Weekly round-up

Stylish Parisians, psychic warriors,
maximum malaise and a pathetic Panther

SELF-REFLEXIVE ROMANCE: Modern Love

by MALCOLM FRASER,
MARK SLUTSKY
and CHRISTOPHER SYKES

Modern Love
Stéphane Kazandjian’s directorial debut, like so many French films, revolves around beautiful and stylish bourgeois Parisians falling in and out of love with each other. Éric (Pierre-François Martin-Laval) is a neurotic screenwriter still pining for his heart-crushing ex Marie (Clotilde Courau), while Elsa (Bérenice Bejo) is a single career woman who meets Jérôme (Stéphane Debac), a seemingly ideal but complicated man. For good measure, Kazandjian throws in a self-reflexive third plot, a musical romance which takes place in a film-within-the-film written by Martin-Laval’s character.

Though it might seem strange to release a self-reflexive French romantic comedy not long after the similarly themed Ma vie n’est pas une comédie romantique, Modern Love is a much superior film, even if that isn’t saying much. Bejo is lovely and charming, and Martin-Laval is lovable in a Woody Allen kind of way, plus Kazandjian thankfully avoids the common French film cliché of depicting a middle-aged schlub as an irresistible chick magnet. The film-within-a-film is of questionable necessity, but it does include some pretty nifty song and dance numbers, which you don’t see too often these days outside of Bollywood.

There’s questionable stuff here, no doubt—some plot twists are predictable, others push the limits of believability and/or taste. But the jokes are mostly funny, the characters are fairly likeable and the film in general is well paced and nice to look at. In this day and age, that’s as much as you can hope for in a romantic comedy. (MF)

CONVOLUTED CAPER: Push

Push
A convoluted young-adult action-adventure romp that gets by for a while on its colourful locations and neat-ish premise, but is ultimately hamstrung by an over-complicated, unsatisfying plot. Set in a world where Nazi experiments have generated a multitude of psychic mutations in various gifted individuals, ranging from telepathy to clairvoyance to telekinesis, Push follows a variety of these psychic warriors as they’re pursued around Hong Kong by government agents with sinister agendas.

Chris Evans (the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four movies) plays Nick Gant, a “mover” in the film’s parlance, which means he can move objects with his mind. He’s hiding out in Hong Kong when he’s found by Cassie (Dakota Fanning, dressed disturbingly like a trollop), a “watcher” who can see the future, who enlists him to find Kira (Camilla Belle), a “pusher,” who can control other people with her mind. (All this movie needs is a “swinger” and a “body-rocker.”) Of course, all sorts of bad guys, most of them led by Djimon Hounsou, are on their trail.

The film actually makes pretty good use of its Hong Kong locations, which give it a bit more flavour than your generic action flick, and the superpower thing is fun for a while. But the plot is fairly complicated and eventually the ins and outs of the storyline just get far too complex. Infuriatingly, Push doesn’t even tie up its various plot strands, leaving everything hanging for a sequel, which is a really unfortunate trend these days (you know they’re pushing for a trilogy). (MS)

Demain
Maxime Giroux’s debut feature is a tough nut to crack for all but the most patient of art house filmgoers. But if you’re in the mood for an anti-popcorn pic, you can do a lot worse than Demain.

Sparsely worded yet with a dense, rich aesthetic and feel not unlike that of Michael Haneke (Funny Games), there is a malaise that encompasses not only Giroux’s characters but almost every scene in the film.

Sophie (Eugénie Beaudry), the protagonist in the film, if there’s one to be found, is a prisoner of circumstance. Her alcoholic father Richard (Serge Houde) is a sorry sight who appears keen to do whatever he can to hasten his own death. Sophie spends her weekends alongside her father minding the house and asking as few questions as possible.

That is until she is picked up in a bar one night by near-sociopathic man-child Jérôme (Guillaume Beauregard). The two begin a romanceless sexual rendez-vous that from the get-go is doomed to fail. Sophie makes her best attempt to juggle the two men in her life nonetheless.

While the film itself is a bit on the pretentious side, Giroux’s pessimistic view of life in North America does shine through. Alone and unhappy? Find yourself a fuck buddy. Screw around a bit. Play some Xbox together to pass the time. Still unhappy? Try and rape your best friend’s wife. But whatever you do, don’t let your emotions get the best of you. Grab a Happy Meal on the way out. (CS)

SHAME ON YOU, STEVE: The Pink Panther 2

The Pink Panther 2
How this film was greenlit in the first place is beyond me. By any stretch of the word Martin’s 2006 resurrection of Inspector Clouseau was a failure. The pic was hounded relentlessly by critics and was far from a cash cow for MGM. And with good reason: the movie was another in the growing list of incredibly bad Steve Martin vehicles (see Cheaper by the Dozen, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and Novocaine for further reference).

And yet somehow, like a bad case of herpes, Clouseau rears his ugly head once more. France’s most prized possession, the priceless Pink Panther jewel, has again been snatched by infamous cat burgler the Tornado, and Martin vows to see it returned to Paris. But the Pink Panther can only be swiped so many times, so in order to up the ante, the Tornado gets his hands on the Shroud of Turin and the Magna Carta as well.

What better than an international task force to see the treasures home! While Martin is aided by trusty sidekick Ponton (Jean Reno takes over Kevin Klein’s role) and love interest Nicole (Emily Mortimer), he must also deal with a condescending brain trust headed by lady killer Vicenzo (Andy Garcia), know-it-all Pepperidge (Alfred Molina) and vixen Sonia (Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai). You can pretty much guess what zany antics happen next.

My, how the mighty have fallen. There was a day when Steve Martin could do no wrong, but it was so very long ago. There’s a couple of awkward giggles here, but nothing more. (CS)

ALL FILMS OPEN THIS FRIDAY, FEB. 6