Life of Jesus

Rating:
Summary: All thumbs down
Review: Neither the story nor the characters presented in Life of Jesus are very complicated. And no doubt that's intentional. But for me the simplicity seemed to feel as much like the results of a first-and-only-draft screenplay than anything else. The main character, Freddy, is a shallow, sullen, uninteresting sort of fellow. He and his friends dislike and harass an Arab teenager, initially for racist reasons, pure and simple, but then the Arab boy starts flirting with Freddy's girlfriend and conveniently presents Freddy and his friends with another reason to despise him. But of course the Arab boy doesn't really seem to be such a bad guy at all-not nearly as unlikable as Freddy and his friends. You almost wonder why can't Freddy and his friends just sit back and watch the movie with us and see how obvious it is-painfully obvious in fact-that this Arab fellow is really just a nice guy and that there is no good reason for them to hate him?

I guess we as viewers are intended to ponder whether it's possible to find in Freddy's soul any trace of decency and goodness that might be found in someone at the other end of the good-bad spectrum of humanity--someone like, oh--I don't know--how about maybe Jesus, for example? Well, I did take a moment to ponder that. (My answer: maybe, I guess--whatever.) Then I took a moment to ponder the still-shrink-wrapped promotional copy of Lost in Space in the closet that had been--of the movies available for me to watch that afternoon--the one I mistakenly thought I would least like to see.

Now I've never been a teenager who lived in a small town in the north of France, but I have been a teenager, so I think I can speak with some authority on how they act. I suspect if this film captured anything about teenagers it is how teenagers would act if they were asked to play teenagers in a bad, slow-moving French movie. In one scene that crawls by at an excruciatingly slow pace, the boys sit outside in the sun and complain about hot it is and wonder aloud what they should do next (finding a shadier spot in which to sit is not among the suggestions). Somehow these French-movie teenagers manage to be even more dull, sullen and annoying than real-life teenagers.

The reason many people are averse to watching foreign films is not always because people are philistine no-nothings. Sometimes it's simply because they've got a not-entirely-baseless apprehension of getting stuck sitting through a movie like this one-a movie that is not just a bad movie but a slow and boring bad movie. I mean, I get it--its stark, passionless tone and its flat-tire pace were because of its subject and all that, but sheez!

This had to be one of worst movies I have ever seen.

One thing to note: if you are the sort of viewer who occasionally enjoys transforming the movie-watching experience into a more interactive one by making smartass, Mystery-Science-Theatre-like comments during the course of the feature, this movie, with its long, witty-retort-friendly silences will provide a perfect opportunity to do so.

Rating:
Summary: Why did you called it "life of Jesus", M. Dumont ?
Review: The answer of Dumont is "keep searching, sir". Watch again the movie in 20 years, Scott, and you will may understand... Dumont is simply one of the greatest directors of our time. "Humanity" was the confirmation. And Cronenberg doesn't miss the point in Cannes...

Rating:
Summary: Why did you called it "life of Jesus", M. Dumont ?
Review: The answer of Dumont is "keep searching, sir". Watch again the movie in 20 years, Scott, and you will may understand... Dumont is simply one of the greatest directors of our time. "Humanity" was the confirmation. And Cronenberg doesn't miss the point in Cannes...

Rating:
Summary: North Punch
Review: This movie is genuinely disturbing.There is no manicheism : the beginning shows us that a racist boy can have feelings towards a boy who has got AIDS, how the boredom of poor areas can turn people into criminals ( cf the raping scene, the killing of an arabian ). It refuses the happy end : the arabian guy dies because of the jealousy of the boyfriend of the girl he flirted with. Lots of french critics have criticized the final redemption. But this end is reminiscent of the redemption of the bad lieutenant and Bresson's Pickpocket : how horrible and disgusting your sins might be, you may have god's pardon if you suffer enough to get it. This movie might not be friendly but it is as radical as Ferrara or Cronenberg and it obsesses the viewer a long time after he's seen it.