Dark Waters

Dark Waters est le premier film que nous avons pu voir au cinéma après le dé-confinement, plus précisément au Cinéma Lux à La Châtre.

C'est l'histoire vraie de l'avocat Robert Bilott qui a dénoncé les pratiques toxiques de l'entreprise chimique DuPont.

Un fermier de Parkersburg en Virginie-Occidentale, prend contact avec Billot et l'implore de l'aider : son troupeau de vaches a été décimé et les animaux encore en vie présentent des problèmes neurologiques. Son exploitation est située juste à côté du site Dry Run, appartenant à l'entreprise de produits chimiques DuPont.
Robert Bilott accepte l'affaire après beaucoup d’hésitation et surtout contre l'avis de quasiment tous ses proches et collègues. Il va découvrir que toute la population locale est touchée et que c'est l'eau qui est contaminé par PFOA, utilisé pour des produits de la marque Téflon. Bilott mène l'enquête et les procès judiciaires pendant une vingtaine d'années et il gagne la plupart de ces procès.

Dans le rôle de Bilott nous voyons Mark Ruffalo (un des producteurs du film), dans le rôle de sa femme Sarah, Anne Hathaway. Son chef au cabinet d'avocats, Tom Terp, est incarné par Tim Robbins et comme un collègue pendant les procès judiciares, nous voyons Bill Pullman.

Un bon film et avec beaucoup d'actualité même si les problèmes avec le Teflon sont connus depuis des décennies. Les toxiques comme PFOA, existent dans le corps de 99% de la population mondiale, selon le film.

 Cinéma Lux

O Meu outro País

Ce soir nous avons regardé le documentaire O Meu outro País de la réalisatrice et metteuse en scène suédoise Solveig Nordlund. 
"Mon deuxième pays", c'est le titre en français. Et le deuxième pays, c'est le Portugal. Elle y a vécu pendant plusieurs années, en arrivant pendant la dictature d'António de Oliveira Salazar fin des années -60. Le film mêle des clips documentaires fait par elle et des clips des films de la Nouvelle Vague portugaise qui ont fonctionné comme des sources d'inspiration pour elle.
This evening we looked at this documentary O Meu outro País by the Swedish film and stage director Solveig Nordlund.
"My Second Country" is the title in English. And the second country is Portugal. She lived there for many years, arriving during the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar late 1960's. The film mixes documentary clips made by her with clips from flms made during The New Wave in Portugal, films having functioned as sources of inspiration for her.

(The Fantastc) 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer

J'ai (Gunnar) vu ce film avant mais j'avais envie de le voir encore une fois et Aurore ne l'avais jamais vu. Pas un chef-d’œuvres pour s'exprimer gentiment mais pas non plus un navet, comme plusieurs critiques du cinéma ont dit. Dommage car j'ai beaucoup aimé "Les 4 Fantastiques" comme bande-dessiné quand j'étais un enfant ou adolescent.
I (Gunnar) have seen this film before but I wanted to see it again and Aurore had never seen it. Not a masterpiece to say the least but nor an epic fail as many film critics seemed to think at the time. A pity because I liked The Fantastic Four a lot as a comic book as a child or youngster.

2 Days in Paris – kind of

Two weeks ago, Gunnar and I went to Paris to watch Norwegian films – yeah, I know it still sounds a bit weird to tell such things.

The first evening was nice... but embarrassing.
Let me explain.
We arrive at Reflet Médicis and two Norwegian men wave at us and start to cry out our names. People often wave at me. So I get used to it, Gunnar nevertheless thinks it's remarkable.

So we arrive and the two men waving (and, almost, screaming) was the Norwegian director Knut Erik Jensen and Jan Erik Holst, responsible for the launching of Norwegian films abroad at the Norwegiand Film Institute. Gunnar met Holst for the first time, the same year, the same cinema art et essai and at the same occasion he met me. 
We start talking about VIP grants, Norwegian films abroad and so on. And also about the speech I would give the evening after. When I tell Knut Erik it's about Norwegian comedies, he answers « do they even exist? ». I laugh since we both know Norwegian comedies aren't all funny.

After the screening of Stella Polaris, Gunnar and I drank some wine and talk non-sense with each other. And soon with more people in Swedish, in Svorsk and in French.

Since I am a very nice stalker – meaning that I know when people do PR and don't try to be an attention grabber – I leave Knut Erik with his new fans and I start to chat with a Norwegian woman living in France and the nice man besides. He is looking for what I own, meaning the Stella Polaris DVD. I write some references on my visit card and give it to him.

