Eu Sou o Tal! (1960)

 A young man from a small town tries to make it as an actor in the big city. He has a huge advantage in his instant memory, but an equally enormous disadvantage in that he is extremely shy when he is watched by a crowd.

Very repetitive comedy which gets tiresome very early on. It's hard to find a positive quality about this movie, but the notion implied in its final section that a series of disasters during a performance can be more attractive as a spectacle than the original play being performed is kind of interesting.

Rating: 13

Rocky III (1982)

 The boxing world champion decides to retire but changes his mind after he is challenged by an up and coming new fighter.

While the first and second movies of the franchise could claim to some social concern, though strictly devoid of any collective spirit, this movie is entirely an abstraction. The kind of reward the film offers is mechanical and, in a way, detached from reality. One has to acknowledge that it is well done, though.

Rating: 23

007 1/2 no Carnaval (1966)

 A British agent is sent to Brazil to retrieve some secret technological information which has leaked and is to be sold to the highest bidder. He is to make contact with a man posing as a taxi driver, but makes contact with a real taxi driver instead, who then follows him around in his mission. An enemy agent shoots the scientist who was supposed to be in possession of a microfilm with the secret information. Then two shipping company employees carry a box containing the unconscious scientist, unwittingly.

 Terrible espionage satire, with some unrelated Carnival songs thrown in for good measure. The narrative is occasionally incoherent and the humor falls completely flat. I saw a restored copy of the film, which nevertheless remains badly damaged especially in the audio track.

Rating: 12

Rémi sans famille (2018)

 Based on the novel Sans famille, by Hector Malot, first published in 1878.

English title: Remi, Nobody's Boy

Rémi is a boy who is sold by his adoptive father to a street entertainer. Rémi's wanderings as a street artist lead him to find out the truth about his origins.

I read an abridged version of the source novel as a child, and remember being very fond of it. I was disappointed at this filmic version, though I am not sure whether the fault is entirely on the film itself or on my having grown up. Anyway, it has some beautiful landscapes and passable acting performances. As for the narrative, it is melodramatic and not very exciting.

Rating: 40

Les compères (1983)

 English title: The ComDads

When her teenage son runs away from home, a woman contacts one former fling, an investigative journalist, and tells him that he is the kid's biological father. As he doesn't seem convinced, she contacts another of her former flings, a depressive guy, and tells him the same. He in turn seems very excited with the idea and starts to search for the boy. It so happens that the journalist guy has a job in the same city where the boy is supposed to be, and the two men end up meeting and joining efforts in the search.

Dull comedy which quite inexplicably was a huge box-office success in France. In Brazil, on the other hand, exhibitors didn't see any revenue potential and it wasn't shown theatrically. Fourteen years later there was a remake which was slightly less dull than the original (you can read my review here).

Rating: 31

La chèvre (1981)

 English titles: Knock on Wood; The Goat

A wealthy man's daughter is kidnapped while vacationing in Mexico. No ransom is asked, and after an unsuccessful attempt at finding her, a new strategy is proposed by one of her father's employees: seeing as the kidnapped woman is notoriously acident-prone, they should hire an equally accident-prone person to accompany the detective in charge of finding her. The theory is that, by suffering the same kind of misfortunes the young woman suffered, that person might stumble into a lead into her whereabouts.

Comedy consisting basically of the development of a single idea (expressed in the synopsis above). It's watchable but nothing extraordinary.

Rating: 42

La carapate (1978)

English titles: The Escape; Out of It

May 1968. A lawyer is visiting his sentenced-to-death client when a prison riot bursts. The lawyer is wrongfully accused of assaulting a prison guard; his client escapes. Later, the two rejoin and go through several incidents while on the run.

Mildly entertaining comedy with a frantic pace. As is usual in this director's movies, everything is very well done but also very formulaic; the setting at the time of the 1968 student rebellion adds to the film's interest, although the film is not very interested in politics.

Rating: 41

Le coup du parapluie (1980)

 English title: The Umbrella Coup

An actor, due an address mistake, thinks he is auditioning for a role when he is actually being hired as a killer. Concurrently, he has troubles with his girlfriends.

Very conventional yet also very well done comedy of errors which entertains provided one is not looking for anything terribly innovative or intellectually stimulating. The best -- or at any rate most curious -- joke is when the protagonist, while pretending to be blind, refers to a nose he discerns by touch as "anti-semitic".

