GrandeMarguerite

"Sympathie pour le diable" is with no doubt one of the great films of the year 2019. But with a rather unpleasant main character and a subject as unglamorous as the Sarajevo siege in the early 1990s, I don't think it will encounter a large success and it is a shame. Very well recreated and featuring very convincing actors, "Sympathie pour le diable" deserves indeed some attention -- and love from movie-goers. Guillaume de Fontenay, the director, knew Paul Marchand who is the central figure of the film. A fearless war reporter, Marchand covered the Bosnian war for several French-speaking media (France Info, Radio Canada, RTBF...). In Sarajevo, which was surrounded by Serb forces constantly firing off mortar shells, Marchand and a handful of foreign correspondents gave daily accounts of the dreadful situation and devastation most Bosnians were in, between snipers shootings and bombings. The journalists had to rush with their cameras, microphones and notepads to capture the 'essence' of the civil war and try to catch the attention of the rest of the world about the ongoing massacre. And when they were not doing that, they killed time as they could. Very realistic, "Sympathie pour le diable" brings you there, in the middle of an ugly war, at the heart of a never ending winter, always following closely Marchand and his team. Niels Schneider delivers a very good interpretation. Paul Marchand was no saint (he could be very critical of his colleagues' work for instance, or make compromising arrangements to get the best news), but was able to do some good whenever he wanted or when it was necessary. A real tribute to his work ethics, "Sympathie pour le diable" is a gripping first film that leaves you often breathless and makes you think long after its ending.

This is an awesome short movie. I don't know anything about the director nor the actors, but I was blown away when I first saw it. I have rarely seen something that powerful, beautiful, moving and profound.

A Soviet cosmonaut is floating adrift in his capsule, waiting for the death to come. One of his desperate calls for rescue is picked up by an Italian radio engineer and the two men form a bond in a very special way, as memories are unfolding in the cosmonaut's mind... There's a lot that I could write about "Into the silent sea", but my only recommendation is "just watch it!". Depending on how you feel when you watch it, "Into the silent sea" will affect you in many ways. This fine thesis film (yes, it was made by a grad student!) won a dozen -- well-deserved -- awards around the world.

(...there are just mediocre men)

When the movie ends, you just know what "Ugly" stands for. Another missing-child movie? Hey, wait. Since Villeneuve's "Prisoners", we know that there is still something new to bring to this film genre. Two references came immediately to my mind when watching "Ugly": "Fargo" and Korean thrillers. The movie borrows a nice set of money-hungry losers from "Fargo" and a frantic pace and plot from Korean detective movies. Add a pinch of dark humor and social critique and you're bound to have a startling piece of work that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the even more startling ending. Sometimes you'll get the impression that everything goes way too fast, but be patient, each erratic behavior, each twist in the narration has an explanation. The story starts with the kidnapping of an aspiring actor's daughter. This aspiring actor (Rahul) has a suicidal ex-wife married to a temperamental police captain, once Rahul's rival when they were kids. Rahul has also a best friend who is ready to stab him in the back whenever he can. Now, imagine how the situation becomes exacerbated by the aforementioned relationships, then add a fair amount of scheming, double crosses and triple crosses, laced with a good dose of police corruption. You can start to imagine how the situation will evolve and you won't be even close to reality. Because on top of everything, believe it or not, the plot is based on actual facts.

If you want to check if truth can be indeed stranger than fiction, try this one. Well served by very fine (and often hilarious) performances, "Ugly" is a modern film noir of the type you wouldn't expect from an Indian director, except if you keep in mind that India has much more to offer than Bollywood sickly sweet romances.