Anear higher education in art, Alexandra Pianelli settled behind the cash desk of the newsstand on place Victor-Hugo, in the 16e Parisian arrondissement, thus following in the footsteps of his mother, his grandmother and his great-grandmother. Armed with her only smartphone, with finesse, rigor and a sense of detail, she filmed, for several months, the routine of the small kiosk, its regulars, its moments of grace, its troubles and its emotions.
The captivating documentary is embellished with sketches by Alexandra Pianelli, with a deliciously Parisian sense of sketching. At the heart of this very judiciously filmed daily life are invited, carried by incredibly charming cardboard installations, all the logistical details that regulate the life of a kiosk, from deliveries to returns, through the precious collaboration of the agencies. releases, the kiosk’s biggest customers. But this little world, once indispensable, has become fragile, threatened by the economic crisis and the advent of digital technology. Thus we see this endearing family business suffer under the pressure of a failing system, to the point of no return, which sounds the death knell for an era of Parisian life. We come out of this documentary shaken to the core.
Booth, by Alexandra Pianelli. On OCS, until January 5.
Learn kung fu with nuns
Sinners, repent, because these good sisters will not give you a present: they are broken in running, handle big guns and are the pros of the butt-brush. The specialty of their secret congregation, based in Spain? To fight against the demons which threaten to invade the earth and which their order has kept at bay, for more than a thousand years, thanks to the power of the aureole of Saint Gabriel, transformed into a magic ring. The ring has been passed from nun to nun since the time of the Crusades: those who have the honor of wearing it see it embedded in their backs and develop supernatural strength. Yes, the pitch of this American series, adapted from comics, seems slightly far-fetched. But this story, which sees a young orphan, once handicapped, mistakenly decked out with the magic ring and drawn into an epic battle between good and evil, grabs us. In addition to its well-oiled esoteric-police mechanics at the The Da Vinci Code and its exciting action scenes (who doesn’t love a good fight of nuns and demons?), the series questions the relationship between science and religion and skillfully poses the question of free will. Good entertainment, with just the right amount of existential torment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b957HC9Yr6UWarrior Nunon Netflix.
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Convert Souls
Goodland : a very simple story for a great and beautiful film by Hlynur Palmason, who presented it at the last Cannes Film Festival. At the end of the 19the century, Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove), a Danish pastor, is sent on a mission to Iceland to build a church and photograph the local population. He will have to cross rough seas and swollen rivers, learn to ride a horse, rub shoulders with hostile inhabitants who do not speak his language and confront a rustic guide who observes him circumspectly in his mission to convert souls. An evangelical journey in the form of Calvary in the middle of grandiose landscapes – mountains of greenery, vertiginous waterfalls, erupting volcanoes – masterfully photographed and which are so many striking pictures of a world which escapes faith, where destinies collide tragically. Will Lucas lose his soul there? Audacious and original, Palmason, clearly nourished by Bergman and Dreyer, has the art of painting this journey to the end of hell in a country where night does not fall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLEBD-k10UMGodland, indoors.
Rediscover Versailles
VSee the hunchback transform into Lagardère during a foil duel with the infamous Gonzague near the Gabriel staircase. Listen to a theorbist and a singer under the frescoes of the Salon d’Hercule. Attend a ball against a backdrop of fireworks in the Hall of Mirrors. Hear Jean de La Fontaine reciting a fable in the middle of the gallery of battles. And end with a greeting to Santa Claus… or a glass of champagne. It’s “the king’s journey”, a visit-show of the Palace of Versailles specially designed for the holidays and which keeps all its promises. We taste the beauty of the setting and the music, of course, but also, and perhaps above all, the intimacy offered by the nocturnal visit in a small group. An experience to be savoured.
The King’s Journey, visit-show of the Palace of Versailles from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. every day until 1is January 2023
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Rediscover the art of storytelling with Chamoiseau
If there is a tale to offer and to offer yourself during this Christmas period, it is this one: The North Wind in the icy ferns, which, believe it, comes straight from Martinique, since it is signed Patrick Chamoiseau. Already 30 years after his Goncourt for Texaco, the Martinican writer, who features in this book, is told by a mischievous and voluble narrator the astonishing odyssey of a small group of friends who set off in search of the last master of speech: indeed, the the island’s most illustrious storyteller has disappeared. But what happens without a storyteller, what can we do without Boulianno? Did he leave some instructions to transmit his art? The team climbs to attack the hills above Sainte-Marie, and, full of hope, looks for the hiding place where the storyteller could hide… Astonishment arises when a young girl, a stranger, arrives following them. who writes on his phone, and aspires to meet the master and, why not, like the young drummer of the troupe, the very talented Populo, to succeed him? The plot unfolds in the magnificence of nature, with the humor of someone who makes fun of the writer Chamoiseau – who recounts his genesis at the end of this book. Everything enchants us in this journey to the heart of tradition but never backward-looking, and which questions the very art of storytelling to the very depths. Chamoiseau sweeps away nostalgia in a great wind of joy, of life, a song with the power of the imagination, in his marvelous language, a poetic and close prose, where the writer reaches heights of beauty.
The North Wind in the icy ferns, Editions du Seuil, 331 pages, €19.50
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