La route des lacs (Road to Istanbul)
Director: Rachid Bouchareb
Writers: Rachid Bouchareb, Zoe Galeron, Yasmina Khadra, Olivier Lorelle
Franco-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb continues a prolific shooting schedule with his latest project, La route des lacs (Road to Istanbul), which tackles an extremely topical scenario regarding terrorist recruits and Isis when a mother discovers her child has joined the dangerous organization. Recently, Bouchareb has been navigating the Us Pacific Southwest with English language items Just Like a Woman (2012) and his 2014 remake of Two Men in Town. For this latest, he pairs with regular co-writers Lorelle, Galeron, and Yasmina Khadra (who penned the exceptional 2012 film The Attack for Ziad Doueiri, which Bouchareb produced), and the film will be headlined by Belgian actress Astrid Whettnall and rising star Pauline Burlet (who appeared in La Vie En Rose as well as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past in 2013). Thus far, this sounds similar to Bouchareb’s 2008 film,...
Director: Rachid Bouchareb
Writers: Rachid Bouchareb, Zoe Galeron, Yasmina Khadra, Olivier Lorelle
Franco-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb continues a prolific shooting schedule with his latest project, La route des lacs (Road to Istanbul), which tackles an extremely topical scenario regarding terrorist recruits and Isis when a mother discovers her child has joined the dangerous organization. Recently, Bouchareb has been navigating the Us Pacific Southwest with English language items Just Like a Woman (2012) and his 2014 remake of Two Men in Town. For this latest, he pairs with regular co-writers Lorelle, Galeron, and Yasmina Khadra (who penned the exceptional 2012 film The Attack for Ziad Doueiri, which Bouchareb produced), and the film will be headlined by Belgian actress Astrid Whettnall and rising star Pauline Burlet (who appeared in La Vie En Rose as well as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past in 2013). Thus far, this sounds similar to Bouchareb’s 2008 film,...
- 1/5/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Exclusive: Oscar-nominated Bouchareb explores plight of parents who lose children to Isis.Elle Driver has boarded Jorge Michael Grau’s earthquake drama 7.19 am and Rachid Bouchareb’s Road to Istanbul [pictured], about a mother who goes in pursuit of her Isis recruit daughter, ahead of the American Film Market (Afm). The company also start pre-sales on Audrey Dana’s comedy If I Were a Boy, in which she stars as a woman who wakes up with a penis, and Harry Cleven’s fantasy romance Angel. Franco-Algerian Bouchareb’s Road to Istanbul stars Belgian actress Astrid Whettnall as a single mother on a quest to find her 18-year-old daughter after she leaves Belgium to join the Islamic State with a Jihadist boyfriend. “My goal is to film the incomprehension of a mother totally caught off guard by the changes in her daughter on reaching legal age… Alone, divorced and abandoned by the authorities, she must try...
- 11/3/2015
- ScreenDaily
Harvey Keitel, Brenda Blethyn, Ellen Burstyn and Luis Guzman have all joined the cast of Enemy Way. They will join Forest Whitaker in the drama.
In the film Whitaker will play “a man struggling to rebuild his life in a small New Mexico town after 18 years in prison. Keitel will play the Sheriff who launches a campaign to return Whitaker’s character to prison for life.”
Rachid Bouchareb is directing from a script he co-wrote with Olivier Lorelle and Yasmina Khadra.
Its nice to see Keitel in something that has the potential to be good. The last thing I saw him in was Little Fockers, or as I like to call it Wasting Good Actors to Beat the Focking Shit Out if a Tired Premise.
Source: Variety...
In the film Whitaker will play “a man struggling to rebuild his life in a small New Mexico town after 18 years in prison. Keitel will play the Sheriff who launches a campaign to return Whitaker’s character to prison for life.”
Rachid Bouchareb is directing from a script he co-wrote with Olivier Lorelle and Yasmina Khadra.
Its nice to see Keitel in something that has the potential to be good. The last thing I saw him in was Little Fockers, or as I like to call it Wasting Good Actors to Beat the Focking Shit Out if a Tired Premise.
Source: Variety...
