Aide toi et Ciel t'aidera, 4*
An almost all black cast, the main women character Sonya is good looking but no vamp, she is responsible for all her kids and her husband, and the old folks in a housing estate. Catastrophy after catastrophy, she navigates amongst her friends, being loyal to a frou frou gal friend - even though she is in such an urgent state. Sonya is likeable, an all round super woman. There is so much humanity in her way of treating other people around her.
Claude Rich plays a semi handicapped old kind poor gentleman - Georges. He reminds me of a certain person who is also so delicate and considerate towards others. All his lines are so succint, nothing wasted. He said, he forgot about his mother a long time ago, doesnt think of her anymore. She had put him into the world, but she didnt allow him to live. She kept him away from the other children, he was afraid of the flesh. But oh, how jealous he is when he sees through binoculars that Sonya walks on the parkette below, taking care of old folks, men and women, she takes the arm of an old man - one who chats casually during his old man walk that he rethinks of everyone whom he had sexed with and this is his way of keeping happy in his old age, one after another he counts them - Georges is so infuriated to see Sonya for he has never dared to go this far, touching the arm of a woman! He also wants that, but he doesnt want to go outside of his apt. Sonya says, then lets walk around inside the apartment - and he takes her arm walking around inside the apt. Georges wants to live, he wants to live even if its just for a few minutes - this few minutes would shine - as he could be dead any day now. At his age, he could do anything now. He asked her to let her see her naked and touch her body, he takes a chair watching her naked like a sculpture on his bed while he goes on a monologue, she watches, and listens to this sensitive soft man in his old age almost reaching the end. He says, at least his life would not have been wasted in return, firm smooth flesh, unlike his own body... when he dies, she could bury him in her basement like her ex-husband so that she could get his retirement. Nobody visits him anyway, no visit, nobody knows. She did it, not only for the money but also for the money. Only the money, its not "noble" doesnt present Sonya as a good woman, if totally no money involved, it would be unbelievable and demeaning for Sonya because for what reason must she play the public charity despenser role? So, the storyline is very solid and the acting is very good.
When can I see such a movie of this quality on/from Asians immigrants?
Details like these are everywhere in the movie. Very precisely put together, not one scene wasted. Sonya prepares to go to the daughters wedding and finds her husband dead lying on the bed. Her top still undone, all the guests arrives and leaves for the church, noisy, full of energy nobody really notices that she is not finished dressing. This is also true to very energetic young people... everything fits. Such scenes could it happen in a middle class white family? I cannot imagine in an Asian family!
How healthy, and how bouncy and full of life, so many energetic handsome people. Real gifts of life in the end is when children are allowed to live (Sonyas teenage daughter has a baby without any husband/boyfriend) - as compared to the other more self restrained culture, where children are not allowed to live.
The music, the beat box, the rap, the conditions of housing projects with so much kindness and police and hardship and getting a live in a harsh no opening future. How people steals vespas and sends it up to the roof to ride around... reminds me of Japanese hoodlum films. The roof top is the club house of the housing estates - its empty just gravel - people smoke and hang out. A street car named desire.
The generics, very colorful; playful fonts.
There were two other people in the cinema. Very little interest for this big house distribution, financed also by Canal+ Someone advised, if you make a movie and try to get finance, dont make a movie with minority people in it, you will lose money. This is not really a minority movie, its maybe a movie about French immigrant people at the banlieue - somebody should make a movie about people beyond the fancy Parisian cafes and bourgeois homes. We also want to see that.
The story is set in a similar milieu about white immigrants in the movie "Un Deux Trois soleil" - a movie with Mastroianni and a very good actress -Anouk Grinberg. About Italian immigrants, women who has to wash and iron everyday the husbands shirts, who lives in Marseille in city of towers, where the man flops into a bed into an apt which looks like his own, and apt is occupied by a black family - but hes so tired that he didnt see any difference - sleeps and goes to work next day. But nobody said anything and life goes on.
Another movie I saw was Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song - by Melvin Van Peebles. An independant movie from the 70s blaxxploitation group - also something different that I didnt see before; and will not be able to see easily.
Invited to go to the Transmusicale round table conference : new music of today, sonic sounds etc. Should I go to the Round table?
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