Then starts the embarrassing part.

  Gunnar and I keep talking about differences between Sweden, Norway and France. The two nice people we just met agree. Then the man starts telling he has worked on an Ibsen play some months ago. Great.

« What do you do?
 _ I'm an actor and a director. »

Ok, that's nothing really exciting when you are in Paris. I have met plenty of actors known for their... feet – socks ads – mouths – coffee ads or hands – jewels ads. And even real actors who spend their evening on stages. So saying that you are an actor when living in Paris is just as exciting as declaring you work on a oil platform when living in Stavanger. We don't recognize our nice actor with whom we still chat.

Then, he takes his iPhone and try to send some messages to his Norwegian friend.
His Norwegian friend being Bent Hamer.
DA Bent Hamer.

He then explains he played in Factotum. We saw Factotum.
It starts to feel a bit awkward. 
I remember the French speaking man in Factotum but just can't place his face.
Well, he is standing in front of me.

Shame, shame, shame. 

We talk about Bent Hamer who prefers spending some time with his 1001 gram script than joining us. The thesp then says that Hamer released Eggs after our actor had directed a "quite popular shortfilm" named La Vis.
It doesn't ring bell. Though I will have realised before the end of the night that I have owned a VHS copy of the film for more than 15 years.

The evening goes on and I finally get to talk to Knut Erik and to Jan Erik. Nice.

Finally when Gunnar and I go back to the hotel, we check our actor on IMDb.

HOLY SH--- 

Our thesp has played in about 170 TV/movie productions.
Among other things:
India Song (Duras)
Der Himmel über Berlin (Wenders)
Code inconnu (Haneke)
Poulet aux prunes (Satrapi/Paronnaud) etc...

We have seen these films so why couldn't we recognize him? Shame on us.
And you know the best part?
His « quite popular short film » won a César for best short film and was Oscar nominated in the same category.

EMBARRASSING, ISN'T IT? 



Thankfully the day after was less... weird.

Our hotel:

 

 Our view:

 

Comédie Française

 

  

Le Louvre et nous:

 

Le Louvre et Gunnar:

 

Old, old, old

2012 has been a great musical year for me. I fell in love with Horseback, was delighted about Scott Walker's latest album and was a bit afraid that 2013 might be a dull year.
And then on the 8th January, our fantastic David Bowie released a single and announced a new album.

The day after, Scott Walker celebrated his 70.
I realized my "old" idols were still kicking ass and felt relieved.
Then came the Oscar nominations. Well, if you know me, you know I don't care much about the Academy except when the prizes help foreign films to sell better. So let's sum it up like this:

Amour + Kon-Tiki = bingo!
(ok, mainly because Amour was one of my favourite films of 2012 and Kon-Tiki is named in my free guide "66 films qui ont fait l'histoire du cinéma norvégien").

2013 began well.
Then I signed a piece of paper saying that, I as an expert - oh yeah - would talk about Norwegian comedies on the 25th January.

Being paid to talk about Kong Curling when people annoyed me so much at Haugesund film festival is a really great pied-de-nez :)
All that bragging to announce that today I turn 35 and take this opportunity to wish you a prosperous year 2013!

Une nuit

English:
 
This is a police thriller building its story aruond the theme, corrupt polices, friendship between the 'law enforcing units' and the criminal world, the very seldom straight line between what the law says and what one should or can do. 
One can always ask oneself if it's the best thing to follow the law and if the people representing the law are morally better than the criminals.
The answer to this last question is often no.

Français:

Simon Weiss est un policier de la brigade mondaine, qui entreprend chaque soir une visite nocturne dans les établissements de nuit, mais se retrouvant dans le collimateur de l'IGS suite à une dénonciation, il tente de découvrir qui l'a piégé.
C'est l'histoire des policiers corruptibles et l'amitié entre les gendarmes/policiers et le monde criminel ou il y a jamais des frontières fixes entre ce que dit la loi et ce qu'il faut faire.
Qui sont les plus honnêtes, les gendarmes et juristes ou les 'truands'? Pas facile à dire. 

Knocked Up

Well, what can one say about this film? It's another turn around the theme, 'A Bachelor's life turns into something Serious' and at the same time of course a 'Bachelorette's life....' etc. 

Other examples of similar stories are of course: 'The 40 Year Old Virgin'; 'I Love You Man' and so forth.