- 4/8/2013
- by Philip Sticco
- LRMonline.com
Director: Rolando Colla Writers: Rolando Colla, Roberto Scarpetti, Olivier Lorelle, Pilar Anguita-MacKay Starring: Fiorella Campanella, Armando Condolucci, Alessia Barela, Antonio Merone, Roberta Fossile, Marco D'Orazi, Aaron Hitz, Monica Cervini, Francesco Huang, Chiara Scolari Nic's (Armando Condolucci) parents fight -- like a lot. His father beats his mother, sometimes in public. Afterwards, she runs away, but she always comes back. Nic is 12-years old. He is a callous ball of anger and resentment, teetering on the verge of becoming a sociopath. It is difficult to determine what is more traumatizing for Nic, his father's volcanic temper or the fact that his mother always comes back for more. Nic deals with the aforementioned family drama by role playing in borderline dangerous games with his friends. The games, which are centered around a dilapidated shed located in the middle of a cornfield, are riddled with psychosexual drama fueled by raging preteen hormones. An...
- 6/26/2012
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Bérénice Bejo as Peppy Miller in Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius, A Separation: César Winners Pt.1 Best Actor Sami Bouajila, Omar m'a tuer / Omar Killed Me François Cluzet, Intouchables / Untouchable Jean Dujardin, The Artist Olivier Gourmet, L'exercice de l'État / The Minister Denis Podalydes, La conquête / The Conquest * Omar Sy, Intouchables / Untouchable Philippe Torreton, Présumé coupable / Guilty Best Actress Ariane Asquaride, Les neiges du Kilimanjaro / The Snows of Kilimanjaro * Bérénice Bejo, The Artist Leila Bekhti, La Source des femmes / The Source Valérie Donzelli, La guerre est déclarée / Declaration of War Marina Foïs, Polisse Marie Gilain, Toutes nos envies / All Our Desires Karin Viard, Polisse Best Supporting Actor * Michel Blanc, L'exercice de l'État / The Minister Nicolas Duvauchelle, Polisse Joey Starr, Polisse Bernard Lecoq, La conquête / The Conquest Frédéric Pierrot, Polisse Best Supporting Actress Zabou Breitman, L'exercice de l'État / The Minister Anne Le Ny, Intouchables / Untouchable Noémie Lvovsky, L'Apollonide,...
- 2/25/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Bérénice Bejo, Malcolm McDowell, The Artist The Artist, Polisse, Intouchables: César Nominations Pt.1 Best Actor Sami Bouajila, Omar m'a tuer / Omar Killed Me François Cluzet, Intouchables / Untouchable Jean Dujardin, The Artist Olivier Gourmet, L'exercice de l'État / The Minister Denis Podalydes, La conquête / The Conquest Omar Sy, Intouchables / Untouchable Philippe Torreton, Présumé coupable / Guilty Best Actress Ariane Asquaride, Les neiges du Kilimanjaro / The Snows of Kilimanjaro Bérénice Bejo, The Artist Leila Bekhti, La Source des femmes / The Source Valérie Donzelli, La guerre est déclarée / Declaration of War Marina Foïs, Polisse Marie Gilain, Toutes nos envies / All Our Desires Karin Viard, Polisse Best Supporting Actor Michel Blanc, L'exercice de l'État / The Minister Nicolas Duvauchelle, Polisse Joey Starr, Polisse Bernard Lecoq, La conquête / The Conquest Frédéric Pierrot, Polisse Best Supporting Actress Zabou Breitman, L'exercice de l'État / The Minister Anne Le Ny, Intouchables / Untouchable Noémie Lvovsky, L'Apollonide, souvenirs de la maison close / House of Tolerance Carmen Maura,...
- 2/21/2012
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Chicago – Rachid Bouchareb’s “Outside the Law” paints a vivid family portrait of a trio of brothers at the forefront of a violent, impassioned time in France as the country was trying to stop a revolution in Algeria and dealing with the violence that brought to their home country. With a story that spans decades, “Outside the Law” is sometimes a bit too episodic and stuffed with history to register emotionally but the three central performances carry the piece overall.
Bouchareb and co-writer Olivier Lorelle try to tackle major events of an entire revolution while also defining three distinct characters — the film sometimes feels like a 700-page book distilled down to 138 minutes when it probably would have worked better at twice the length. There’s So much story here that the characters often get lost in the details of history. It’s a film that’s more interesting than...
