“Eden Is West” – The latest from Costa-Gavras is a quasi-autobiographical immigration fable that wavers in the middle ground between broad comedy and poignant melodrama. As the film opens we meet Elias (Riccardo Scamarcio) as he boards a ship that will illegally take him to western Europe. On the way the ship is intercepted at night by customs ageents and decides to risk swimming to shore instead of being arrested and deported. When he wakes up in the morning he finds himself on the beach of, Eden Club Paradise, an all inclusive resort where he goes undercover as a worker, unable to leave because of the heavy police presence searching for other illegals that may have also washed up on shore. His stay at the resort turns into a few days, and he manages to develop a relationship with one of the guests, and seems to hit it off with a visiting magician who tells him to contact him if he ever reaches Paris. With that goal in mind Elias sets off on an adventure that will take him through a wide variety of immigrant experiences. From bring ripped off by would be drivers to finding kindness in the most unlikely places, Costa-Gavras’ film is earnest but feels generic. Moreover, there is a strange streak of stereotyping that feels very out of place in such a film, from the boozing German truck drivers, to the white, out of touch resort residents who even spend one evening (rather unbelievably) hunting for illegals on the beach as a group activity. Perhaps Costa-Gavras had these caricatures in place to drive home a broader message about intolerance but he misses the mark entirely. “Eden Is West” more often than not plays as a failed experiment in style.
A week ago we reviewed “Welcome” which played the opening weekend of the festival, and it covered the ground as Costa-Gavras’ film without the slapstick, and with a greater subtlety and humanity. Perhaps the legendary director, who is at the festival presenting this film, a new print of “Z” and conducting a master class is in need of a refresher himself. [C-]
“The Army Of Crime” – Based on a true story this film by Robert Guediguian is meticulous and detailed thriller set in German-occupied Paris. The film follows the rise and fall of a single resisitance cell as they try to kill, disrupt and embarras their German occupiers. The group, a motley crew of Armenians, Spaniards, Hungarians, Poles, Romanians and Jews initially start with small, mostly symbolic actions but slowly become organized, with ranking, directives and a payroll under the leadership of Missak Manouchian (Simon Abkarian). As their resistance actions grow deadlier, more disruptive amd garner the attention of the press the harder the German forces crack down on the group. The script offers an intriguing look at the machinations of both the resistance movement, and the German war machine, and in particular how the battle was just as much about the press and public opinion. Guediguian’s direction is efficient, if unremarkable but his strong cast, in particular Abkarian and Robinson Stevenin (sort of has a French Cillian Murphy thing going on), are magnetic. Unfortunately, the score by the usually reliable Alexandre Desplat is disappointingly drab playing it safe, perhaps yielding to the thematic importance of the picture. “The Army Of Crime” isn’t revolutonary among the genre but it’s a fascinating story, well told, and it will certainly satisfy curious viewers. [B]
“Welcome Home” – Robinson Stevenin, who was electric in the previous film, heads the cast of this slow burning drama of forgiveness and redemption. He plays Julien, who has just been released on parole after serving thirteen years for a crime he committed when he was sixteen. He begins trailing a girl he knew back then, to clubs, to her home and work and it becomes clear that she holds an important key for him to try and adjust to the outside world. The first half of the film is beautifully crafted, and shows a keen balance between withholding information (which is why we’re being a bit more elusive with plot in this review) from the audience while still maintaining a narrative pull. Unfortunately the second half, as revelations are made and we learn more about Julien’s past, stalls more often than not, giving the story a pat resolution when one of uncertainty would’ve been more honest. “Welcome Home” is an admirable effort, and while Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (there’s a name that was made for cinema) does some fine work behind the camera he doesn’t have the conviction to see the darker corners of the material through to their logical end. [C+]