Montreal Mirror wrote:

People tend to be cynical and derisive towards romantic comedies. Personally, I’m a softie and seeing people fall in love on screen always touches me. Then again, I’m aware that most entries in the rom-com genre are derivative and idiotic. But once in a blue moon, you find one that’s surprisingly original and intelligent. Les Aimants is such a film.

After five years abroad, Julie (Isabelle Blais) comes back to Montreal and crashes with her sister Jeanne (Sylvie Moreau), a woman who lies as she breathes. Jeanne is engaged to Noël (David Savard), a workaholic who’s never home, so they communicate through messages they leave on the refrigerator. When Jeanne leaves for a week of adultery with theremin virtuoso Manu (Emmanuel Bilodeau), she asks Julie to cover up for her by responding to Noël’s fridge notes. But Julie decides to get “positive revenge” on her seemingly heartless sister by making the messages she leaves more romantic…

Les Aimants was written and directed by Yves Pelletier, a former member of the legendary comedy group Rock & Belles Oreilles. That his directorial debut is hilarious is unsurprising, but I didn’t expect it to also be full of heart and brains. There are many big laughs, but they’re always integral to the overall story and themes. Pelletier doesn’t take himself too seriously, but he has interesting things to share about synchronicity, forces of attraction and good vibrations.

The whole cast is fantastic, making each character funny and endearing, even those who are initially ridiculous. Ultimately, though, this is Isabelle Blais’s picture. She managed to steal Les Invasions barbares with only a few minutes of screen time, so imagine how luminous and lovable and moving she is through a whole film. She even gets to sing two of the songs of the great prog-pop score by Dumas and Carl Bastien.

A recurring line in the film is, “C’pas intelligent mais ça marche,” (“It ain’t intelligent but it works”), and you feel that this is Pelletier apologizing for using romantic comedy gimmicks and clichés. No need for that: Les Aimants is intelligent and works.

1.47 GiB | 1:31:03 | 720×416 | avi

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Language:French
Subtitles:French and English IDX.SUB

The post Yves Pelletier – Les Aimants AKA Love and Magnets (2004) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

BRENDAN KELLY, The Gazette, Published: Monday, January 15 2007 wrote:
In film and life, all roads lead to Montreal.
Filmmaker Noel Mitrani returned to his place of birth and found home; French actor Laurent Lucas – and the character he portrays in Sur la Trace d’Igor Rizzi – followed their hearts

Sur la trace d’Igor Rizzi, the remarkable first feature from Montreal-based filmmaker Noel Mitrani, is a poetic look at a former French soccer star living in self-imposed exile in snow-covered Montreal. So it’s only appropriate that the film, which opens this Friday, is the result of a collaboration between two guys who, like the film’s anti-hero, made the decision to abandon France and come live here in Quebec.

Igor Rizzi, a low-budget production made with almost no government money, has generated enormous buzz, premiering at the Venice film fest, winning the award for best first Canadian feature at the Toronto Film Festival and landing a berth in the list of the top 10 Canadian films of 2006 compiled by the Toronto film fest.

Mitrani was born in Toronto to French parents and, after spending the first five years of his life in T.O., he moved with his family back to France. Three years ago, he decided to return to the country where he was born and he has been happily based here ever since.

Actor Laurent Lucas, who delivers a stand-out performance as burned-out French sports star Jean-Marc Thomas, moved from Paris to our city six years ago after falling in love with a Quebecoise he met while shooting a film here.

But both Mitrani and Lucas are quick to underline that their reasons for adopting Montreal couldn’t be more different than Jean-Marc’s.

“He comes to Montreal to die,” said Lucas, who is best-known for his starring roles in two acclaimed French films from director Dominik Moll, Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien, and Lemming. “Montreal is like a tomb for him. I made the decision to come live here because I loved Quebec from the first time I came here.”

Jean-Marc is a ruin of a man at the start of the film. He is still shattered by the death of his former girlfriend, played by the luminous Isabelle Blais in flashback. He has come to Montreal, her hometown, because he feels it’s the only way to be close to his lost love. Broke, Jean-Marc is reduced to ekeing out a living as a petty criminal, a job he seems particularly unsuited to handling.

The cast also includes Pierre-Luc Brillant and Emmanuel Bilodeau.

“It’s only an autobiographical film in the sense that all of the reflexes of the main character are my reflexes,” Mitrani said.

He began writing the Igor Rizzi screenplay shortly after arriving in Montreal, and he always had his friend Lucas in mind for the lead role. Mitrani had some money that he’d made from an earlier short film and, instead of waiting around for the funding agencies to come on board, Mitrani decided to make the film on a shoestring budget with his own money.

The film was shot quickly last February, mostly outdoors in frigid winter conditions, but Mitrani and Lucas insist the lack of cash wasn’t a problem.

“I had $50,000, no more, no less,” said Mitrani, who directed, produced and wrote the film. “I would call suppliers, like Fuji for the film stock, and I’d say: ‘I need this many feet of film and I have $10,000 to spend. That’s it. Do we have a deal?’ And the guy laughed and then agreed to the deal. So I ended up paying less than the normal rates for everything. In the end, I didn’t lack anything. I had exactly what I needed. The most important things are to have a 35mm camera, film stock and great actors.”

Won “Best First Feature” at TIFF.

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Language:French
Subtitles:English/Italian IDX.SUB

The post Noël Mitrani – Sur La Trace d’Igor Rizzi AKA On the Trail of Igor Rizzi (2006) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

An erotic drama about a woman facing her 30th birthday who looks back at her life growing-up with her grandmother, crazy mother and her over-indulgence with men, sex and alcohol.

Borderline, a film version of the novels Borderline and La Brèche, tells the story of Kiki at various stages of her life. With her mother institutionalized, she is raised by her grandmother, where left to her own devices, she takes refuge in school. Her life before 30 is a far cry from fairy-tale. Sex and alcohol are her only outlets and her daily reality. She goes through men one after another. But at 30, Kiki faces the hardest challenge of all: learning to love herself.

Borderline.2008.FRENCH.720p.HDTV.x264-BAWLS.mkv

General
Container:	Matroska
Runtime:	1h 49mn
Size:	3.28 GiB
DXVA:	Compatible
Minimum settings:	Not met
Video
Codec:	x264
Resolution:	1280x720
Aspect ratio:	16:9
Frame rate:	23.976 fps
Bit rate:	3 859 Kbps
Audio
French 5.1ch AC-3 @ 448 Kbps

https://nitro.download/view/96877DFD677A84E/Borderline.2008.FRENCH.720p.HDTV.x264-BAWLS.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/0F890BB2AE815E7/Borderline.2008.FRENCH.720p.HDTV.x264-BAWLS.eng.srt

Language(s):French
Subtitles:English

The post Lyne Charlebois – Borderline (2008) first appeared on Cinema of the World.