#5
Post
by therewillbeblus » Fri Jul 24, 2020 11:42 pm
Watched this tonight and unfortunately I thought it was a series of total misfires, in attempting a weird forced-social Tati or Étaix flick. Part of the problem is that Klapisch struggles on a formal level to engage his audience, as he cannot even figure out how to create a consistent approach to telling his story. The camera distances us often to show a wide frame of goingons, yet there's no details or mannerisms to notice or pay attention to, and the scenes all cut so quickly they seem purposeless (though there are enough closeups of exchanges that I thought of Étaix's combination of close-up intimacy with the wide-scope schematic gags- except all fall flat). None of the characters (if you can even refer to them as such) are interesting or even developed as distinguishable people, and so when they interact their dynamics are sterile with a nonexistent energy. I 'get' the idea is to show social struggles and glare with pity and dark laughs at the relatability of the banalities in vapid exchanges, but there's nothing funny or interesting about situations and people that aren't even given a chance to be unidimensional or placed in a position to identify with.
Klapisch actually plays everything extremely safe, and his rapid movement through setpieces suggests that he's trying to express something creatively only for every one to pass by leaving me scratching my head. A lack of confidence perhaps, or skills, or a basic comprehension of contextual sensory elicitation, be it for humor or insight. A few sorta-scraping-at-inspired moments come early during the commute to work, especially the according player singing condescending lyrics to passengers trapped on a train with him, but they're so rare that they feel like accidents in a movie designed not to impress (a third act blink-and-you-miss-it nudist grocery store trip has potential, but is yet another shoehorned concept that specifically doesn't work because it's too afraid to breathe). And the final satirical 'twist' is like a toned down version of all didactic capitalist satirical clichés, in this case especially unearned because there's been no growth or investment for the mic to drop against.
I honestly can't remember the last time I watched a movie where I felt completely empty, not able to attach to any emotion, surrogate character, intellectual idea, environmental cue, or technical admiration. Maybe someone will get something out of this that causes me to re-evaluate, but I'm pretty sure that this is both a subjectively unfunny and inarticulate film, and just a poorly constructed bad movie. There are few things I have less patience for than when filmmakers pretend to have big ideas (usually a satire of sorts) and instead of taking risks just miscommunicate half-realised ideas until all passion behind the camera is diluted in front of it, so I'm sure part of this is me. Still, what a dog. If the goal was to paint such a dull milieu that we become as apathetic and spiritless as the people in the film, then I guess it's a success. Not even Nathalie Richard's presence made me smile, and I'm pretty sure that's scientifically impossible (okay, the wallpaper comment almost did).