Rating: 40

Le bal des casse-pieds (1992)

 Henri, a veterinarian, has his first son. His wife leaves him some time later. He finds a new love.

The synopsis above does not really describe the film, which consists of the protagonist being serially annoyed by everyone he meets: his relatives, his customers, his friends, even the people who are supposed to serve him. The pursuit of that theme is carried out very conscientiously but, alas, the result, though far from unwatchable, is eminently contrived and not often funny.

Rating: 36

Nous irons tous au paradis (1977)

 U.S. title: Pardon Mon Affaire, Too!

Translation of the original title: We Will All Go to Heaven

New adventures of the characters from Un élephant, ça trompe énormément. Étienne suspects his wife of adultery. The four friends buy a house in the country. And so on.

Unnecessary and uninspired sequel of sorts. I guess that in an age of sitcoms any movie which saw the possibility of begetting a sitcom as well jumped at the opportunity, even if it is in the form of a theatrical movie.

Rating: 35

The Razor's Edge (1984)

Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, first published in 1944.

 Larry is a young American from a well-to-do family who serves in World War One as an ambulance driver. After the war he gets second thoughts about becoming a stockbroker and decides instead to search for a meaning in life, or the meaning of life, or whatever. That entails some lifestyle choices which do not agree with his fiancée's expectations.

This is a strange movie, as most people who have watched it have noticed. The main actor does not suit the part physically, and his way of verbal expression is clearly anachronistic, and often considerably out of character. The other characters are poorly written but well played. Since the general dramatic points of the plot remain comprehensible, it's hard to consider the film a total failure. The basic point of the plot seems to be that women are what prevents men from searching a meaning in life, and that may be a good thing because there is no meaning in life. 

Rating: 35

Un éléphant ça trompe énormément (1976)

Alternate title punctuation: Un éléphant, ça trompe énormément 

U.S. title: Pardon Mon Affaire

Original title's translation: An Elephant Can Be Extremely Deceptive

Second viewing; previously viewed on June 25, 2013

Previous review: click here.

"A group of middle-aged friends get together for tennis regularly. Étienne is married and has never been unfaithful; his wife decided late in life to get a Law degree. He is lovestruck by a woman who comes one day to the public service facility he works at. Simon is a doctor with an overbearing mother. Daniel is an unmarried jokester  with a secret. Bouli is a chronically unfaithful husband whose wife just left him." (from my previous review)

My opinion of this movie remains largely unaltered upon this second viewing. One thing that I probably should add (and which I probably hadn't noticed earlier) is how similar in premise it is to Amici miei, released the year before in Italy. I will also add (though I doubt that I hadn't notice *this* earlier) that it is rare to find such an unjudgmental, matter-of-factly view of adultery in a movie. Perhaps it's a French thing, perhaps it's a 1970s thing, or perhaps it is both.

Rating: 58 (up from 57)

Les idoles (1968)

Three pop singers are the object of an intense marketing campaign. 

Botched satire of the pop industry. It seems to be mostly a stage musical filmed as is. While it is true that pop idols are manufactured to varying extents, this film distorts a basic aspect of reality when it implies that this phenomenon is tantamount to bad quality. Some pop groups which are entirely an industrial operation issued nonetheless good music, since good composers were hired, and those idols-to-be were chosen among people who could sing and perform. So, while it may be mildly funny to watch the humorous badness which comprise the musical aspect of this movie, this has nothing to do with show business reality. Furthermore, completely "authentic" artists may produce some very poor art, and I think we all have witnessed that one time or another. Incidentally, I guess this film might be a good example of that. Being simply the spin-off of a French equivalent of a mildly successful off-Broadway play, its only points of interest are as a document of another era and as a vehicle for some very committed and energetic performances.

Rating: 23

Le bon plaisir (1984)

A woman who ten years earlier had an affair with the current President is mugged in the street and has her handbag stolen. Inside that handbag is a letter from him asking her to perform an abortion.

One of those dramas which seem to presuppose that (a) politicians are extremely important persons and (b) their privates lives are extremely interesting for the common folks. As neither (a) nor (b) are true, what we get here is in equal parts tedious and implausible. I guess the actors are the only thing here which could perhaps draw viewers to the movie. But, alas, if we don't see it, how will we know it is really that bad?

Rating: 20