This is Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) (more stoned sometimes), living his 'I don't want to grow up'-life (somewhat resembling Swedes) with his friends, drinking, smoking (everything) and playing around. On a club he meets Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl). She is a pretty and a (rather) sensible person, not at all likely to fall for Ben but they both fall - into bed.

After this Ben's 'status' rises among his friends but eight weeks later his spirit dips when Alison calls him to tell him - surprise, surprise!!! - that she is pregnant.

As usual the man in this kind of situation always wonders how this could happen!!!??? Well, they've all missed the biology classes, that's for sure.

What happens now is that they both try to form a couple, trying to go along with what has happened and making the best (worst?) of it.

Will they succeed? 

There are some funny moments in the film and the comedy acting is not bad but as the film is a déja vu-story with to many forseeable moments, it tends to become somewhat less interesting along the way.

Born To Be Bad

This is a film about what is sometime called (or was sometimes called) female cunningness but I think that expression is somewhat biased from a male point of view. What happens in this film between different persons - this time a woman being the instigator - could of course just as well been the work of a man.

Joan Fontaine is Christabel, a woman coming to live with her cousin Donna (Joan Leslie).

Having installed herself there, she starts to flirt with Donna's fiancée, the wealthy Curtis (Zachary Scott) but she does so in a way making her look like a innocent victim of circumstances.

She fools Curtis to believe that it's her cousin Donna who wants his money while it's the opposite, of course.

When having outmanoeuvred Donna, she marries Curtis but only for his money as she's actually in love(?) with Nick (the fine actor Robert Ryan). He also loves her but on the same time he despises her for what she has done and for what she is.

This is no masterpiece when it comes to the idea and the very cliché-filled story and plot, implying that one describes the individuals as either being 'this way or that way'. The acting is mostly good but sometimes the American 'over-explicitness' tends to annoy us, gazes, blinks etc. in order to make the American audience fully understand the different twists of the story. The main actors - Joan Fontaine, Robert Ryan and Joan Leslie - lifts the story above the mediocre.

L'Arnacoeur

This film is in English called 'Heartbreaker' and this is exactly what the story is about.

Alex (Romain Duris) and his sister Mélanie (Julie Ferrier) runs a business where the goal is to break up relationships. Mélanies husband Marc (François  Damiens) operates the business.

This only in relationships where the women are - as they put it - "not knowingly unhappy"(!?).

When Alex, the heartbreaker interferes, he makes the women feel that they lack something in their relationships, whereby they always - up till now - changes their minds concerning their lovers, fiancés or husbands to be.

When they now are hired by a rich man, possibly being a gangster but officially a florist, to prevent the wedding of his daughter Juliette (Vanessa Paradis) to an Englishman (Andrew Lincoln), they encounter some problems.

First of all this have to be arranged within ten days, before the wedding, secondly this couple seem to be perfect for each other so why should they try to intervene? Money of course!

Normally they always find some details in the relationships pointing towards the fact that they are doing 'the right thing' but this time, no!

Alex becomes Juliette's bodyguard (after having been recommended by her father). He thereby come close to her and is able to find out things about her that he uses to tie them closer to each other.

This works up til the point when her husband to be arrives, a bit earlier than expected.

Juliette finally becomes aware of the plot while Alex is leaving for the airport, just to turn back to the wedding, where Juliette's father tries to convince her that the man she is going to marry is decent but boring.

What will happen? Look for yourselves.

In all it's a rather harmless piece of cineastic work, with some humorous scenes, where François  Damien is the one being the most clumsy, slapstick funny character while Romain Duris tries to imitate a Cary Grant in his efforts to be a charming comedian (perhaps?) and if that is the case, I can't say he succeeds. He is not bad but not a comedian, at least I can't see him that way.

Leatherheads

This is another story about football, in this case American football.

We follow the 'semi-true' story about Jimme 'Dodge' Connelly (actor George Clooney) who has the ambition to save his, not so good, team Duluth Bulldogs and American professional football in general, as it was on the verge of collapsing.
He succeeds in convincing a football star - Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski) - to join the team and as this man also is a very good looking fellow and a war hero, they can't fail can they?

Unfortuntaley there's a journalist - Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellweger) - who has discovered that the "war hero" Carter Rutherford is far from a hero, rather a coward.
She intends to reveal this and on the same time she starts an affair with Connelly, making Rutherford rather disappointed to say the least.