Chicago – Rachid Bouchareb’s “Outside the Law” paints a vivid family portrait of a trio of brothers at the forefront of a violent, impassioned time in France as the country was trying to stop a revolution in Algeria and dealing with the violence that brought to their home country. With a story that spans decades, “Outside the Law” is sometimes a bit too episodic and stuffed with history to register emotionally but the three central performances carry the piece overall.
Bouchareb and co-writer Olivier Lorelle try to tackle major events of an entire revolution while also defining three distinct characters — the film sometimes feels like a 700-page book distilled down to 138 minutes when it probably would have worked better at twice the length. There’s So much story here that the characters often get lost in the details of history. It’s a film that’s more interesting than...
- 3/25/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Rachid Bouchareb’s drama Hors La Loi about the Algerian revolution caused controversy at this year's Cannes Film Festival, prompting a demonstration and armed police on the streets. Nevertheless, the Gulf state of Qatar's 2nd Doha Tribeca Film Festival will open with that film and close with The First Grader. (National Geographic picked up the U.S. rights after it won the runner-up audience prize at Toronto.) Here's the full list of films showing at Dtff from October 26-30: Opening Night Film Outside the Law (Hors la loi), directed by Rachid Bouchareb, screenplay Rachid Bouchareb, Olivier Lorelle. (France, Algeria, Tunisia, Italy, Belgium) - Feature Narrative Three Algerian brothers who lost their family home in France's 1945 attack on the market town, Sétif, scatter across the globe. Each embarks on a different wild adventure -- one heads off to Indochina, another gets involved with the Pigalle boxing club underworld, the third...
- 9/26/2010
- by TIM ADLER
- Deadline London
Ok, this is something that’s already described like “controversial and anti-French” movie. So, we are here today to talk about this Rachid Bouchareb’s movie Hors la Loi or Outside the Law which is among the 19 films competing for Cannes’ top prize and is slated to premiere at the French Riviera festival May 21.
Movie is partly set during Algeria’s bloody struggle for independence from France. And as you see, the country’s colonial period still remains a touchy subject in France…
The director has reunited with four of the five stars of “Days of Glory”: Djamel Debbouze, Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem and Bernard Blancan…
Co-written by Bouchareb and his usual collaborator Olivier Lorelle, Outside the Law is set between 1945 and 1962 and traces the life of three brothers whose family has been driven off its land (in Algeria) and survived the Setif massacres.
They end up in France,...
Movie is partly set during Algeria’s bloody struggle for independence from France. And as you see, the country’s colonial period still remains a touchy subject in France…
The director has reunited with four of the five stars of “Days of Glory”: Djamel Debbouze, Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem and Bernard Blancan…
Co-written by Bouchareb and his usual collaborator Olivier Lorelle, Outside the Law is set between 1945 and 1962 and traces the life of three brothers whose family has been driven off its land (in Algeria) and survived the Setif massacres.
They end up in France,...
- 5/17/2010
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
Ok, this is something that’s already described like “controversial and anti-French” movie. So, we are here today to talk about this Rachid Bouchareb’s movie Hors la Loi or Outside the Law which is among the 19 films competing for Cannes’ top prize and is slated to premiere at the French Riviera festival May 21.
Movie is partly set during Algeria’s bloody struggle for independence from France. And as you see, the country’s colonial period still remains a touchy subject in France…
The director has reunited with four of the five stars of “Days of Glory”: Djamel Debbouze, Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem and Bernard Blancan…
Co-written by Bouchareb and his usual collaborator Olivier Lorelle, Outside the Law is set between 1945 and 1962 and traces the life of three brothers whose family has been driven off its land (in Algeria) and survived the Setif massacres.
They end up in France,...
Movie is partly set during Algeria’s bloody struggle for independence from France. And as you see, the country’s colonial period still remains a touchy subject in France…
The director has reunited with four of the five stars of “Days of Glory”: Djamel Debbouze, Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem and Bernard Blancan…
Co-written by Bouchareb and his usual collaborator Olivier Lorelle, Outside the Law is set between 1945 and 1962 and traces the life of three brothers whose family has been driven off its land (in Algeria) and survived the Setif massacres.
They end up in France,...
