Reviews by johanlefourbe

My father has always been interested in gypsies and he had mentioned a few times that ‘Latcho Drom’ was a great movie about the subject. For some reasons (probably because it is pretty damned obscure), I never saw this flick but I did manage to see this follow-up directed by the same director about this subject. I even saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released. Anyway, I wasn't disappointed and I thought it was a fascinating movie. Obviously, it uses the very old gimmick of having the main character being an Occidental and putting the guy in some exotic environment and while this gimmick usually annoys me, it worked fine here. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for Romain Duris who must be one of the best French actors of his generation and he was the perfect choice to play this character. On top of that, he had some great chemistry with the really charming Rona Hartner. Finally, it is pretty obvious that Tony Gatlif has a lot of love and respect for the Gypsy culture and he managed to give here a very detailed and fascinating portrait. To conclude, I really loved the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by the subject.       

I remember it very well when this movie was released in France. Indeed, it was a big event because it was based on a massive classic of the French literature written by Emile Zola and there was also a major casting stunt by hiring Renaud to play the lead character. Indeed, Renaud was and still is a very famous French folk singer with some well known socialist political views and you can imagine that he felt some deep connection with the material. Back then, I actually read the book it was based on and I even gave a presentation about it as a school assignment. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it was definitely an ambitious project and it was apparently at the time the most expensive movie ever produced in France but, to be honest, I wasn’t completely blown away by the whole thing. Sure, it was well made and the actors involved did a fine job but, somehow, it was just too easy as it was pretty much riding on the prestige of this book without actually adding much to mix. Anyway, to conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

At some point, I came across this movie and I thought it could be neat. Well, eventually, it turned out to be one of the most messed up Christmas movie I have ever seen but even though the whole thing definitely had some potential, it didn’t really work for me, I’m afraid. At the end of the day, I guess what bothered me the most was the way they mixed up the tone. Indeed, during the 30 first minutes, it was basically a black anti-Christmas comedy but, then, when Krampus finally showed up, it became a really dark and creepy horror feature. In my case, I did like the comedy part with some major sarcasm but the horror stuff rather bored me but, above all, I thought that the mix didn’t really work. For example, as a result of this mix, during a supposedly scaring scene, you would have the characters saying stuff like ‘Come on! Seriously?!?’ pointing out how ridiculous the whole thing was and pretty much ruining the gloomy mood.  Finally, the ending was really predictable, I figured it out from the very beginning as soon as the sister disappeared, and it was rather weak as well. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it was a decent watch though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Even though this movie seems to be rather forgotten, especially abroad, I remember very well when it was released in France. Indeed, even though it was already the 4th directing effort for Josiane Balasko, it was her first big box-office hit as a director. With this in mind, I thought I might as well check it out, even if I’m not really a huge fan of French comedies. Well, eventually, I thought it was a decent watch but I can’t say I was really blown by the whole thing though. It is always the problem with this kind of movies. On one hand, it was in fact one of the very few commercial movies dealing with gay women so it was a good thing that they explored this subject but, on the other hand, it was filled with the usual boring stereotypes about lesbian women so the end-result was rather mixed. Still, I have to admit it, some jokes were quite hilarious and I especially enjoyed Alain Chabat. Back then, Chabat was mostly famous with ‘Les Nuls’, a french group of comedians, and, with this movie, he got his first starring part and it was right away  a box-office hit. Anyway, to conclude, even though I’m not really a huge fan, I have to admit that it is a decent comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Before this movie was released, there was a pretty good buzz about it but, eventually, it didn’t get much love and it is Sofia Coppola’s lowest rated movie so far. Even so, I was quite eager to check the damned thing and it turned out to be a decent watch. Indeed, it was an intriguing story and I really liked the cold and neutral approach chosen by Coppola. Unfortunately, this approach eventually did backfire as you never get really the opportunity to get to know the characters and to really understand their motivations. Eventually, at least half of the movie was about them robbing some houses and get shitfaced afterwards which became rather repetitive fairly quickly. I mean, from time to time, you would get some interesting piece of information about the characters like Marc’s previous school trouble, his relationship with Rebecca or the fact that he likes to wear some high heels but, each time, it was just barely developed which was rather frustrating and disappointing. Eventually, even though the whole thing was fairly well directed with some decent performances, it was still difficult to care for a bunch of shallow teenagers obsessing over some vapid celebrities, especially since the director herself didn’t seem to really care either. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this director. 

