The first commercial feature of the Coréo-American director Kogonada was eagerly awaited. Result: even if there is a little bit of spice, a beautiful bold big journey (in theaters since Friday) is a feast for the eyes and the mind.
Kogonada (Park Juong Eun, his real name) was born in Seoul, but grew up in the Midwest of the United States. He first caught attention in the early 2010s, when he began to broadcast popularization capsules online in which he analyzed the cinematography of certain television series.
He directed a first independent film in 2017 (Columbus), before having been a great critical success with After Yang (2021), a science fiction work which was notably presented in Cannes and Sundance.
This was followed by an inevitable passage on American television, where he worked on a few episodes of the Pachinko (2022) and The Acolyte (2024), Star Wars saga.
An impressive CV certainly, but a little short, which nevertheless convinced the giant Sony and its subsidiary Columbia to entrust him $ 45 million in order to bring an extremely coveted scenario to Seth Reiss (who wrote The Menu, with Anya Taylor-Joy) entitled a beautiful big daring trip to the screen.
The story of the film is very simple: two singles per choice, David (Colin Farrell) and Sarah (Margot Robbie) meet “by chance” at the wedding of common friends.
They flirt a little during reception, but very quickly understand that they are not made for each other. Sarah has the annoying manner of being unfaithful while David tends to get tired of his new companion once he managed to seduce her.
When Sarah’s car breaks down, the two singles decide to make the return trip together (they live in the same city).
It was then that a “magic” navigation system (failing a better term) suggested that they make a “daring” journey. Consequence: they are forced to relive the moments of their life whose trauma blocks their capacity to be happy as a couple …
After each romantic failure, every sensible human being will make an introspection to find out where the idyll – regardless of its duration – derailed. What Kogonada and Seth Reiss offers us is a psychoanalysis, not in thoughts, but in images and sounds, from the past of David and Sarah.
Unsurprisingly, the cinematography is magnificent. An analyst accomplished by the great filmmakers of our time as part of his web capsules, Kogonada puts into practice what he noted. The composition of each image is carefully studied. The choice and use of primary colors are also extremely meticulous.
This daring journey is far from being a conventional romantic comedy. The humor (especially carried by Robbie) is subtle, the omnipresent fantastic and the refined narrative – even if it lacks the spark which could have made it a masterpiece at the La Land (2016).
In fact, your appreciation of the film may depend on the degree in which you recognize yourself in David and Sarah. Some of their reflections/discoveries are likely to brew memories and emotions that you may have voluntarily repressed.
I therefore recommend very active listening. Otherwise, you risk missing a great opportunity to learn more about you and, who knows, perhaps evolve as a person.
Love Me
Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun in a scene from the dystopian drama Love Me.
Like his characters, who seek to know who they are, the film Love Me (Video Prime) tries to give itself an identity that differentiates it from the classic Wall-E (2008). In both cases, the execution is very laborious.
Written and directed by Andrew Zuchero and his sister Sam, Love has absolutely nothing to do with the conventional Hollywood film. As part of their first feature film, the Zuchero sign a highly philosophical film that explores different aspects of what it is that of human being.
To do this, they tell a post-apocalyptic story in which two inanimate objects, the scientific buoy Me, and the IAM satellite, fall “in love”.
If humanity has died down, the Internet has survived. So explores me the cyberspace to try to understand who it is. She then came across the videos of a couple of influencers (Kristen Stewart, of the Twilight saga, and Steven Yeun de Nope).
In order to seduce the satellite, the buoy adopts the personality of the influencer. Little by little, Me and IAM “relocate” the perfect everyday life that the couple exhibits in their videos. But are the two objects really “them” if they only copy someone else?
You will have guessed that at the heart of this gigantic metaphor is a social criticism on this almost sickly need for humans to build an image in order to be loved or accepted.
The story of Love Me and its analogy are however, at times, extremely obtuse. The result is a daring and visually atypical film, but whose emotional impact is unfortunately zero. n
