Latino movie reviews

Paris 36 (Movie Review)

Rated: PG-13 for some sexuality and nudity, violence and brief language.
Release Date: 2009-04-03
Starring: Christophe Barratier, Pierre Philippe
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Film Genre:
Country: France
Official Website: http://www.faubourg36-lefilm.com/

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Mickey and Judy Put on a Show… In French
 
It is only April but “Paris 36†may be the feel-good movie of 2009.  The third feature by helmer Christophe Barratier (“Les Choristersâ€) is a stew of plots and subplots with a cast almost the size of that of “Slumdog Millionaire,†but that does not detract from its appeal.  Set in Montmartre from New Year’s Eve 1935 to New Year’s Eve 1945, pic’s action takes place against the backdrop of the short-lived Popular Front government of Leon Blum, the Jewish premier who became the focal point of French Fascist anti-Semitism.  To cram all that historical context into a two hour movie is a daunting task, but Barratier and co-writers Pierre Philippe and Julien Rappaneau are more than up to it.  Fast moving plot and crisp dialogue help.  So do compelling performances by the entire cast, Barratier’s confident direction, and no-frills editing by Yves Deschamps.
 
Despite its historical context, “Paris 36†is a comedy that morphs into a musical.  The Fascists are almost comical.

Plot centers on a music hall taken over by a greedy, Fascist real estate thug (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) who closes it and puts its workers, including lighting man Germain Pigiol (Gérard Jugnot), out of work.  Eventually the workers, led by Pigiol, occupy the theater and stage shows that bomb.  They are saved by the arrival of Douce (Nora Amezeder), a songstress of fine voice whose history is central to the plot.  Pic is narrated by Jojo (Maxence Perrin) who plays the roughly ten-year-old son of Pigiol.  Jojo’s theatrical ambitions provide one of two key subplots.  The other hinges on a love triangle pitting labor activist Millou (Clovis Comiac) against Donnadieu’s Gallapiat over the affections of Douce.
 
Deus ex-machina plot twists are easily overlooked.  Notable among them is the surprise un-retirement of Max (Monisieur TSF played by Pierre Richard—TSF is French for radio) a 20-year agoraphobic who sees the world through his radio.  It seems that Douce’s mother, a music hall star, was the love of his life.  He composed her songs and conducted her orchestra in the very same music hall at pic’s center some two decades earlier.  He returns to do the same for her daughter.
 
Production numbers, set in the music hall, abound during pic’s final reel.  One feels almost transported to MGM in the 1930s except that it’s all in French.  It seems that every worker at the theater, even the lighting guys, is a superb singer and dancer.  Who’d of thunk?  Barratier handles what pathos there is economically.  Auds are guaranteed not to shed a tear.  Production design by Jean Rabasse excels in evoking inter-war Paris.  Original music by Reinhardt Wagner and lensing by Tom Stern leave nothing to be desired.  The only minor quibble, easily overlooked, is its somewhat predictable ending.
 
Pic, distributed in US by Sony Pictures Classics, carries a PG-13 rating, perhaps because of a few brief violent scenes.  However, for families not averse to subtitles, “Paris 1936†makes an excellent outing.

Sunshine Cleaning (Movie Review)

Rated: R for language, disturbing images, some sexuality and drug use.
Release Date: 2009-03-13
Starring: Megan Holley
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Country: USA
Official Website: NULL

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“Sunshine Cleaning,†the third feature from helmer Christine Jeffs, is an amusing trifle of a chick flick that manages to hold attention for 102 minutes.  It does so despite a thin plot mainly due to smashing performances by Alan Arkin as con-artist cum paterfamilias Joe Lorkowski, Amy Adams as his less than successful elder daughter Rose, and crisp dialogue by screenwriter Megan Holley.  Arkin is making a career at playing pretty much the same existential character he played in “Little Miss Sunshine.â€Â  Fortunately for “Sunshine Cleaning,†this time his character is not killed mid-flick.
 
Plot centers on Rose’s almost “I Love Lucy†style effort to better her circumstances.  A star high school cheerleader, opening cuts show her working as a maid days while screwing her now married high school boyfriend (Mac played by Steve Zahn) nights.  An unwed mother, her son Oscar’s (Jason Spevack) expulsion from public school ignites her immediate need for more money to pay private school tuition.  The Ethel in the duo is slacker younger sister Norah (Emily Blunt).  “Sunshine Cleaning†is a biohazard cleanup concern Rose starts after Mac mentions that it is a lucrative growth industry – a point driven home by pic’s opening in which a fellow played by Christopher Dempsey offs himself by shotgun in a sporting goods store.
 
After a shaky start, all goes well until Norah accidentally burns down a client’s house.  That puts uninsured Rose out of business.  A couple of notes of pathos (and tears) are introduced via the revelation, mid flick, of absent mother’s (Marya Beauvais) suicide when the siblings were tots.  The revelation is set up by an odd subplot with lesbian overtones that leads to a dead end.
 
Sharp editing by Heather Persons and Jeffs’ firm hand at the throttle move things along at a fine clip, making “Sunshine Cleaning†seem far more compelling than it is.  Its message, if it has one, is the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.â€
 
A weepy ending would be out of the question.  Jeffs avoids it with a couple of scenes that appear to be almost tacked on – the pivotal one being a sort of deus ex machina that is not entirely set up by what went before, but is at least consistent with pic’s humorous tone.  Editor Persons offers a nicely balanced touch in which quick cuts at the film’s open and end accomplish a good deal of exposition.  “Sunshine Cleaning†is a bit like Chinese food.  It seems more substantial than it is while one is eating it.
 
Minorities are almost conspicuously absent in this flick set in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Beyond a few seemingly Mexican-American small roles, cast credits reveal only a few Spanish surnamed actors.  One, however, Clifton Collins (a.k.a. Clifton Gonzalez-Gonzalez) plays a pivotal although not necessarily ethnic role.
 
Distributed in the US by Overture Films, “Sunshine Cleaning†is rated “R†due to language, violence (the suicide in the first reel), and sexual content.