Jesse Eisenberg’s first steps behind the camera. Two Karen Gillans for the award for a funny movie. And two documentaries on David Bowie and David Lynch. We take stock of the films of Sunday September 4 in Deauville.
In 2013, he was featured in the Grand Prix winner, Night Moves, in the absence of having been present. Guest of the Deauville American Film Festival this year, Jesse Eisenberg was undoubtedly the star of this Sunday, September 4 on the boards.
The actor was indeed awarded a Deauville Talent Award, after having inaugurated his beach cabin, as tradition dictates. And he presented his first feature film as a director, the drama When You Finish Saving the Worldpassed by Sundance then Cannes Critics’ Week a few months ago.
As for documentaries, it was good to be called David: while Bowie was celebrated in the film Moonage Daydreamalso seen on the Croisette and expected in cinemas on September 21, Lynch was at the heart of opus studying the influence of Wizard of Oz on his strange work. Oddities were also discussed in Dual, presented in Competition. Back to the feature films of this day!
When You Finish Saving the World by Jesse Eisenberg – Premiere
Table of Contents
A24
Adapted from his own audio book, in which he played one of the characters alongside Finn Wolfhard (the only actor to return to the big screen), the feature film focuses on the conflicting relationship between a teen star of social networks and his mother, embodied by Julianne Moore. While the latter takes a liking to a young man she seeks to raise in the home where she works, her son embarks on activism to try to seduce one of his classmates.
Produced by Emma Stone, When You Finish Saving the World denotes quite little in the American indie landscape with this tagged story. But Jesse Eisenberg has the good idea of not wanting to play the show card, favoring a sober staging but not devoid of a point of view that we feel through the photo, the use of music to define the characters at first or the choice of focal lengths. But his strong point is, undeniably, the direction of actors.
Finn Wolfhard and Julianne Moore shine in this family story where incommunicability reigns. It is thanks to them that the film manages, little by little, to touch our hearts. And to his neo-director, whom we can’t wait to see behind the camera. Good news: it will be soon, since he will soon be heading alongside Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain.
Maximilien Pierrette
Dual by Riley Stearns – Competition
ACE Entertainment
Sarah’s (Karen Gillan) against a rare and incurable disease which she does not think she will survive, to the point of deciding to have herself cloned, in order to spare her loved ones the pain of her loss. Then against this double who stole her life, when she finally conquered the disease: insofar as the law does not authorize the coexistence of two versions of the same person, she trains for a deadly duel which she intends to win.
Note the effectiveness of the title, Dual, which designates both the duel in question and the notion of duality at the heart of this story also carried by Aaron Paul. From the opening scene, the black humor hits the mark. Thanks in particular to the detachment that the characters show when it comes to death or violence. A comment on the current public’s insensitivity to shocking images? The feature film remains vague on this subject, and it is not its end, a bit disappointing compared to everything that is built before, which will bring more answers.
But the singular style of Riley Stearns is found, both in the staging and the way of juggling with the tones, in what looks like a long episode of black-mirrorand where Karen Gillan shines in this dual role.
Maximilien Pierrette
Lynch / Oz by Alexandre O. Philippe – The Docs of Uncle Sam
Potemkin Movies
An obsession that had not escaped a good number of spectators, and in particular thanks to the many references slipped into Sailor and Lula. But, as the documentary shows, the influence also extends more generally and structurally in its narratives, “cinegenic fugues” in which a character finds himself immersed in another dimension.
Divided into six chapters (one per speaker, including Karyn Kusama, John Waters Where David Lowery), Lynch/Oz offers us so many mini-essays on different aspects of the subject. And everyone has the good idea to extend their point, to underline the importance of the Wizard of Oz in pop culture or the appearance of recurring figures in several directors. Very interesting, the whole also turns out to be too rich, because we barely have time to digest one segment before the other begins.
An exploitation in the form of a mini-series would perhaps have been more appropriate, in order to better appreciate the different analyzes and theories that are developed. But the documentary is to be seen, and not only by fans, so as not to see the curtains and red shoes scattered throughout David Lynch’s work without thinking of the land of Oz.
Maximilien Pierrette
Moonage Daydream by Brett Morgen – The Uncle Sam Docs
Universal Pictures International France
In total, the director had access to more than five million archives, images and unpublished drawings. All thanks to the exceptional help of family members. On the screen, it’s fireworks. An avalanche of colors, kaleidoscope effects and sensational montages with, of course, his greatest songs running through the film. Which will be visible in cinemas from September 21
Thomas Desroches