“The Empire”, “The Last Men”, “The General’s Pawn”… in cinemas on February 21st

♦ The Empire ***

by Bruno Dumont

French film, 1h51

In The Empire, We find Freddy, a character from Bruno Dumont’s previous films, as a blonde and chubby baby. This innocent-looking child was secretly chosen by the forces of evil to be their representative on earth and rally people to their cause. The director transposes the universe of war of stars in his hometown of Pas-de-Calais and combines the natural and the supernatural in this cinematic UFO, a comedy about the human condition that is as compelling as it is brilliant. The film is in the running for the Golden Bear in the Berlin competition.

READ THE REVIEW: “The Empire”, the “space opera” by Bruno Dumont

♦ The Last Men**

by David Oelhoffen

French-Belgian film, 2 hours

On March 9, 1945, the Japanese army unexpectedly attacked French command posts in Indochina. There is consternation in the Khan Khai rest camp in Laos, where legionnaires suffering from malaria, syphilis or alcohol addiction are stuck. Two men are left to fend for themselves and the nineteen others begin a long 200-kilometer walk to reach the Chinese border. Survival film more than war, in which violence is displayed head-on, The last men immediately grabs the viewer with the intensity of the story and the power of emotions.

READ THE REVIEW: “The Last Men”, the march of the last chance

♦ Bye Tiberiade ***

by Lina Soualem

French, Palestinian, Belgian and Qatari documentary, 1h22

With her documentary, director Lina Soualem offers us a first-person story and an album full of memories. She intimately films the pain of loss and exile through a series of Palestinian women, from whom her mother – the actress Hiam Abbass – comes.

READ THE REVIEW: “Bye Bye Tiberias”: Lina Soualem and Hiam Abbass, the living memory of Palestine

♦ The General’s Pawn**

by Makbul Mubarak

Indonesian film, 1h55

A strange relationship characterized by both tenderness and harshness emerges between Rakib, a devoted young man, and a retired general who once served the Suharto dictatorship. But when local resistance to his policies arises, Purna will reveal his true colors and test the young man’s loyalty. This first film from a South Korean-trained young Indonesian director impresses with the sweaty and chilly atmosphere it distills within the oppressive closed doors.

READ THE REVIEW: Makbul Mubarak’s The General’s Pawn is a troubled Indonesian thriller

♦ Sleep **

by Jason Yu

South Korean film, 95 minutes

By day, Hyeon-soo is a kind actor and a caring spouse to his young wife Soo-jin. At night he frightens her with sleepwalking fits that border on the believable and endanger the safety of her young daughter. Even for an audience that doesn’t like horror films, Sleep has a lot to offer: a beautiful insight into Korean culture, particularly in its ambiguous relationship to traditional spirituality, and a beautiful reflection on the resilience of couples.

READ THE REVIEW: “Sleep” by Jason Yu, Korean insomnia

♦ The successor *

by Xavier Legrand

French film, 1h52

His successor is Ellias (Marc-André Grondin), the new artistic director of a famous Parisian haute couture house that he has just successfully taken over. He’s also the son of a father he hasn’t seen in twenty years and who just died suddenly of a heart attack. He is therefore forced to return to his home country, Montreal, to take care of the funeral and settle his inheritance. But this one, which we won’t reveal, will prove to be much harder than he imagined. Formally very (or too) meticulous, the film contains some great ideas for the production, but the script and the deliberately exaggerated acting of Marc-André Grondin prevent us from remaining completely faithful to its story.

READ THE REVIEW: “The Successor” by Xavier Legrand: Like father, like son

The Kingdom of the Abyss*

by Tian Xiaopeng

Chinese animated film, 1h52

From 10 years on

A 10-year-old girl, Shenxiu, drags her youthful misfortune into the corridors of a ship on which she has been cruising with her (patient) family. Since her mother left the family home and her father started a new life and a child, she feels abandoned. Convinced she saw her mother’s silhouette on the pontoon, Shenxiu plunges into the water one stormy evening… where she discovers a fantastical other world! Filmed by a swirling camera, the effect of which becomes exhausting to dizzying by the end, the characters appear as exhausted as the viewer, despite the final turn of the situation, too much to stand out.

READ THE REVIEW: “The Kingdom of the Abyss” by Tian Xiaopeng, Twenty Thousand Leagues Below the Mother

⇒ Here you will find reviews of films released last week

• NO ! * Why not ** Good film *** Very good film **** Masterpiece