However, in a country like USA you don't attack a war hero just like that, even if he's not a war hero! Connelly and Littleton are making enemies and the top men within the football association takes control over the re etablation of American football a movement started by Connelly. 
In this situation Connelly threatens Carter with a confrontation with his former army friends, saying to Carter and the Commissioner  that they are standing right outside the door. In fact it's only the team, the Bulldogs being disguised as soliders.
The effect it has is that Carter admits having lied about his heroic deeds.

It leads to him having to admit publically that he has exaggerated his war story and now he also changes team, playing against Connelly and the rest in the Bulldogs.

Finally, after some tricks by Connelly the Bulldogs defeat the contenders an Connelly and Littleton becomes a couple.

It's a film trying to mix an old charming 1930-40- film aesthetics with a sometimes documentary style, very much depending on Clooney's and Zellweger's charming personalities and of course Krasinski's. 
However it's not a film making me want to know more about American football, or a film that revolutionizes the Seventh Art in any way.
It's a charming little bagatelle, to look at when you want to see a digestible story an evening when you are tired.

La guerre des boutons

Notre film ce soir au Cinéma Lux, La Châtre. Deux films avec (presque) les mêmes noms sortent en France cette année ! Ils sont des remakes d'un film de 1962 par Yves Robert. Le film que nous avons regardé ce soir est réalisé par Yann Samuell. Our film this evening at the local cinema, Cinéma Lux, in our town La Châtre. Two films by (almost) the same name is released this year in France! Both are remakes of a film made in 1962 by the director Yves Robert. The film we saw this evening is directed by Yann Samuell.

(Photo copyright/Droit d'auteurs de photo: http://fr.web.img6.acsta.net/medias/nmedia/18/84/78/60/19796365.jpg)

Les Tuche

This is a film about a family called Tuche and what happens to them as people when they win 100 million euros. They travel to Monaco where they try to be accepted by people used to money, this while they are trying to stay "true to themselves", leading to some crasches. Not as bad as one might think but not a film we will get back to.
Director: Olivier Baroux Ce film raconte l'histoire d'une famille, les Tuches, et comment ils réagissent quand ils gagnent 100 millions euro. Ils font un voyage à Monaco et là ils essayent de devenir accepter par des gens plus habitué d'argent qu'eux en essayant de garder leur "vraie nature" et ça leur mènent aux situations un peu rocambolesques, pour s'exprimer un peu prudent. Pas si mal comme film qu'on a pu craindre mais pas un film qu'on regardera deux fois.
Réalisateur : Olivier Baroux

Lasse og Geir/Them and Us

Lasse & Geir is a social realistic drama- and youthfilm from 1976 directed by the - in Norway - very well known duo, Svend Wam (often working in team with the Norwegian director and producer Petter Vennerød).
As the main characters we find the actors Torgeir Schjerven and Lasse Tømte but also actors like Knut Pettersen, Jorunn Kjellsby og Kjersti Døvigen.
This is our film this evening.

À l'aveugle (2012)

Notre film ce soir Our film this evening:

De grønne slagtere/The Green Butchers

Fra : Notre film ce soir.  Une comédie dingue (comme d'habitude) danoise mais drôle, au moins selon notre goût. Réalisateur : Anders Thomas Jensen. Acteurs : Nikolaj Lie Kaas et Mads Mikkelsen dans les rôles principaux. En: Our film this evening. A crazy (as usual) Danish comedy but funny, at least from our point of view. Director: Anders Thomas Jensen. Actors: Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Mads Mikkelsen in the principal roles.

Cloclo

Fra :
Notre film ces soir, c'est le film biographique 
sur la vie de l'artiste Claude François.
Encore une fois, un artiste français, énormément bien connu
ou plutôt célébré en France et dans les pays francophones
mais un artiste que je ne connais pas avant avoir rencontré
ma femme française. Souvent c'est le cas avec certains
artistes français/françaises. Connu dans le monde francophone
mais très peu en dehors, malgré une vente de disques gigantesque !
Réalisateur : Florent Emilio-Siri
Acteurs principaux/actrices principales :
Jérémie Renier, Benoît Magimel, Monica Scattini et Sabrina Seyvecou.
Eng:
Our film this evening, it's the biopic about the artiste Claude François.
Once again, a French artist, enormously well known, not to
say famous in France and the French speaking countries
but an artist I hardly knew before meeting my French wife.
This is often the case with some Franch artists.
They are well known in the French speaking world
but very little outside this very same world
and this in spite of a gigantic record sales!
Director: Florent Emilio-Siri
Principal actors/actresses:
Jérémie Renier, Benoît Magimel, Monica Scattini et Sabrina Seyvecou.


