WESTERN |
| CREDITS: Director: Manuel Poirier. Cast: Sergi Lopez, Sacha Bourdo & Elizabeth
Vitali. France (subtitled) 1997 (15). INTRODUCTION: A wonderfully poetic character study from the arse end of France, that was a truly deserving winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes. SYNOPSIS: Two strangers thrown together by circumstance discover themselves as they travel across the length and breadth of central Brittany in search of love. REVIEW: An unusual road movie that covers less than seven miles in over 120 minutes of running time, compared to "Leningrad Cowboys Do America" which went from the Siberian wastes to Mexico via most the United States in less than 90 minutes. This film does however go far further into the characters and explores their inner depths, but one would expect nothing less from the feature debut of Poirier, a former Peruvian social worker.. Lopez beautifully underplays his role as Nino a Catalonian shoe-salesman while Bourdo hams it up as Paco a Russian hitch-hiker, creating one of the most endearing double acts in cinematic history. Vitali and Matheron provide wonderful backup as the objects of Nino and Paco's affections while Siekoua puts in a show-stealing performance as the wheelchair bound Baptiste. But the true star of the film is Finisterre in western (hence the title) Brittany, beautifully lensed scenery shown to a Cesar (the French Oscars) winning soundtrack from Bernardo Sandeval creates a truly powerful look at this little known area of France that has been described as the Wales of the continent. Good morning France. Mutt's Rating: **** |