Larry Oliver Film Reviews

  Some film critics are all too quick to ascribe a form to the film they have watched, usually labelling it in a negative way: an unexciting ‘thriller’, a ‘horror’ film without scares and so on. What they don’t do is recalibrate their interpretation to better describe the spectacle that is presented to them. I don’t blame these reviewers so much. A filmmaker may offer an element associated with a form, for example, an individual pretending to be someone else for the sake of appearances. We associate this trope with farce. There is a high stakes situation and the person with power must not discover that the woman he has fallen for is in fact the maid. How could he be tricked in such a way? What else might he think as a result? Farces depend on their comical impact on the utter collapse of order – the pretence that spirals out of control. What happens when a filmmaker takes the promise of a farce but uses it to interrogate the impulse behind the deception? The drama’s impact is les...

Pictured : Make-up artist Badou ( Gwendal Marimoutou ) and stunt double Mike ( Ben Aldridge ) share a restive moment in a scene from co-writer-director Marjane Satrapi 's ensemble comedy, ' Paradis Paris ' (' Dear Paris '). Still courtesy of Studio Canal . There is a mantra: ‘make every film as if it was your last’. I think Iranian émigré cartoonist turned director Marjane Satrapi took this to heart with her sixth feature film, Paradis Paris , a listless comedy set in Paris that captures a short period in the lives of mostly creative Parisians as well as that of a teenage girl who is a victim of social media. Focussing on death – or near-death – as a recurring theme, it plays like the work of someone creatively tired. ‘You want me to make a film. Sure. Now leave me alone.’ Satrapi appears briefly in the film as a director, exuding a ‘don’t bother me’ vibe. I think potential investors should take note. The film it most reminded me of is To Rome with Love , Woody Al...