- 5/15/2010
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
Year: 2008
Directors: Ursula Meier
Writers: Ursula Meier & Antoine Jaccoud & Olivier Lorelle & Gilles Taurand & Raphaëlle Valbrune & Alice Winocour
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: quietearth
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
What started out as a tale of a loving and happy family, so close they took naked baths together, turns into an ordeal, a struggle to hold onto a cherished way of life. Living on the side of an unused freeway, the family has ripped of the guardrails and enjoys free reign there, surrounded by the country. They play hockey in the middle of the road and traverse it to get to and from work and school. This has gone on for 10 years until, with little notice, the freeway is opened for use immediately destroying their way of life. One comment I saw compared this to a metaphor about Big Brother intervening in our lives, but I think it had more to do with our dislike of change.
Directors: Ursula Meier
Writers: Ursula Meier & Antoine Jaccoud & Olivier Lorelle & Gilles Taurand & Raphaëlle Valbrune & Alice Winocour
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: quietearth
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
What started out as a tale of a loving and happy family, so close they took naked baths together, turns into an ordeal, a struggle to hold onto a cherished way of life. Living on the side of an unused freeway, the family has ripped of the guardrails and enjoys free reign there, surrounded by the country. They play hockey in the middle of the road and traverse it to get to and from work and school. This has gone on for 10 years until, with little notice, the freeway is opened for use immediately destroying their way of life. One comment I saw compared this to a metaphor about Big Brother intervening in our lives, but I think it had more to do with our dislike of change.
- 6/15/2009
- QuietEarth.us
PARIS -- French screenwriters union the UGS will celebrate Jacques Prevert's birthday Feb. 4 as it awards its second annual Jacques Prevert Script Prize for best French screenplay, the UGS said Thursday.
Gallic director Daniele Thompson will preside over the ceremony at Paris' Orangerie restaurant.
Thompson's 2008 jury includes fellow screenwriters Pascal Kane, Olivier Lorelle, Loraine Levy, Juliette Sales, Jerome Soubeyrand, Gilles Taurand, Anne Louise Trividic, Pierre Uytterhoeven and Philippe Vuaillat.
This year, the winner in the best original screenplay category will see 4,000 copies of his script printed and distributed at newstands around the country as a supplement to the screenwriters' magazine "La Gazette des Scenaristes".
Last year's award for best original screenplay went to Christopher Turpin and Laurent Tuel for Tuel's "Jean-Philippe", while the best adaptation award went to Michel Hazanavicius' "OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies".
Gallic director Daniele Thompson will preside over the ceremony at Paris' Orangerie restaurant.
Thompson's 2008 jury includes fellow screenwriters Pascal Kane, Olivier Lorelle, Loraine Levy, Juliette Sales, Jerome Soubeyrand, Gilles Taurand, Anne Louise Trividic, Pierre Uytterhoeven and Philippe Vuaillat.
This year, the winner in the best original screenplay category will see 4,000 copies of his script printed and distributed at newstands around the country as a supplement to the screenwriters' magazine "La Gazette des Scenaristes".
Last year's award for best original screenplay went to Christopher Turpin and Laurent Tuel for Tuel's "Jean-Philippe", while the best adaptation award went to Michel Hazanavicius' "OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies".
- 1/11/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARIS -- French scribes are heading to the sun, with Gallic professional screenwriters association L'Union Guilde des Scenaristes (UGS) planning a series of events and programs devoted to the trade in line with May's Festival de Cannes, organizers said Friday.
The UGS, in partnership with author's alliance the SACD, will hold a online script market April 30-June 30 in addition to a Script Days initiative at the festival.
Under the motto "to make a good movie, you need a good script," UGS' 200-plus members created the first French Script Market at the 2006 Cannes fest. The organization includes writers for film, television, animation and multimedia, with "Days of Glory" scribe Olivier Lorelle and "36, Quai des Orfevres" writer Olivier Marchal among its members.
As of April 30, French and international producers, directors and agents will once again be able to access a database featuring pitches from screenwriters at www.journeesduscenario.com.
During the festival, the Script Market will make its way to the Pantiero for information sessions, meetings and demonstrations that will take place every day from 10 a.m.
The UGS, in partnership with author's alliance the SACD, will hold a online script market April 30-June 30 in addition to a Script Days initiative at the festival.
