Abbas - on a skiing holiday for the first time, his holiday is ruined when he breaks his arm as soon as he arrives and is stranded in a town which revolves around skiing and an apres-ski culture his religion denies him access to.
The film is really about these three misfits, thrown together in their exile, and their relationship develops as the film goes on and we see how in turn the characters help, as much as hinder, each other's predicaments.
There is some typically obvious French comedy involved, and some typically dark French humour, and the film is very amusing - but do not expect any belly laughs, it's perhaps more whimsical than that. If you do not care about the characters then you probably will not enjoy the film, as it really is very character driven. And it also investigates all the characters' failings - everybody in the film is flawed, though some more than others. In keeping with the fairly standard premise, the film keeps your attention between comedy set-pieces with the romantic interest - can Pierre-Marie save Ines from her wasted life, can Ines save Pierre-Marie from his descent into alcoholism and can they offer each other a reason to live? And there is development between both of these cast-out loners and Seb, who appears to be alone but desperately in search of friendship. However it's more the fun of watching the situations they get into, than what will become of the characters, which entices the viewer.
The Seb character is also interesting as it is the centre of a typically French bit of humour - in the UK there would probably be outrage at a storyline where an alcoholic entices a young Muslim to break the conventions of his faith! But in France it's just taken as the protagonist leading the innocent astray, which leads to comedy moments. But, although touching on a sensitive subject, it is funny. As is watching the doctor show up late to surgery completely drunk, straight from a night out, or the three misfits sat quietly isolated in a busy nightclub, drink driving incidents, what happens to Ines' fleeing partner after all, the young and innocent Seb getting completely wasted and generally the three of them drunkenly stumbling around town from one incident to another.
All in all, this is not the best film ever, by far. However I find it compelling and just fun to watch, and the characters really are sympathetic, beautifully flawed, and engaging.
To complete the enjoyment, make sure you open a bottle, or two, and maybe have a couple shots on standby, and let A Boire take you on a funny, and very drunken, journey to the Alpes! You'll feel afterwards like you were there with them.
Platoon Leader (1988)
Oh dear, what a mess...
I had a lot of fun at uni fast forwarding to the frankly risible lines of dialogue, fantasy-world scenes and other complete bollocks. It is very entertaining because it is so rubbish. MD is terrible in it, the script stinks, the acting is appalling, there's a wafer thin budget, the location could be somebody's back garden. Was there a military adviser on this? If there was he did a bang up job of ballsing it up. It isn't authentic in the slightest.
However for all this, it is dreadful example of film making and war film making in particular, one which I would try and make everybody watch at least once all the way through. Then I'd get drunk and fast forward to the funny bits and wooden lines.
I'll leave you with this thought: "...some people are in the shoe business..."
Check out the bit with the heroin overdose and two sets of overacting, the 'oscar speech' (see above), the bit where he goes "deeeeeeead's gooooooood!!!!", the terrible pyros, just see it!!!!!!!!!! Coz it has to be seen to be believed.
Canon you say? I would never have guessed.
Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)
I hoped that the coffee contained large amounts of arsnick...
Oh dear, what a waste!!!!
This film is simply a bunch of pretentious tosh. It's absolute rubbish. And more importantly, it's a complete waste of potential.
There is so much talent and potential in the artists involved. The Mollina-Coogan scene was one of the better efforts but didn't live up to what it could have been, the Waites-Iggy Pop vignette was so bad I could have cried (those two real life 'characters' in one scene thrown away, how did they do that?), the final line of which was agonising. Bill Murray was a beacon but only because he's quite an off-the-wall guy anyway.
Art? It is unpleasantly obvious, unsubtle at every turn, I would say self-consciously cool except it isn't cool. It certainly is self-consciously trying to be cool. I would have walked out if it wasn't so entertainingly bad.
The only saving grace is the last scene which is actually hilarious and hauntingly tragically sad at the same time. That part, at least, is written, acted and filmed perfectly. As for the rest? What a waste.
I have no respect for a film which tries so hard to be respected, and yet simultaneously reverts to a base humour whereby the biggest gag was 'Jack shows Meg his Tesla Coil'. The mindless tittering of the audience made me mad. Having paid money to endure this drivel was worse an insult still.
Kicking and Screaming (1995)
Effortlessly breathtaking.
This film is amazing, in my humble opinion.
When I first discovered it, it cost 2 quid in an ex rental knock off shop. I don't know what supreme being possessed me to purchase it, I'd never been aware of its existence before, but it really was lucky.
I think that it is very subjective. This film was very suited to me, especially at that time of my life. It captures a moment in the characters' lives so well, so effortlessly, that it really is very familiar, you almost feel like they're your mates up on screen. It is one of the better and more original 'coming-of-age' flicks out there. I was blown away by it. Forget Dazed and Confused or American Graffiti (both of which I like), this one is more intelligent, more engaging and really interesting. The story is good, the script is good, the acting is good too, it's an all-rounder.
However, there are major problems with it. The script is sometimes a little too....scripty? It's far too contrived and although the actors do their best, at times it does wonder into what we all know now as The Dawson's Creek Syndrome - writing a script with a Thessaurus in one hand, wearing a beret and looking at yourself in the mirror. But for the most part it's completely natural. It does also take a lot of concentration to recognise who's who and what's going on and keep up with the dialogue. However it is worth it. It's also not a film you can drift in and out of, it requires undivided attention to 'get it', and for a film where 'nothing happens', that is a lot to ask of most people.
Despite all this it is one of the best character films (you know, those movies you watch just for the characters and their little interactions on screen) that I know of and well worth a viewing, even if you do have to pull out the phone, disconnect the doorbell, displace your housemates/loved ones and black out the windows.
A very good, well made and very underrated/underexposed film.