À la belle étoile

If you like cooking shows (as I do), you'll love this movie that follows the same trails with baking. Having said that, I can express little reserves :

• I understand that the director loves Rocky, but the "over-the-top style" which fits well with sports movies is less relevant with cooking. The constant emphasis that tries to transform any little gesture into an epic bigger than life action scene can be a little too much by moments in a kitchen.

• I liked Yazid but I thought he was quite transparent, as we know very few about his real thoughts. A one-dimensional personality that is more an Épinal print to represent the values of hard work, discipline and success than a real flesh and blood character that you can relate to.

In two words : cool movie with a positive message and light flaws.

This movie is touching, and depicts Yazid's road to success with all its ups and down but at no point that it tries to make you pity him. You can feel that they are a lot of unsaid, and more roadblocks than what was shown here but it's easy to fill in the blanks. There are still challenging and painful moments in this film but their effect are somewhat muted, like I said they're not trying to make you pity him and his circumstances, or trying to force some tears out of you because of how rough he had - or maybe I'm cold-hearted enough that I wasn't as affected. I thought the movie had a positive lens on Yazid's journey and focused more on his will and motivation to succeed, and the people that were there for him than his hardships.

The cast is good, Marwan as young Yazid is subtle and very communicative with his eyes alone. I wasn't didn't know that Riadh is/was a Youtuber/Instagrammer but he's a solid actor, he sold me on his portrayal of Yazid. The director also did a great job but you can see where he's most comfortable and/or skilled because those pastry scenes looked so good, I wondered if they were stock videos or made for a commercial. The back and forth between young Yazid and young adult Yazid were seamless and nicely pushed the story forward.

This movie has a beautiful message about resilience, about how the difficulties of the environment you grew up in can be overcome, and become fuel to achieve your goals. By @garcwrites.