liviniseasy

[liviniseasy]

Giacomo's summer by Alessandro Comedian (2011)

The last movie I want to present here is the Italian Giacomo's Summer. This is the coming into the "normal" world of a teenager, until then deprived of his audition. It is, therefore, a metamorphosis, a second birth. But, instead of examining the motivations of the process that consists in "becoming like everyone else", Alessandro Comodin, the director of this 74' beautiful documentary, focuses on filming the last moments of his singularity.

Giacomo, a sheltered and rather homely child, will, for one summer, under the guidance Stefania, his best friend, immerse himself in an almost untouched nature: it is in his final days of deafness that he will discover new sensations and a profusion of sounds, scents and tastes. Giacomo's hearing loss is, arguably, not the subject of the film. Or if it is, it is as a non-subject, for the cinematic possibilities it holds. What is played out in this simple and brillant film is space and time irradiated, stretched by the qualities of summer in the country - the light, the slowness, the torpor, the colors, the richness of the sound fabric... In Giacomo's personality, we must not forget the director's personality. Alessandro Comodin explains: "Like him, who lived locked up at home, chained to Facebook, protected by his mother, I felt cut off from the world in this Friuli that I hate. I was handicapped in my relations with others, who prefer to play cards, go to discos and get drunk, rather than go to the cinema and read books. I identified with Giacomo, and I wanted to tell the story of his metamorphosis.”

You can find it on Tënk : https://www.tenk.fr/coup-de-coeur/l-ete-de-giacomo.html

[liviniseasy]

Un amour d’été de Jean-François Lesage (2015)

Today I am a bit disappointed by the movie of this article. The pitch of this almost-experimental movie was looking so good, I saw that Un amour d’été de Jean-François Lesage should show to the spectator a vision of Montreal where everybody is in love. Between late-night picnics, summery evenings shared on the mountain just after the park closes, and lover’s bodies getting closer, the movie seemed exactly about the summery feeling defined in my first article on this blog. But as the pitch mentioned too, while you try to share this wonder, it slips through your fingers, condemning you to remain a witness, almost jealous, you stay only a voyeur. You are not invited to the party. And this is probably this effect that made the movie to me, during the viewing, I was totally outside of the chain of scenes, I think I have to say it honestly, I was bored. But I have to be honest too about the successful aspects of Un amour d’été, as you can see on the photograms published on the blog, the photography is very well executed, the colors are so intense and bright till the blacks are deep and strong. It is very contrasted and detailed for a movie only shot by night on the street, in the half-light.

You can find it on Tënk : https://www.tenk.fr/les-films-des-ridm/un-amour-d-ete.html

[liviniseasy]

Lila by the Broadcast Club (2008)

The film I'm going to present to you now is probably my favorite because it blew me away when I discovered it. Even if it’s also the simplest movie that I present you in the blog, this is the most real and sincere. Lila is a short movie directed by the Broadcast Club who is a mysterious group of directors who only made this film. In a kaleidoscope of luminous images and micro-stories, Lila takes us on an August day at the Lilas campsite, at the foot of the Dune du Pilat. The heady music of the group Limousine gives us a feeling of unreality, of being a little high. However, what could only be a long clip succeeds in capturing the essence of what makes the carefree and the summer intensity: the pastis in the morning, the plastic cutlery, the girls who put make-up on in the toilets... and everywhere the pleasure of being together, revealed by the group poses and the direct glances at the camera. We come out of these 12 short minutes troubled and moved as after a summer love. I don’t know if I adored this movie because the camping iconography particularly talks to me, but it’s sure, I really advise you to watch this beautiful film when you are in the depths of winter, in need of summer.

You can find it on Tënk : https://www.tenk.fr/les-films-du-festival-du-court-metrage-de-clermont-ferrand/lila.html

[liviniseasy]

Remake of a Summer by Magali Bragard and Séverine Enjolras (2017)

The memory of Rouch and Morin, whom we met in the last article, in their search for happiness, like in Chronicle of a Summer has left traces in the heart of a new generation of filmmakers. Both of the directresses of Remake of a Summer, Magali Bragard and Séverine Enjolras have had the sociologist Edgar Morin as a professor during their university years at Nanterre. In their movie, they wanted to make a tribute to their ex-professor but especially to one of the best anthropologic movies. They tried to make the portrait of a new summer by filming, exactly by the same way, a new generation of people. The question is still “What is making you happy in your life?” and the answers are sometimes exactly the same, “I’m happy because I’m young and today’s sunny” and sometimes contrasting, everything has changed. The film is as much a portrait of today's society as it is a questioning of cinephilia and the way it impregnates our view. It was a daring challenge to follow the footsteps of a film as emblematic as Chronicle of a Summer, a bet that risked being weighed down by a historical reference. But the directresses by structure the film exactly the same way, all the scenes are the same transposed to our times, succeed to deliver a chronicle of another summer, inevitably not exhaustive but singularly true.