Almost 40 years after this movie, Baz Luhrmann came up with an ambitious remake with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role but even though the whole thing had some potential, I still preferred this version though. Still, even though I did like this movie, it was still missing something to become truly amazing. Indeed, I did read the book before watching this movie and I really loved the damned thing but even though this adaptation was decent, it was really far from the awesomeness displayed by the book. Basically, in fact in both movies, what really bothered me was how annoying and vapid was Daisy Buchanan. Personally, I always believed that this character was already the weakest link in the book but the rest of it  was so mesmerizing that it still worked fine for me. However, in this movie, even though Mia Farrow was really pretty back in those days, it didn’t change the fact that her character was pretty much nothing more than a silly doll and it always seemed to me rather odd than someone so amazing like Jay Gatsby would be obsessed with such a boring girl. Still, in spite of its flaws, I always loved this story, Robert Redford was a perfect choice to play the title role and I think this movie is really worth a look. 

Even though ‘[Link removed - login to see]’ has a rather lame reputation, I thought it was in fact a decent watch and I was rather curious to see this new reboot with an even younger Jack Ryan. Well, eventually, I was really amazed by how underwhelming the whole thing turned out to be. I mean, it’s not that the whole thing was poorly directed or the actors involved were awful, it’s just that the story barely worked in my opinion. In fact, if you would take all the scenes separately from each other, they were usually decent but, together, it was frankly quite a mess. For example, in the introduction, we get to see how Jack Ryan got badly injured, especially his back, during the war in Afghanistan. They really took their time to show how messed up he was, how difficult it was for him to walk again which was fine. However, during the 2^nd half of the movie, you get to see the guy jumping around, doing some very physical stunts and fighting some bad guys along the way which was also fine on its own but it really clashed with what was displayed at the beginning. Then, you had also the whole relationship with his girlfriend which brought some issues. To start with, Keira Knightley was pretty weak here but, above all, they didn’t really know what to do with her character. Basically, they wanted her to be more than the typical girlfriend who doesn’t do anything but wait for the hero to come back so they tried to include her in the action but it was once again terribly awkward. Indeed, completely at random, she shows up in Moscow while Ryan is on mission, then, the only thing he can come up with is confess that he is a CIA agent and, then, 5 minutes later(!), she becomes involved in his mission. I could go on and on but it is just clear that it was a rather weak story, or at least, that it was really poorly written. To conclude, even though it sounded at first like a promising movie, the whole thing turned out to be terribly disappointing and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

Once one of the most promising directors from France, Mathieu Kassovitz eventually turned out to have a rather disappointing career after all. Indeed, his 2^nd directing effort, ‘La haine’, turned out to be one of the most acclaimed movies released in the 90’s and many people expected great things from this guy but none of his following directing efforts ever reached that level again. This movie was a fine example. Indeed, at some point, Kassovitz got the opportunity to work in Hollywood and, like many other successful French directors, he was hired to direct a horror flick but, at least it wasn’t a remake. Well, it was certainly nothing really amazing but I thought it was still fairly entertaining thanks to some solid directing and a decent cast (Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., Penélope Cruz). Obviously, the whole story was seriously preposterous and, above all, what really annoyed me and almost ruined the whole thing for me was the fact that the main character, a psychiatrist, would end up being a patient in the mental hospital where she used to work. Seriously, that was something really ridiculous and almost impossible to swallow for me. Anyway, to conclude, I think I’m being rather generous with my rating here but I still think it is worth a look though. Still, you shouldn’t expect too much before watching the damned thing.