Under the motto "to make a good movie, you need a good script," UGS' 200-plus members created the first French Script Market at the 2006 Cannes fest. The organization includes writers for film, television, animation and multimedia, with "Days of Glory" scribe Olivier Lorelle and "36, Quai des Orfevres" writer Olivier Marchal among its members.
As of April 30, French and international producers, directors and agents will once again be able to access a database featuring pitches from screenwriters at www.journeesduscenario.com.
During the festival, the Script Market will make its way to the Pantiero for information sessions, meetings and demonstrations that will take place every day from 10 a.m.
- 4/21/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Rachid Bouchareb's French World War II drama Indigenes (Days of Glory) is coming to North American shores from co-distributors the Weinstein Co. and IFC Films. The French and Arab-language film, which earned Bouchareb a Francois Chalais Award and its male ensemble cast the best actor award at May's Festival de Cannes, follows four men (Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Sami Bouajila and Roschdy Zem) who enlist in the French army along with 130,000 other North African, or "indigenous," soldiers. They fight the Nazis to liberate France, a country they've never seen, as they also fight French discrimination. The $16 million film from Tessalit Prods. will make its North American debut at next month's Toronto International Film Festival and is tentatively scheduled for release by the end of the year. Bouchareb and Olivier Lorelle wrote the screenplay, and the film was produced by Jean Brehat.
- 8/23/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Every action in "Little Senegal" reverberates across the centuries. The film, by French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb, finds simple, human terms to explore the dark legacy of violence and broken families that American slavery created. "Senegal" needs only 97 minutes to suggest more about the psychological aftermath of slavery than the legendary miniseries "Roots" did.
Unfortunately, "Senegal"'s chance for a release where it really should be seen -- North America -- is not good. A film that attempts to link the black communities in Africa and America and explore the bonds and antagonisms between them is not likely to thrill even a specialty distributor. Perhaps more festival exposure following its high-profile screening in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival might get the film across the Atlantic, where a distributor may take a chance on it.
The modern-day story traces the historical itinerary of Africans forced into slavery in the New World. Its hero is a 65-year-old widower, Alloune (Sotigui Kouyate), who has worked for years in a slave museum on the Senegalese island of Goree. After retiring, Alloune goes to America to trace ancestors who were abducted centuries earlier from his native village.
His journey takes him first to South Carolina and its lush plantations and modern research libraries, and he later arrives in Harlem. These early scenes, while interesting, tend to be flat as Bouchareb has apparently chosen to use nonactors for the scenes. But once Alloune arrives in New York, the story grows in complexity, and the director's themes firmly take hold.
Alloune stays with his nephew Karim (Roschdy Zem) in a Senegalese community in Harlem. Here, he locates Ida Robinson (Sharon Hope), a woman about his age who runs a newsstand. Convinced she is his cousin, he approaches her.
She mistakenly believes he is applying for a job. Realizing this, Alloune decides to take the job and get to know her better before revealing the nature of his journey to America. This involves him in Ida's estrangement from her pregnant granddaughter, Eileen (Malaaika Lacario), who has run away from home. In his attempt to reunite these two, Alloune runs up against social and economic tensions unlike any he experienced in Senegal.
Alloune's two families reflect not only the divide between the African and African-American communities but also the clash between old and new values within both communities. A growing friendship that turns into love between Alloune and Ida does explore the possibility that bonds can develop. Yet Bouchareb is realistic enough to show how fragile they are: Alloune's and Ida's great affection for each other is torn apart by a senseless act of violence.
Bouchareb, who wrote the script with Olivier Lorelle, is also delving into the immigrant experience -- one that, as he well knows, applies as much to France as America. The pressures of language, economics, green cards and unsettling social mores come at newcomers from all sides.
Stage and film veteran Kouyate delivers an invaluable portrait of an old man who honors the past. Hope touchingly limns a woman lost in the bitterness of her life who suddenly glimpses a ray of sunshine.
Behind the scenes, camera credits are excellent. Steady, crisp cinematography and an occasional jazz score are among the highlights.
LITTLE SENEGAL
3B Prods.