You can find it on Tënk : https://www.tenk.fr/cite/reprendre-l-ete.html

[liviniseasy]

Chronicle of a Summer by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch (1961)

We are coming back in France for the fourth documentary that I want to introduce you. But not the France of 2021, full of Covid-19 and social distancing, this is a portrait of the Parisian life during the summer of 1961. This is the famous Chronicle of a Summer. The two man behind this project were probably one of the most admitted intellectuals of their time: Jean Rouch, the documentarist and Edgar Morin, the sociologist. Together, they decided to ask to random people in the street and in their flats, the more sincerely they can: “What is making you happy in your life?”. Several discuss topics comes out of the first question and the discussions turn around French society and conditions of the working class. At the end of the movie, all the characters watch the movie, and make commentaries of interest about what they reflect. It’s a really great window on the hobbies, the habits and the dream of the young adults of this period. But it is also a perfect example the “cinéma vérité”. This genre of documentary filmmaking, invented by Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin, which consists in improvisation to capture pure moments and highlight subjects hidden behind crude reality. In this genre, the filmmaker can participate in front of the camera and make artistic choices and create an artifice within the film. I really encourage you to check it out and discover this pure way of filming.

You can find it on UniversCine: https://www.universcine.com/films/chronique-d-un-ete

[liviniseasy]

Our Beloved Month of August by Michel Gomes (2008)

During the sun’s rays come back in our life, in this sweet month of April, let’s talk about a particular piece, between documentary and fiction, between dream and reality. Our Beloved Month of August is sort of a docu-drama released in 2008. It’s a part of the Michel Gomes’ brilliant filmography, but perhaps not his most famous. The plot is a bit complex to explain, but we can keep in mind that it’s three crossed stories. First, Michel Gomes himself and his crew who are making a Rohmerian movie about the social life of the residents of a countryside of Portugal called Arganil. They don’t have enough money to make the movie and decide to choose the real residents as actors and actress of the film. At the same time, we witness the fictional love story between two characters of the Gomes’ movie. And then finally, all these sequences are interspersed by documentarian scenes of the everyday life of the people which include captures of live shows performed by the characters. This could be impressive, but this melting pot invites the audience to dream, to let go and let the summer take place with some slowness and roaming. Gomes' stroke of genius here, consists in constructing Our Beloved Month of August as a diptych that brings together both documentary and fiction, and with that makes us discover the Arganil with its most intimate point of view.

You can find it on UniversCine: https://www.universcine.com/films/ce-cher-mois-d-aout

[liviniseasy]

Quebramar by Cris Lyra (2019)

https://www.tenk.fr/les-films-du-festival-du-court-metrage-de-clermont-ferrand/quebramar.html

Imagine a place where everyone is welcomed, and let free to be her or him. This is the feeling that Quebramar gives to its viewers. This short documentary of 27 minutes, released in 2019 has been directed by Cris Lyra, a young Brazilian directress. We follow a group of young lesbians that goes on a trip to the beach, in an atmosphere of end of the summer. This is the right instant for them to explore the celebration, the friendship and the music. Benevolent to each other, they assume their bodies, their memories and their freedom. With its solar and sensual image, the movie reveals a directress of the photography but also a talented directress. Cris Lyra succeeds in capturing the energy of the group, as we can see during this drawing session where all of them, lying on the sand, express themselves, with their non-stereotyped, unique and beautiful bodies. We are like in a smooth dream, somewhere inclusive, hopeful and overall beautiful. Also, we absolutely have to notice the music and the strength of these women who sing to heal their scars. This is a salutary and luminous reverse angle to the homophobic and violent Brazil of Jair Bolsonaro.

You can find it on Tënk: https://www.tenk.fr/les-films-du-festival-du-court-metrage-de-clermont-ferrand/quebramar.html

[liviniseasy]

Treasure Island by Guillaume Brac (2018)

https://www.tenk.fr/7e-seance/l-le-au-tr-sor.html

The movie which get the ball rolling is the 90 minutes Treasure Island directed by Guillaume Brac in 2018. Near Paris, in an outdoor activities center, in a place where people can enjoy their summer by canoeing, laying on an artificial beach or flirting, the movie take place between non-fiction and fiction. Through the eyes of the director we’ll sometimes follow a group of young boys who try to break in the center by climbing the gates, sometimes follow another young man who work here and take advantage of that by hitting girls and explore the secret corner of the center and sometimes others vacationers with extraordinary ordinary stories. The young man will be our guide and this is by following him that we’ll discover the excitation and the passion that we can have about this place. Guillaume Brac films the place as the main character of the movie, and as we can see the title is a direct reference to the place. The director makes the place as beautiful as the holiday-makers find it wonderful. But the real interest of the movie lies in the mischievousness and the watchful eye of the director, we feel that he doesn’t only shot the character as an exterior but he involves them in the creative process of the shooting. And during long still shots we see with pleasure the complicity emerging between him and them.

You can find it on Tënk: https://www.tenk.fr/7e-seance/l-le-au-tr-sor.html

[liviniseasy]

Livin’ is easy

On this page, we will explore how can the summery emotion be represented in arthouse documentaries… If the sweet feeling of the sun on your skin miss you, it means that you are in the right place. Every year, summer let freedom, joy and love take place in our lives, and each winter, there is something missing: this summery feeling. Some authors of documentaries have tried to catch the ardor of free spirit whom enjoy the summer by meeting other people, being them and I want to thank them for that.

It’s been a long time that I wanted to make a sort of list of the documentaries that made me wondering of the summer. I wanted to be eclectic, so I will introduce you from the oldie Chronic of a summer, the famous documentary by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch to Quebramar by Cris Lyra, the recent short documentary about a group of lesbians in a Brazilian holiday camp. That I want you to understand is that there is no editorial policy except the sun and the sea. Here I suggest you a draft of a list, but I want you to take part in and don’t hesitate to purpose me some new ideas of summery documentaries.

Hope it will make you wonder.