Ma vie de Courgette (2016, Claude Barras)

With a running time of just a little more than one hour, this film is obviously designed for a young audience. The book, I have been informed, is not aimed at children. But as the theme of this film is child neglect, the director had the courage to include children in the target audience. The version I saw said, that the film was suitable for children from the age of 7.
It mat be that modern children can digest such things packaged in a stop motion picture. Icare is a lonely child. His mother sits in front of the TV and drinks beer. His father has run away. Icare  plays with a kite and the empty cans. The friendly policeman Raymond takes care of the unkempt child. In the orphanage Courgette at first has to cope with the teasings of Simon, but soon he experiences love and care for the first time. When a new girl, Camille,  arrives, he even experiences love and at last he gets the chance to be adopted together with her.
This sounds like a family film, although some details must be difficult to swallow for very young viewers. Probably they won't read that Courgette was two days alone with the dead body of his mother (as written on the Raymond's computer screen). Usually the evil ones in this kind of film are more comical than vicious. In this film Courgette is really scared when his mother threatens to beat him up. All the children in the orphanage have stories of real neglect on their CV. But Barras never becomes sentimental. For example when Courgette fights for a beer can, bwcause it is the only memory he has of his mother and whrn he later remodels it for Camille.
A film for everybody with a heart.
9/10

L'Iceberg (2005, Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Bruno Romy)

It is a pity that Aristotle did not write about comedies and made it clear for everybody what to expect. In generic terms L'iceberg is a comedy. Thus many people think that they have to laugh all the time, but comical does not necessarily mean farcical. There is no slapstick or kick ass humor (there is another difficult term) in this film. But I think it is safe that detect black humor in this film - potential tragic situations are presented with irony. Yes, the recipient must have an antenna for this kind of humor, else it won't work.
The film starts with a narration by the Inuit girl Nattikuttuk (is this a real Inuit name? Google only finds it only in this feature film!) . She is going to narrate narrate how she met her husband. Change of scenery to a fast food restaurant in Belgium. Fiona gets trapped in a walk-in freezer. She survives the night, but has to learn that nobody missed her at home. Her husband, Julien, doesn't notice that his wife is not sharing the bed with him. Like robots they butter their bread and don't notice when Fiona finally stumbles home. Here you have tunnel vision in a nutshell.
After the traumatic experience Fiona gets fascinated by icebergs. She runs away from her family and joins a group of travelers. They are villagers from a coastal village. An elderly woman offers her shelter in her house.  A not talking fisherman, René,  owns a boat by the name of Titanique. They feel atracted to each other.
After some time Fiona actually is missed by her family. Her husband wants her to return, but at first he has to fight with René. On the tinay Titanique they sail the open sea and are wrecked.Nattikuttuk saves them.
The frames of this film are mainly static - almost as cages -, yet the protaganists are often busily running through the scenery. There is very little dialogue in this film. It is nice to see that the directors rely on the power of the pictures.
Seen on Festivalscope.
7/10

The king of the World?

Mochila de plomo (2017, Dario Mascambroni)

In Mochila de plomo (Packing Heavy) the drama unfolds slowly. We follow a group of youngsters in a minor city of Argentina. In the night the play soccer, drive home and frolic. Then they go home. We follow Tomás. He hides as he sees his mother drive away with a man. The home is very untidy, unwashed dishes are heaping in the sink. In the morning he cannot find clean clothes. Without breakfast he goes to school, where he is suspended. Too many times he didn't attend classes. Furthermore he didn't wear the school uniform. As he is free, he is loafing through the town. He rings the bell of an auntie, but doesn't stay for food. His mother is stil sleeping when he comes back. Tomás steals money and some cigarettes from her purse. He gets a new, fashionable haircut, then he is involved in a fight and runs away with his best friend Pinchón. At the river they smoke and later they try to shoot with a gun. We learn that Nenino, the man who was responsible for the death of Tomás' father, is released from jail. At the sports club there is going to be a BBQ. Tomás might want to shoot the man. Tomás is eager to learn more about his father, but everybody seems to be unwilling to talk about him. A man at the club house says, that he was the best soccer forward ever. Tomás also visits the house of his grandfather, who says that Tomás' father was involved with bad company. Maybe her was a thief also. At least - 10 minutes before the film finishes - Tomás finally has the encounter with Nenino - aiming at him with the gun.
The absence of grown-ups in this film is striking. The kids are just doing what they like. Adults are not a part of their lives. They only come home for sleeping. The kids also have their own laws and norms.
Packing Heavy is for people who like to follow ordinary life situations that are narrated in an unspectacular manner. Although there is obviously not happening a lot, the potential drama keeps my interest alive.The calm camera work lets us follow the protagonist, as it were participate in his life.
Notes: This text is identical with a review on IMDb. As I am the author, I feel entitled to publish this text here also.
IMDb lists this as a 2018, but the closing credits say  that it is from 2017.

Captain Kidd's Kids (Hal Roach, 1919)

Many of Harold Lloyd's early short films are particularly unfunny. This one also relies on slapstick and kickass-comedy.
Lloyd play a bachelor, who had a rather wild party. His coming mother-in-law hears from this and cancels the wedding. Both mother and daughter will travel to the Canary Islands. Lloyd follows them and dreams that he is entangled in piracy.
4/10