nelsong

Summary: A medical student in Paris, originally from Africa (Zaire/Congo, to be specific), turns down the opportunity to return to his homeland and work for the ruling kleptocracy. Instead, in pursuit of French residency, he agrees to set up a practice in a small town in rural France. Hilarity ensues.

No, really. Believe it or not, the film is largely a comedy. The writers (including the real-life son of the main character) made a clear choice to make this film as light-hearted as possible. Frankly, that was a stiff challenge. The film could easily have been far darker. Perhaps it should have been - but that would be a different film.

Dr. Zantoko (Marc Zinga in an impressive, enjoyable performance) takes on xenophobia, racism, annoying in-laws, marital strife, parenthood, unpaid bills, and small-town politics, rarely letting any of it get him down.

Zantoko's family (Aissa Maiga, Bayron Lebli, and Medina Diarra) also turn in winning performances.

I was less enamored with the performances of the townspeople. But that is probably colored by the negative characteristics they were called on to exhibit. So maybe they gave great performances??? (FWIW, Jonathan Lambert did a great job as the smarmy, back-stabbing politician.)

If I'm going to criticize something, it's the redemption arc for the town itself. This film tries to pull that off, with some unlikely deus-ex-machina events bringing everyone together for the happy ending.

I get it - the makers wanted an upbeat, feel-good film. Thing is, I've seen plenty of films where the charming, off-beat townsfolk eventually come together with the heroic outsider. Here, the film only made half the sale - I bought the family, but not the town.

The townspeople here aren't charming or off-beat - they're just xenophobic imbeciles. And frankly, if they were anything close to what was shown here, they DIDN'T deserve Dr. Zantoko, in the film or in real life.

But don't let that criticism steer you away. All in all, this was an enjoyable view into worlds that you don't see in American cinema at all, and only rarely in French cinema.

Having seen all 5 of the 2013 Oscar-nominated live-action shorts, my opinion is that this should be a two-horse race between "Henry" and this film, "Death of a Shadow". In the end, I give the nod to "Henry", but this film also is quite entertaining and worthy. I didn't love it QUITE as much as an earlier reviewer, but still - very good.

I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot, and the overall concept was intriguing. The steampunk thing - I dunno if that added or subtracted - maybe both. Given the time constraints of the format, there was just a little bit too much going on to make this a great short.

Of the 5 nominees, this is the only one I'd really like to see as a full- length film, although the subject matter is so off-the-wall that commercial success would be tough.