26 April 2024.
By Neptune
HIGH AND LOW – JOHN GALLIANO ***1/2
Remember Galliano, the exciting, eccentric English fashion designer who revolutionised the house of Dior with his flamboyant, baroque shows?
This in-your-face, honest documentary about Galliano shows it all with a fluid ease – his rise, his innate talent, his 15 years of glory at Dior, his overwork, but also his drug and alcohol abuse, which may have led to the shameful scandal involving videos of him in virulent antisemitic tirades in a bar in Paris in 2011.
Director Kevin MacDonald has produced a balanced view of what made the man tick, what brought him down, and how he has tried to redeem himself and ask for forgiveness from the people he so insulted. Through interviews with friends (Anna Wintour and Kate Moss amongst many), business colleagues and the man himself, MacDonald shows a fascinating world of opulence and decadence, culminating with a sort of deserved redemption.
This is a must-see, even if you’re not a fashionista.
BACK TO BLACK **1/2
Did we really need this film, except for the voyeurism in many us? And of course the producers’ wish to profit from a unique voice and character whose life was extinguished far too early in 2011.
Amy Winehouse was a huge talent, melding pop and jazz beautifully, creating a new, bluesy sound like no other. The outstanding 2015 Asif Kapadia documentary “Amy”, about her short life, did her great honour.
This one is a fictionalised account of her coming into fame, magnifying her destructive love affair and marriage with Blake Fielder-Civil, the loser who may have brought her down with drugs and heartbreak. It also shows how “Back to Black”, her groundbreaking album, was the fruit of her woes, leading her to become another figure in the tragic 27 Club, which comprises many musicians such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain, who all died at age 27.
Unfortunately, the film has turned Blake into a charming rake, casting the far more attractive Jack O’Connell in his role. And Amy’s father, who apparently used her as a meal ticket, is presented here as a sweet, caring dad. The only one who is correctly cast is Amy herself, played by Marisa Abela, who brings out her magnetism and copies her singing voice with uncanny perfection.
It’s an interesting film to see, but the slant is far too kind to the two most influential men in her life, and that is a misrepresentation of Amy’s heritage.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (who did a fine job with the 2009 John Lennon biopic, “Nowhere Boy”), this biopic may be somehow connected to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which is controlled by Amy’s father, who inherited her estate, along with his estranged wife.
CHALLENGERS **1/2
Luca Guadagnino (“Call me by Your Name”, “A Bigger Splash”) has created here a dramatic love triangle among tennis pros. And he has capitalised on the latest flavour-of-the-moment star, Zendaya – last of “Dune” fame – as the woman between two old friends (Josh O’Connor of “The Crown” and Mike Faist) who came up together in the tennis ranks.
It’s light and intriguing but also forgettable once you leave the cinema. It will be the hot item of the spring season for it’s about love, friendship and competition.
N’AVOUE JAMAIS **1/2 (vo French)
Here’s a feel-good comedy about carefree infidelity in a happy marriage until the husband finds his wife’s love letters in the attic. The charm of this silly little story is that it features three top veteran actors who have been at their best in French cinema for almost half a century – Sabine Azéma, André Dussollier and Thierry Lhermitte. In fact Azéma and Dussollier have been in 12 films together since the early 1980s.
It’s like going to a cinema reunion and meeting old pals – good old ones!
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars
By Neptune
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.
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