Cloclo
Cloclo Bande-annonce VF

127 Hours

Our film this evening is built on a real story a real event about an experienced mountain climber and wildlife habitué who becomes to sure of himself leading him to fall down into a ravine.
At first he tries to scream and think logically but after a while, when the dark comes, he realizes that he is alone and that it might take days, weeks or never(!) for someone to find him. He got to get out of there alone.
When being stuck with his leg between rocks, it gets worse.

Although one sometimes could feel his distress and the claustrophobia, the fact that this actually happened to someone (or many), it was not an impressing film and we were not as affected by it as one could have imagined we should have been.

In the Land of Blood & Honey

Our film this evening is directed by Angelina Jolie and it's her first feature film as an director. She had directed a documentary before.
The story takes place in the 1990s, in Sarajevo during the wrath of the Bosnian War. Danijel (Goran Kostić) is a soldier fighting for the Bosnian Serbs. In a prisoner camp led by his strict father, general Nebojša, he finds Ajla (Zana Marjanović), his former love, who is a Bosniak (a Bosnian Muslim) and therefore a prisoner.  This situation creates problems concerening loyalty, love, ethnic belongings and so on.
In spite of the gravity of the subject it didn't touch us sufficiently. The reality is far worse of course.
Notre film ce soir est un film réalisé par Angelina Jolie et c'est son début comme réalisatrice d'un long-métrage, film fiction. Avant ce film elle avait aussi réalisé un documentaire.
L'histoire se déroule pendant le siège de Sarajevo dans les années 1990. Un Serbe de Bosnie, Danijel (Goran Kostić), retrouve Ajla (Zana Marjanović), une Bosniaque, qu'il a connue avant la guerre. Lui est le gardien d'un camp de concentration et elle, une prisonnière dans ce même camp. Avant la guerre ils étaient des amants.  Cette situation crée des problèmes de loyauté, l'amour, l'appartenance ethnique etc.
Malgré la gravité du sujet, le film nous a pas touché suffisamment. La réalité est biens sûr toujours pire.

The Immortals (1995)

Our film this evening:  A nightclub owner, Jack (Eric Roberts) brings together a group of small-time hoods and teams them up in unusual pairs (black man and white racist, Ivy Leaguer and simpleton) for a set of multiple heists which turn out to be an elaborate double cross against a notorious gangster, Dominic (Tony Curtis). It seems as if Jack is more or less suicidal.  Director: Brian Grant.
Not a particularly good film, even as a simple action movie.
Notre film ce soir : Jack (Eric Roberts), patron d'un night-club, a mis au point un incroyable plan pour un braquage. Huit inconnus, d'origines et sexes différentes mais ayant tous un point en commun, devront voler au même moment des valises dans différents endroits de la ville. Dans ces quatre mallettes se trouve une grosse somme d'argent appartenant à un gangster, Dominic (Tony Curtis). Chaque braqueurs prennent conscience pendant la soirée que le plan de Jack est totalement suicidaire. Réalisateur : Brian Grant.
Pas un film particulièrement bon, même pas vu sous l'angle d'un simple film d'action.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Our film this evening is a "classic" action-super-hero-film within the Marvel Comics Universe.
Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a military soldier during WWII, rejected because he is to small an thin, is transformed into Captain America after taking a dose of a "Super-Soldier serum". As Captain America his mission is to take down a war monger and a terrorist organization of Nazi origine.
Perhaps one of the better Marvel films (so far) in the action-hero-genre. Clichés and foreseeable "jokes" of course but... as "entertainment"...
In other roles we see Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper and Samuel L. Jackson.
Notre film ce soir est un film d'action avec un "super-héro" dans le cadre de l'Univers de Marvel Comics.
Fondé sur le personnage de la série Marvel Comics, Captain America, le film raconte l'histoire de Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), un jeune homme, rejeté comme soldat pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, parce qu'il est trop petit et maigre mais qui est transformé en un super-soldat "grace" ou à cause d'un "Super-Soldier-sérum". Il devient Captain America et son mission c'est d'éliminer un criminel de guerre, le chef d'une organisation Nazi.
Peut-être un des meilleurs films (jusqu'à maintenant) dans ce genre de film d'action avec des "super-héros". Des clichés et et des "blagues" prévisibles bien sûr mais... comme "divertissement"...
Dans d'autre rôles on peut voir Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper et Samuel L. Jackson.