France 2 Cinema, Taunus Films & Tassili Films, Cofimages 11 and Gimages 3 with the participation of Canal Plus, CNC and Equinoxe
Producer: Jean Brehat
Director: Rachid Bouchareb
Screenwriters: Olivier Lorelle, Rachid Bouchareb
Directors of photography: Benoit Chamaillard, Youcef Sahradui
Music: Safy Boutella
Costume designer: Pierre Matard
Editor: Sandrine Deegen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Alloune: Sotigui Kouyate
Ida: Sharon Hope
Karim: Roschdy Zem
Hassan: Karim Koussein Traore
Amaralis: Adetoro Makinde
Biram: Adja Diarra
Eileen: Malaaika Lacario
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Unfortunately, "Senegal"'s chance for a release where it really should be seen -- North America -- is not good. A film that attempts to link the black communities in Africa and America and explore the bonds and antagonisms between them is not likely to thrill even a specialty distributor. Perhaps more festival exposure following its high-profile screening in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival might get the film across the Atlantic, where a distributor may take a chance on it.
The modern-day story traces the historical itinerary of Africans forced into slavery in the New World. Its hero is a 65-year-old widower, Alloune (Sotigui Kouyate), who has worked for years in a slave museum on the Senegalese island of Goree. After retiring, Alloune goes to America to trace ancestors who were abducted centuries earlier from his native village.
His journey takes him first to South Carolina and its lush plantations and modern research libraries, and he later arrives in Harlem. These early scenes, while interesting, tend to be flat as Bouchareb has apparently chosen to use nonactors for the scenes. But once Alloune arrives in New York, the story grows in complexity, and the director's themes firmly take hold.
Alloune stays with his nephew Karim (Roschdy Zem) in a Senegalese community in Harlem. Here, he locates Ida Robinson (Sharon Hope), a woman about his age who runs a newsstand. Convinced she is his cousin, he approaches her.
She mistakenly believes he is applying for a job. Realizing this, Alloune decides to take the job and get to know her better before revealing the nature of his journey to America. This involves him in Ida's estrangement from her pregnant granddaughter, Eileen (Malaaika Lacario), who has run away from home. In his attempt to reunite these two, Alloune runs up against social and economic tensions unlike any he experienced in Senegal.
Alloune's two families reflect not only the divide between the African and African-American communities but also the clash between old and new values within both communities. A growing friendship that turns into love between Alloune and Ida does explore the possibility that bonds can develop. Yet Bouchareb is realistic enough to show how fragile they are: Alloune's and Ida's great affection for each other is torn apart by a senseless act of violence.
Bouchareb, who wrote the script with Olivier Lorelle, is also delving into the immigrant experience -- one that, as he well knows, applies as much to France as America. The pressures of language, economics, green cards and unsettling social mores come at newcomers from all sides.
Stage and film veteran Kouyate delivers an invaluable portrait of an old man who honors the past. Hope touchingly limns a woman lost in the bitterness of her life who suddenly glimpses a ray of sunshine.
Behind the scenes, camera credits are excellent. Steady, crisp cinematography and an occasional jazz score are among the highlights.
LITTLE SENEGAL
3B Prods.
France 2 Cinema, Taunus Films & Tassili Films, Cofimages 11 and Gimages 3 with the participation of Canal Plus, CNC and Equinoxe
Producer: Jean Brehat
Director: Rachid Bouchareb
Screenwriters: Olivier Lorelle, Rachid Bouchareb
Directors of photography: Benoit Chamaillard, Youcef Sahradui
Music: Safy Boutella
Costume designer: Pierre Matard
Editor: Sandrine Deegen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Alloune: Sotigui Kouyate
Ida: Sharon Hope
Karim: Roschdy Zem
Hassan: Karim Koussein Traore
Amaralis: Adetoro Makinde
Biram: Adja Diarra
Eileen: Malaaika Lacario
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Ocean Films
Gaspar Noe's "Irreversible" isn't the only film from France these days that's guaranteed to court controversy.
Enter "The Devils", a relentlessly explosive bit of business about a troubled young man and his equally troubled younger sister who are continually running away from their various foster homes. It screened at the City of Lights/City of Angeles Festival in Los Angeles.
It's not difficult to understand why they have trouble fitting in. While the highly volatile Joseph (Vincent Rottiers) has the bottled-up rage of a career juvenile delinquent, his seemingly autistic, slightly younger sister Chloe (Adele Haenel) doesn't speak a word and resists any form of human contact.
