Port Authority
Danielle Lessovitz brings us a male-centric, slow burn film that slowly introduces female characters. The main character, Paul (Fionn Whitehead, Bandersnatch), brings us his White Boy Realness while his half-sister is the staunch, cold, entitled person who has everything but won’t lift a finger lest she be slightly inconvenienced. I would have loved for their story to be more fleshed out; we’re not told if they have the same mother or the same father.
The movie heats up when we are introduced to Wye (Leyna Bloom), Paul’s love interest. Paul tells a few white lies and he almost gets lost in how he wants things to be instead of how things are. It does gain traction toward the end, so it’ll be interesting to see how Danielle Lessovitz grows as a filmmaker.
Vegan alert:
-Reference to pink leather jacket
-Wye drinks milk
-Burger in a diner scene
Joan of Arc
It seemed premature to make another Joan of Arc film with the same actress so soon after making Jeannette, the musical of Joan of Arc as a child. Using the same actress (Lise Leplat Prudhomme), at least the sequel wasn’t a musical. It did feature some sequences that felt like an extended music video sometimes. However, it did feature some men lipsynching to some songs composed by Christophe. That seemed ridiculous and the audience members laughed as if it were a comedy. English soldiers speak French and the translator did not use any Oxford commas. Also, sometimes Joan would look straight into the camera.
However, the pristine cinematography made up for the green actress and the very slow unfolding of a story we have seen so many times before already. Fabrice Luchini plays the king of France, bringing a force that is sorely missing from the rest of the film.
The ending was anti-climatic as we only see Joan tied to a stake all alone; we see smoke, but no flames. Staging a scene like that must be hard: in Otto Preminger’s production of Saint Joan, the fire got out of control and burned Jean Seberg. Jacques Rivette’s version with Sandrine Bonnaire had her screaming and begging, pleading with God. Bruno Dumont gives us a docile, unsinged Joan. I’m not really sure what the point of making another Joan of Arc film is, if it wasn’t going to portray the important finale of her story.
Several people walked out, but most people stayed. Bruno and Lise had a whole row by themselves and stood up to thunderous applause at the end. Overall, the audience seemed to adore it, while I was pretty bored by it.
Check Twitter for pics of the screening.
Vegan alert:
-Leather belt
-People on horseback
-Robes lines with fur
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