A couple of French language films from NOW TV before the cinema subscription runs out:
The Brand New Testament
In this absurdist Belgian comedy, God is a complete bastard. He is a hard drinking, heavy smoking cruel and indicative man who lives in Brussels, takes delight in the fact his son was stupid enough to get caught and executed, verbally abuses his wife and beats his 10-year-old daughter, Ea. He created human kind because he was bored and chickens and giraffes weren't interesting enough, making such rules as the optimum amount of sleep is always 10 minutes more, a slice of bread and jam will always land jam side down, and the next queue always moves faster than the one you're in for his own entertainment.
After a consultation with her brother, Ea decides to sabotage his computer and escape their tiny apartment so she can recruit six apostles (to make 18 in total, the same number as on a baseball team, something which will make her mother happy) to write a new book and improve the world. Before escaping, she sends out a message to everyone on earth informing them how much time they have left before they die, something which has both hilarious and tragic results.
The premise sounded interesting and I did worry that the film wouldn't live up to its promise, but fortunately it does and the apostles, plus the man, Victor, she convinces to write the book, Ea recruits are interesting and funny characters with a degree of tragedy and comedy to their situations. If you have Sky Cinema this is well worth watching.
Raw
Another film in the world cinema section, and one which stood out because of its premise: Justine is a staunch vegetarian enrols at a prestigious veterinarian school (joining her sister and following in the footsteps of both parents). Along with the other rookies, she is faced with a series of initiation tasks, one of which is to eat a raw rabbit's liver. Because of our upbringing, this decision is not an easy one, but what happens has far reaching consequences. It's probably not too much of a spoiler to say that unlocks a previously hidden appetite, and one that extends well beyond bunnies!
I didn't realise this when I began watching it, but it's a film that critics, particularly Mark Kermode, have championed, with Kermode giving it five stars in his Observer review and considering it one of the best films of last year. It's easy to see why because the writing and directing by Julia Ducournau has echoes of Brian DePalma (another initiation ritual evokes Carrie), David Cronenberg in its body horror, and even Gaspar Noé in terms of the colour and disorientating camera angles and movement.
Garance Marillier is superb in the lead role, definitely an actor to watch out for, because she is able to convey incredible vulnerability, strength, menace, loneliness and savagery with ease, all of these are blended together to make Justine such a compelling character and her journey such a fascinating watch.
Like The Brand New Testament, this is something to watch if you have the Sky Cinema package, but is also good enough that a blind buy would not be a foolish move – it's easy to see why it is so critically acclaimed and was very successful on the European festival circuit.
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