Matthias et Maxime (2019, Xavier Dolan)

Some critics like to put artists in drawers. For Xavier Dolan the drawer enfant terrible seems suitable, remembering the raw, often hysterical energy of I Have Killed My Mother of 2009. However, now at 30, Dolan is too old to be a wunderkind. Already It's Only the End of the World was for me a turning point towards a more mature and reflective Dolan.
Dolan has become a grown-up and so have his characters also. Matthias (Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas)is already climbing up the career ladder in a law firm. His best buddy Maxime (played by Dolan) is a bit restrained by his addicted mother (Anne Dorval, almost a follow-up of Mommy from 2014). Maxime is about to leave their gang to work in Australia for two years.
Matthias and Maxime are working out together; it is an open question if they are also making out together. At a party Rivette's annoying little sister imposes her both "impressionistic and expressionistic" film project on them. The project involves kissing between Matthias and Maxime.
"A kiss is  just a kiss"? Not when oppressed sexuality is involved. The two buddies are, maybe, to discover new facets in themselves.
The party at the beginning is full of that nervous energy that used to be the trademark of Dolan, but already the quarrels with his mother show that the pubertal rebellion is replaced more lowered reactions. - There is a bit melancholy about not more so young twens. When the summer is over, nothing is no longer as it used to be. There is great tenderness in this film, which is also a great hymn to friendship.
We are always very close to the actors, with only some few notable long shots. There are brilliant, sometimes sensational beautiful shots. And Dolan is not afraid of big feelings.
Here is a  big welcome to the mature and more restrained Xavier Dolan. It is exciting to see an artist in the making. And what a great actor Dolan is!
9/10

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?

Monsieur Lazhar (2010, Philippe Falardeau)

Again a misunderstanding between me and the intellectuals. Almost all critics agreed that thhis was a good movie. It was close to nothing to me.
Monsieur Lazhar is a refugee from Algeria, where he owned a restaurant. When a teacher commits suicide, he gets the idea to replace her. The teacher had the idea to hang herself in her class room, thus traumatizing the children who will have to be in this room for the rest of the school year. Of course refurbishing the room with another color won't take away the bad memory. In a way Monsieur Lazhar and the kids support each other, as Monsieur has lost his family during a terrorist attack. His unconventional approach is somewhat successful, a blend of traditional pedagogy, kindheartedness and  copying other teachers. Of course eventually it is that he isn't a teacher at all. But at least he manages to say 'good-bye' to the kids.
The film could have become engaging, but he is so cautious that it hardly dares to ask any questions, let alone find answers. It is just potentially interesting, but thickly packed in with candyfloss so I lost almost all interest while watching.
3/10

Monsieur Lazhar tries to give orientation, even when he is lost himself

Monsieur Lazhar and his clas