Thursday 28 March 2024

FRENCH GIRL (2024)

A New York teacher follows his French Canadian girlfriend to Quebec, where she's offered a job opportunity, and gets to know her family.

The bottom line: Bonne cuisine.

French Girl is a Canadian rom-com movie written and directed by James A. Woods and Nicholas Wright, the scribe duo of Independence Day: Resurgence (2016). It stars American actor and filmmaker Zach Braff (Wish I Was Here, Garden State, Scrubs), Canadian actress Évelyne Brochu (Dans l'ombre, Orphan Black) and American actress and singer Vanessa Hudgens (The Princess Switch, High Scool Musical).

Gordon Kinski (Braff) is an anxious, Shakespeare-loving, middle school English teacher. He lives in New York City with his chef girlfriend, Sophie Tremblay (Brochu), who's from Quebec. Celebrity restaurateur Ruby Collins (Hudgens), an old acquaintance of Sophie, comes to New York to ask her to interview for the executive chef position at Château Frontenac in Quebec City. Gordon accepts to follow his girlfriend in French Canada for the summer and he's eager to make a good impression to her family.

It doesn't start well when Sophie's parents (Luc Picard and Isabelle Vincent) see Gordon for the first time at the airport. Then, he meets Sophie's MMA fighter brother Junior (Antoine Olivier Pilon, Mommy) and the rest of the family. Sophie never told Gordon that Ruby Collins is her former lover. Past the cliche-esque French songs and the gags around the grandmother's dementia, French Girl is what a culture shock version of Meet the Parents would look if helmed by Woody Allen for Hallmark.

Of course, Zach Braff plays his clumsy but sympathetic character with perfection, alongside the charming Évelyne Brochu as the definitely not French Sophie in a postcard Quebec City (thank you, Château Frontenac). Vanessa Hudgens' name-dropping kitchen superstar has a funny singing moment. French Girl is a pleasant comedy with a very good cast (William Fichtner is hilarious as Gordon's father). This is priceless in those uncertain times. Also with Charlotte Aubin, Muriel Dutil, Ed Weeks, etc. Special appearance by MMA fighter Georges Saint-Pierre.

Produced by Caramel Films  in association with Crave. Valérie d'Auteuil & André Rouleau are the producers. Anders Bard, Noah Segal, Laurie May, Tim Ringuette, Omar Chalabi, James A. Woods and Nicholas Wright are the executive producers. Original music by Scott Price. Cinematography by Jean-François Lord. Editing by Yann Thibaudeau. Produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada, Québec Film and Television Tax Credit Gestion Sodec, Sodec and The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit. Distributed by Elevation Pictures and Republic Pictures (Paramount).

https://www.elevationpictures.com/
https://www.lesoleil.com/arts/cinema/2024/03/12/chez-les-beaux-parents-un-new-yorkais-a-quebec-DXINYJNVUJBC7OFNBLVO3A44DA/
https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/DFHD/page_nhs_fra.aspx?id=676 (Château Frontenac)

See also:

https://www.journaldequebec.com/2024/02/23/quebec-en-vedette-dans-le-film-chez-mes-beaux-parents-french-girl--une-visibilite-qui-vaut-de-lor

Friday 22 March 2024

CRIME IS HER GAME (LE CRIME LUI VA SI BIEN): L'AFFAIRE MOLINA (FRANCE 2)

[Spoiler-free review] Can Le crime lui va si bien, France 2's hit mystery/comedy series, survive the departure of the flamboyant Claudia Tagbo? Judging by L'affaire Molina, a new 90-minute episode shown tonight on the pubcaster, the answer is (surprisingly) yes.

The bottom line: Le crime leur va si bien. 

Based on an idea by producer and writer Jean-Pierre Alessandri, Le crime lui va si bien was created by Olga Vincent (Envers et contre tous, Disparus) and Stéphane Kaminka (Au-delà des apparences, Malaterra). Initially, it starred Claudia Tagbo as Gaby Molina, an intuitive and tenacious police captain who does odd jobs and rents guest rooms to keep the farm inherited from her grandparents. Though Claudia Tagbo is best known for stand-up comedy and her participation to TF1's entertainment programme Vendredi tout est permis, this versatile Franco-Ivorian actress and humorist played Lieutenant Martine Forest in RIS police scientifique (2006-2014) (1). The excellent Hélène Seuzaret (Le pont des oubliés, Das Boot) co-starred as Lieutenant Céline Richer, the by-the-book partner and tenant of Captain Molina.  

The TV film which gave birth to the series won the Grand Prix of the French-speaking TV movie 2019 at the Cognac Polar Festival. Between 2021 and 2023, six subsequent 90-minute episodes were aired by France 2. In June 2023, Claudia Tagbo unexpectedly announced her decision to leave the series. Last month she gave her reasons in an interview, to which Hélène Seuzaret felt she had to answer (2). And the actress explained that she left Le crime lui va si bien before Claudia Tagbo! Actually, the producers asked her back for L'affaire Molina (formerly Où est Gaby?) and made Céline the main character. Medi Sadoun (Enquête Parallèle, Qu'est-ce qu'on a tous fait au Bon Dieu?) plays Commandant Geoffroy Peyraque (3), Lieutenant Richer's new partner.