From the first frames, it's very clear that sophomore director Christophe Ruggia's storytelling approach is anything but routine. There's a highly charged, threateningly uncaged dynamic in place that has no patience for convention.
But while the jagged bursts of violence are to be expected, Ruggia and co-writer Olivier Lorelle also have seen fit to toss in some seriously unsettling scenes of sexual awareness between the film's alarmingly young-looking leads.
Those two remarkable, completely unaffected performances -- in particular, Haenel with her strange smile often in the presence of a haunting, wide-eyed trance -- leave an indelible imprint even as the film threatens to collapse under the weight of the mounting shock waves.
Gaspar Noe's "Irreversible" isn't the only film from France these days that's guaranteed to court controversy.
Enter "The Devils", a relentlessly explosive bit of business about a troubled young man and his equally troubled younger sister who are continually running away from their various foster homes. It screened at the City of Lights/City of Angeles Festival in Los Angeles.
It's not difficult to understand why they have trouble fitting in. While the highly volatile Joseph (Vincent Rottiers) has the bottled-up rage of a career juvenile delinquent, his seemingly autistic, slightly younger sister Chloe (Adele Haenel) doesn't speak a word and resists any form of human contact.
From the first frames, it's very clear that sophomore director Christophe Ruggia's storytelling approach is anything but routine. There's a highly charged, threateningly uncaged dynamic in place that has no patience for convention.
But while the jagged bursts of violence are to be expected, Ruggia and co-writer Olivier Lorelle also have seen fit to toss in some seriously unsettling scenes of sexual awareness between the film's alarmingly young-looking leads.
Those two remarkable, completely unaffected performances -- in particular, Haenel with her strange smile often in the presence of a haunting, wide-eyed trance -- leave an indelible imprint even as the film threatens to collapse under the weight of the mounting shock waves.
Every action in "Little Senegal" reverberates across the centuries. The film, by French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb, finds simple, human terms to explore the dark legacy of violence and broken families that American slavery created. "Senegal" needs only 97 minutes to suggest more about the psychological aftermath of slavery than the legendary miniseries "Roots" did.
Unfortunately, "Senegal"'s chance for a release where it really should be seen -- North America -- is not good. A film that attempts to link the black communities in Africa and America and explore the bonds and antagonisms between them is not likely to thrill even a specialty distributor. Perhaps more festival exposure following its high-profile screening in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival might get the film across the Atlantic, where a distributor may take a chance on it.
The modern-day story traces the historical itinerary of Africans forced into slavery in the New World. Its hero is a 65-year-old widower, Alloune (Sotigui Kouyate), who has worked for years in a slave museum on the Senegalese island of Goree. After retiring, Alloune goes to America to trace ancestors who were abducted centuries earlier from his native village.
His journey takes him first to South Carolina and its lush plantations and modern research libraries, and he later arrives in Harlem. These early scenes, while interesting, tend to be flat as Bouchareb has apparently chosen to use nonactors for the scenes. But once Alloune arrives in New York, the story grows in complexity, and the director's themes firmly take hold.
Alloune stays with his nephew Karim (Roschdy Zem) in a Senegalese community in Harlem. Here, he locates Ida Robinson (Sharon Hope), a woman about his age who runs a newsstand. Convinced she is his cousin, he approaches her.
She mistakenly believes he is applying for a job. Realizing this, Alloune decides to take the job and get to know her better before revealing the nature of his journey to America. This involves him in Ida's estrangement from her pregnant granddaughter, Eileen (Malaaika Lacario), who has run away from home. In his attempt to reunite these two, Alloune runs up against social and economic tensions unlike any he experienced in Senegal.
Alloune's two families reflect not only the divide between the African and African-American communities but also the clash between old and new values within both communities. A growing friendship that turns into love between Alloune and Ida does explore the possibility that bonds can develop. Yet Bouchareb is realistic enough to show how fragile they are: Alloune's and Ida's great affection for each other is torn apart by a senseless act of violence.
Bouchareb, who wrote the script with Olivier Lorelle, is also delving into the immigrant experience -- one that, as he well knows, applies as much to France as America. The pressures of language, economics, green cards and unsettling social mores come at newcomers from all sides.
