Because of the strike in Hollywood, actors are rare in Deauville. But not the moviegoers who responded en masse to the program of the 49th American film festival. Idyll, thriller, behind closed doors in space, the Norman public rolls for all genres. And is very welcoming, some not hesitating to invite directors, composers or cinematographers to dinner, as filmmaker Rod Blackhurst discovered, flabbergasted and touched, to talk about cinema until nightfall.
Halfway through the competition, arbitrated by Guillaume Canet’s jury, two films come up in conversation. Nos vies d’avant by Céline Song, in theaters in December, digs the same furrow of delicacy and introspection turned towards the past as Aftersun, the winner of the 2022 vintage. The playwright of South Korean origin reconstructs an episode of her life: the moment her childhood sweetheart from Seoul came to spend a weekend in New York with the filmmaker and her husband. This collision between past and present does not lead to a banal love triangle. Céline Song wonders about elective affinities, about being in the right place at the right time, about the mark left on us by those who love us and who disappear from our lives, what they take away from us with them. . Fate has a thousand ways to intertwine more, subtle and haunting threads than love at first sight. Get ready to adopt a new vocabulary word: inyeon, the emotional connection between two souls.
What would Deauville be without its road trips and initiatory journeys? The Sweet East by Sean Price Williams is the first to launch. A student Lilian takes advantage of a school trip to run away and discover her country. The more his journey takes him away from Washington, the more we sink into the fable. Anti-capitalist punks, a white supremacist university professor, two Hollywood directors who are sweet dreamers and end up with a group of young Arabs fascinated by weapons, the girl who plays her charm without ever putting anyone in her bed frequents everything that America has misfits and conspiracies. There are little touches of Easy Rider in this increasingly absurd odyssey where young Talia Ryder carries the film. This Alice in Wonderland blurs the weaknesses of the last sequences. His collocation with Simon Rex (Red Rocket), subscribers to the roles of adult predators, is a gem of manipulation and teaser. Clearly the acme of this story.
More classic, the retro thriller Blood For Dust invites you to another journey on the asphalt. In the frozen and deserted Montana of the 90s, traveling salesman Cliff must reconnect with his fellow high school hustle and buster Ricky. He agrees to become his mule and transport drugs and weapons. Of course the mission goes wrong. The expanses of Montana close like a trap. No one can escape his condition as a galley slave of the American dream. Director Rod Blackhurst weaves a sticky atmosphere that tends toward Fargo and Breaking Bad. The outcome may be predictable, but this twilight takes the viewer on board as if we were in the back seat. The opportunity also to discover the ex Jon Snow of Game Of Thrones, Kit Harrington, far from Westeros. The change of scenery and the mustache don’t suit him so badly.
Unfortunately, it deflates quite quickly for ISS by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, who has the good idea of locking up six Russian and American astronauts in the international space station. But does not materialize. These heroes witness live the beginning of a large-scale nuclear attack. Their respective governments order them to take control of the ship. Race against time, defection… this Agatha Christie-style massacre game is brutal but leaves no room for its characters to stand out. The laws of physics are sometimes treated over the leg and the subtitling was more than approximate. Too bad for a project that allowed to review the determined Ariana DeBose (West Side Story). The infinitely large does not always lend itself to minimalism.
The infinitely small also harbors pitfalls. Despite good intentions and a heart (too) big like that, Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe of Aitch Alberto, about two Hispanic high school students who repress their attraction in the El Paso of the 80s, get lost in the meanders harmless, cutesy and insignificant. We are far from the storm of sensuality and fragility of Call Me By Your Name. More sulphurous, The Life According to Ann by Joanna Arnow depicts a woman inclined to sexual submission who is reluctant to break up with her dominating lovers to find a “real” relationship. Actress and director Joanna Arnow literally strips naked (and gives blowjobs) halfway through the film. But her story, like her heroine, turns in circles, without purpose. Why does Anne find refuge in sadomasochism? Mystery. And judging by the number of seats that slammed in the middle of the session, many spectators dropped the case.
On the other hand, there was no question of letting go of the few stars who were able to make the trip. Another Game Of Thrones stalwart, New Hollywood award winner Emilia Clarke, had a welcoming committee of ardent fans. The actress brought many tears to her cheeks by signing autographs and selfies, all under a spectacular blazing sunset that would not have displeased the dragons of her character Daenerys.
Coming to present her series for Arte, semi-autobiographical and full of self-mockery, Icon Of French Cinema, Judith Godrèche surprised by the bite of this lively, lucid and without bitterness story, on her film debut not very “Metoo” compatible, his unsuccessful uprooting in the United States. More drama and catharsis than comedy. Far from settling accounts, she takes stock of her career and developments in the seventh art. A sincere moment of mise en abyme.