Monday, September 30, 2013

The Family (Malavita) (2013)

Holy shit, this was amazing.

Not a fan of gangster films here, but this was so tastefully done, in the best traditions of Luc Besson and, dare I say, French cinema style.

It's not really boring though it does get tiring, sometime in the second hour. Yet it's perfectly justified in terms of plot and character development. Afterwards, we get to the suspense and the tension which make you fidget in your seat and if you are bold and very relaxed you can start guessing which of the bad guys are gonna get killed first. Absolutely lovely.

To sum up, style, colours, marvelous actors, a touch of humour and ruthlessness (they are a mafiosi family, after all). No regrets.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Jeune&Jolie

In an interview Francois Ozon said that he believed every women secretly fantasizes about being a prostitute. There is a hint of that in the final scenes of the film where George's wife actually admits to it. Overall though, this attitudes translates really well into the film. As I think, it's not necessarily good nor bad.

Prostitution is definitely romanticized here. It's not something the viewer feels dirty about: the film is more about fulfilling one's sexual fantasies. And in a way, this is a good representation of a very popular feminist (I suppose it's feminist because it seems so but I might be very incorrect and stereotyping) anti-slut-shaming thesis: women can enjoy sex, too. They can experience it with different men and they don't deserve to be called sluts for that, when men are definitely not being condemned for being "players" and "polygamous."

But this glamorized version of prostitution is not even remotely realistic. There is that bit with her second client but it's just a moment, a fleeting thing. It teaches  her stuff about how to work. But it's not true; it's not as safe, it's not as nice, and the prices are not real (I guess they aren't, that's just too much but I'm not an expert).

As my friend said, if a young, sensitive, a little adventurous 17-years old girl saw the film, she would want to try this, too. And it's not exactly a path that might lead them to the ending of the film. It's not always a happy ending.

"Tu es ravissante," says George. The film is ravissant, gives some food for thought, so overall, an enjoyment.