Stage and film veteran Kouyate delivers an invaluable portrait of an old man who honors the past. Hope touchingly limns a woman lost in the bitterness of her life who suddenly glimpses a ray of sunshine.
Behind the scenes, camera credits are excellent. Steady, crisp cinematography and an occasional jazz score are among the highlights.
LITTLE SENEGAL
3B Prods.
France 2 Cinema, Taunus Films & Tassili Films, Cofimages 11 and Gimages 3 with the participation of Canal Plus, CNC and Equinoxe
Producer: Jean Brehat
Director: Rachid Bouchareb
Screenwriters: Olivier Lorelle, Rachid Bouchareb
Directors of photography: Benoit Chamaillard, Youcef Sahradui
Music: Safy Boutella
Costume designer: Pierre Matard
Editor: Sandrine Deegen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Alloune: Sotigui Kouyate
Ida: Sharon Hope
Karim: Roschdy Zem
Hassan: Karim Koussein Traore
Amaralis: Adetoro Makinde
Biram: Adja Diarra
Eileen: Malaaika Lacario
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Unfortunately, "Senegal"'s chance for a release where it really should be seen -- North America -- is not good. A film that attempts to link the black communities in Africa and America and explore the bonds and antagonisms between them is not likely to thrill even a specialty distributor. Perhaps more festival exposure following its high-profile screening in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival might get the film across the Atlantic, where a distributor may take a chance on it.
The modern-day story traces the historical itinerary of Africans forced into slavery in the New World. Its hero is a 65-year-old widower, Alloune (Sotigui Kouyate), who has worked for years in a slave museum on the Senegalese island of Goree. After retiring, Alloune goes to America to trace ancestors who were abducted centuries earlier from his native village.
His journey takes him first to South Carolina and its lush plantations and modern research libraries, and he later arrives in Harlem. These early scenes, while interesting, tend to be flat as Bouchareb has apparently chosen to use nonactors for the scenes. But once Alloune arrives in New York, the story grows in complexity, and the director's themes firmly take hold.
Alloune stays with his nephew Karim (Roschdy Zem) in a Senegalese community in Harlem. Here, he locates Ida Robinson (Sharon Hope), a woman about his age who runs a newsstand. Convinced she is his cousin, he approaches her.
She mistakenly believes he is applying for a job. Realizing this, Alloune decides to take the job and get to know her better before revealing the nature of his journey to America. This involves him in Ida's estrangement from her pregnant granddaughter, Eileen (Malaaika Lacario), who has run away from home. In his attempt to reunite these two, Alloune runs up against social and economic tensions unlike any he experienced in Senegal.
Alloune's two families reflect not only the divide between the African and African-American communities but also the clash between old and new values within both communities. A growing friendship that turns into love between Alloune and Ida does explore the possibility that bonds can develop. Yet Bouchareb is realistic enough to show how fragile they are: Alloune's and Ida's great affection for each other is torn apart by a senseless act of violence.
Bouchareb, who wrote the script with Olivier Lorelle, is also delving into the immigrant experience -- one that, as he well knows, applies as much to France as America. The pressures of language, economics, green cards and unsettling social mores come at newcomers from all sides.
Stage and film veteran Kouyate delivers an invaluable portrait of an old man who honors the past. Hope touchingly limns a woman lost in the bitterness of her life who suddenly glimpses a ray of sunshine.
Behind the scenes, camera credits are excellent. Steady, crisp cinematography and an occasional jazz score are among the highlights.
LITTLE SENEGAL
3B Prods.
France 2 Cinema, Taunus Films & Tassili Films, Cofimages 11 and Gimages 3 with the participation of Canal Plus, CNC and Equinoxe
Producer: Jean Brehat
Director: Rachid Bouchareb
Screenwriters: Olivier Lorelle, Rachid Bouchareb
Directors of photography: Benoit Chamaillard, Youcef Sahradui
Music: Safy Boutella
Costume designer: Pierre Matard
Editor: Sandrine Deegen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Alloune: Sotigui Kouyate
Ida: Sharon Hope
Karim: Roschdy Zem
Hassan: Karim Koussein Traore
Amaralis: Adetoro Makinde
Biram: Adja Diarra
Eileen: Malaaika Lacario
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/21/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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