CANNES REVIEWS IN BRIEF
The Suicide Shop Dir: Patrice Leconte. Fr-Can-Bel. 2012. 79mins Prolific director Patrice Leconte takes his first stab at feature animation with The Sui- cide Shop (Le Magasin Des Suicides), a maca- bre musical about an upbeat youngster born into a family whose stock-in-trade is selling the accoutrements for doing oneself in. It is a darkly amusing adaptation of Jean Teulé’s 2007 novel — which would have been far less palatable as live action — and works very nicely as 3D animation. This playful memento mori should find takers wherever distributors are willing to take a chance on a politically incorrect quality animation. Lisa Nesselson
CONTACT WILD BUNCH
www.wildbunch.biz
The Sapphires Dir: Wayne Blair. Aus. 2012. 100mins An energetic, amusing and resolutely feel- good film-with-a-message, 1960s music movie The Sapphires ticks all of the right boxes to attract audiences while being a smart advert for Aussie girl-power. It is a film with soul and some great tunes to back up its simple — and rather old-fashioned — story to great effect. Aboriginal writer- actor Tony Briggs has re-worked his 2004 stage show that he based on the inspira- tional tale of his mother and three aunts, amateur singers who made the journey to entertain US troops in Vietnam.
Mark Adams
CONTACT GOALPOST FILM
www.goalpostfilm.com
Gangs Of Wasseypur Dir: Anurag Kashyap. Ind. 2012. 318mins There’s never a dull moment in this five- hour-plus Indian gangland epic by one of India’s hottest indie directors, Anurag Kashyap. Oozing visual style, laced with tight and often blackly comic dialogue, and bolstered by tasty performances and a driv- ing neo-Bollywood soundtrack, this Taran- tino-tinged Bihari take on The Godfather has what it takes to cross over from the Indian domestic and diaspora markets to reach action-loving, gore-tolerant genre audiences worldwide. Despite its length, the film is given discipline and focus by the genre frame and the director’s deft control of gritty atmosphere.
Lee Marshall CONTACT ELLE DRIVER
www.elledriver.eu
CANNES FILM FESTIVAL The Hunt Dir: Thomas Vinterberg. Den. 2012. 106mins
An energised Thomas Vinterberg powers into a rural Danish community to devastating effect in The Hunt, a confident return to form — and to some familiar themes — for the director. Daring to force his narrative up against the edge of cred- ibility, Vinterberg uses the hot-button topic of child abuse to probe a town’s close-knit facade until the anger and pain bubble to the surface. Early plotting here is fast, so fast that it can sometimes feel false. But any initial thoughts that this might prove to be simply a beautifully crafted TV movie are expertly laid waste as The Hunt, propelled by Mads Mikkelsen in an everyman role, hits home — and hits hard. Mikkelsen plays Lucas, a self-effacing kinder-
garten teacher recovering from a bitter divorce and separation from his son Markus (a warm per- formance by Lasse Fogelstrom). Vinterberg effi- ciently and unambiguously sets up the action, with the film taking place over November and December. We see five-year-old Klara, the daugh- ter of Lucas’ best friend Theo (Thomas Bo Larsen) make her allegation against Lucas; we know why she has done it and we also know he is innocent. But the ensuing bridge is where The Hunt temporarily stumbles in its chase, with Vinterberg and his co-writer Tobias Lindholm
n 58 Screen International June-July 2012
requiring the entire community to immediately and virulently turn against Lucas. It is 14 years since Festen made Vinterberg’s
name in Cannes, but The Hunt does not just wit- ness a return to form, it also examines similar themes. While, technically, it inhabits another planet to the breathless Dogme film (Charlotte Bruus Christensen’s frames are fixed and lus- trous, and take The Hunt outside, while Festen was an interior chamber piece), the central issue of how truth and lies split a community lingers — as does the question of how people choose what they believe. Vinterberg clearly enjoys picking at the illusion
of brotherhood among these childhood friends and primal deer-hunters who boast an easy, beery male camaraderie that is only surface-deep. As the early-morning steam rises to greet them in the woods, there is a sense of creeping menace and a fear The Hunt will claim a sacrifice. And having played fast and loose earlier in the piece, Vinterberg keeps the faith to The Hunt’s last heart-stopping frame.
Fionnuala Halligan
CONTACT TRUSTNORDISK
www.trustnordisk.com
www.screendaily.com
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