The rest of the regular cast is back: Bruno Lochet (Gaby's informer Anton Vargas), Laurent Manzoni (the overstressed Commissaire Félix Fontan) and Julien Ratel (police officer Darget). The talented Brigitte Aubry reprises the role of Céline's mother. Written by Véronique Lecharpy (L'Abime, Alex Hugo) and Olga Vincent with Nathan Bauer, L'affaire Molina astutely handles the departure of Claudia Tagbo while giving Le crime lui va si bien a successful fresh start. Céline Richer returns from holidays when a detective from the internal affairs, Commandant Peyraque, arrives to investigate some thefts within the police station and his chief suspect is none other than Captain Gaby Molina. Worse, Gaby is nowhere to be seen, Commissaire Fontan is overwhelmed by the situation and Darget is... well, Darget. 

Peyraque believes that Céline could be Molina's accomplice. Both reluctantly team up and they don't like what they find. Without Claudia Tagbo (except in stock shots), L'affaire Molina gives the character of Gaby a proper exit. The plot and the comedic moments are well-balanced. The duo Hélène Seuzaret/Medi Sadoun is perfect. Gaëlle Lebert is very good as the Procureure. Cédric Chevalme (HPI) plays Mertil. Also with Julien Boissier-Descombes (Socrate), Cyril Debard (Aristote), Thomas Walch (Crimes parfaits) as Pascal, Amandine Chauveau (Vanessa), etc. Produced by  Ramona Productions, Kam&Ka and France Télévisions. Co-produced by Be-Films and RTBF (Télévision belge) with the participation of RTS Radio Télévision suisse and TV5 Monde.

Produced by Olga Vincent & Jean-Pierre Alessandri, Samuel Kaminka & Stéphane Kaminka. Music by Xavier Berthelot (Joséphine, ange gardien). Cinematography by Sergio Dell'Amico. Editing by Baptiste Druot, Hélène Burel and Pierre-Loup Ray. Filmed with the support of Département de la Charente and Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Directed by Marie-Hélène Copti (Crimes parfaits).  Le crime lui va si bien is available in the U.S. and Canada as Crime is Her Game, thanks to MHz Choice.

(1) The French adaptation of RIS: Delitti imperfetti (2005-2009).
(3) A name which sounds like Joffrey de Peyrac, the character played by Robert Hossein in the Angélique movies (1964-1968).


Tuesday 12 December 2023

ÇA RETOURNE! (PHILIPPE LOMBARD, ÉDITIONS LA TENGO)

Film and TV specialist Philippe Lombard wrote books on The Persuaders, Starsky and Hutch, The Pink Panther, OSS 117, Tintin, Michel Audiard, Louis de Funès, Quentin Tarantino and many more. In Ça retourne!, published by Éditions La Tengo, he achieves the impossible: to take his readers on an exciting journey through the eternal repetition of cinema history.

After Ça tourne mal!, Ça tourne mal... à Hollywood!, Ça c'est tourné près de chez vous! and Ça tourne mal... à la télé!, a tetralogy about behind the scenes of cinema and television under a thematic angle, Philippe Lombard explores several decades of movie sequels, remakes and sagas in a "spin-off" astutely titled Ça retourne!. After all, the author writes in his foreword that he owes some of his first emotions as a moviegoer to film series. Remaking films first came as an industrial necessity right from the creation of cinema. Then, movie audiences were invited to come back quickly in the theaters with the invention of serials (The Purple Mask, Les Vampires, The Masked Rider...) and the arrival of recurring characters such as Maciste, "The Tramp" played by Charlie Chaplin, or Zorro.
 
From the 1930s, Universal gave sequels to Dracula, Frankenstein and its other monsters. The Invisible Man, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan and even Lassie took part in the Second World War. Film series and remakes continued to prosper throughout the 20th century to the present day, where superheroes and Disney's live-action treatment of their animated classics epitomize the trend. In a chapter about directors and remakes, Philippe Lombard examines the filmographies of Marcel Pagnol, Akira Kurosawa, Quentin Tarantino (for his influences), Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, etc. "Franchises" can exceed their sell-by date, like Dracula (with Christopher Lee), The Pink Panther (with or without Peter Sellers), Emmanuelle (with two "m" or just one), Death Wish or Freddy.
 
In France, Jean-Luc Godard "destroyed" the Lemmy Caution movies with Alphaville (1965) (1). La cage aux folles triumphed on the Parisian stage in 1973 before becoming three movies co-produced with Italy between 1978 and 1985 and an American version (The Birdcage, 1996). The U.S. love to remake French movies, see The Woman in Red in 1984 (Un éléphant, ça trompe énormément, 1976) or Three Men and a Baby in 1987 (Trois hommes et un couffin, 1985). Sometimes, imitation is discussed in court (The Last Shark, Running Man, Lock Out). Philippe Lombard also looks at the "Turksploitation" phenomenon and the curious case of the fake Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. Ça retourne! concludes with the evocation of Raiders!, a fan film based on Raiders of the Lost Ark.
 
As always with a book by Philippe Lombard,  Ça retourne! is well researched, smartly thought, pleasantly written and tremendously interesting. French illustrator and graphic artist Mr Choubi (real name Patrick Chevalier) is behind the astounding artistic design of the book. Philippe Lombard is a regular collaborator for the magazine Schnock and other publications.
 
(1) Seven French films (1952-1963) based on the novels written by Peter Cheyney. Directed by Bernard Borderie, they starred American actor Eddie Constantine as Lemmy Caution. He reprised the role for Alphaville.
 
See also: