It's Only the End of the World (2016)

I bought this movie very largely on the basis of the IMDb rating of 7.0. I find that, in almost every case, the score on IMDb is almost always very close to the blind score that I give a movie after I've watched it (having forgotten the rating on IMDb). I guess all this shows is that I have quite "average" taste in movies.I expected that I would like this movie and, in some respects, I did. The acting was by and large quite excellent, the cinematography was wonderful, every shot being beautifully framed, the script and the dialogue were also excellent. But, here's the thing. Rarely does a movie so badly miss getting to the bloody point.Young Louis came home to tell his family that he was dying of some unspecified disease and amid all the bitching of arguing among his appalling family, he never gets around actually to telling them. I think I can understand this. Given the utter awfulness of his family, especially the maniacal brother Antoine, I think I might have been inclined in the end to give them all the finger and a parting greeting along the lines of "F**k you all" but this really didn't work in the context of a movie where so much more was expected.For the record, I expected an emotional about face after Louis told his appalling family that he was dying but we never even got near there.The whole movie was MOST unsatisfying and I'm afraid it's very unlikely that I'll ever bother to watch it again. It'll sit in my collection gathering dust and I'll probably forget I ever watched it in a few months; at least I hope so.Don't waste your time on this one. It wasn't actually all that bad but I have rarely before been so utterly disappointed by any movie.JMV

Film Review: "Juste La Fin Du Monde" (2016) - Just passing the age of twenty seven, Director Xavier Dolan presents another deeply thought-provoking let-out picture after his already accomplished entreé "Mommy" (2015) on the human condition with "It's Only The End Of The World" at Cannes Film Festival in its 69th edition to all-round comprehension of the leading character of successfully spoiled writer Louis, timid, yet just matching performance by actor Gaspard Ulliel who encounters his throughout unforgiving family after a twelve year absence within their downsized walls of so-called home.The director also uses his prerogative of final cut, arranging splendid chamber playing of full frontal character footage with poetic light, flashbacks and angle transitions from a close-to-be-family cast surrounding Léa Seydoux as closest down-on-luck sister Suzanne, Marion Cotillard as the character of Catherine for stability, Nathalie Baye as mother and actor Vincent Cassel as nerve-striking closer-to-be-wrecked older brother Antoine, who confronts Louis with his life of homosexuality and constant faded story-telling as an international writer, building over a running time of 90 Minutes a decent enough tension point of no returns to take the filmmaker's transcended emotion home to remember.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

Watching this movie was like looking into the eyes of the Van Gogh portraits painted during the years right before his death. It is extremely rare for a film to capture emotions that are so subtle but deep, this clearly isn't going to be a mainstream film since not everyone are capable of those feelings. The film reminded me of the limitations and frustrations of the human experience, that those moments of ecstatic happiness from the past often haunts us with sense of loss, even the things which seemed to be insignificant or immaterial at the time brings a nostalgic feeling when we realise we are not immortal. The characters clearly deeply care for each other, but the limitation of their personalities or a life time of habits (the marks of Antonie's hands or how Catherine constantly looks at Antonie from the fear or triggering his anger) leaving them unable to connect or have a full relationship with each other. This reminds me how we are constantly reacting and reflects the limitations of the human expression and relationships. Louis's sensitivity as he tells his brother the details about his feelings as he travels through the airport was a contrast to his brother's reaction, the lack of empathy from Antoine was not deliberate but a fact, it is not hard to see why Louis stayed away from people/place where he was never understood. The irony is they are family. The scene where Louis leans on the mattress where the scent/dust of the mattress triggers a trip down the memory lane was quite special for me. It represented how the sensitive the human mind is and memories are triggered by the most subtle senses but when we take those trips down the memory lane we are all alone instead of an experience shared between two people. Especially when Louis later learns from Antonie that Pierre has passed away. The actors/actresses are absolutely brilliant and without them the art wouldn't be brought to life.The movie left me feeling sad but nevertheless it's a brilliant piece of art work.

I fell for Gaspard Ulliel right in his "Hannibal Rising" for his trenchant acting in there despite that being largely an underrated film.Lea Seydoux being a Bond girl was promising too.But when I heard this film is the one that had also won Grand Prix 2016,I couldn't but be more interested.Gaspard Ulliel or Lea Seydoux or the other's,I can't say anyone of them missed anything in their respective parts of acting.And since the plot is of that kind to make you feel disturbed,since it was necessary to blabber to create an environment to delineate and make apparent a simmering yet esoteric frustration of the protagonist,deafening gibberish which has to be sustained throughout the film, from that perspective was relevant.But my point is,that gibberish has not been true or natural gibberish,as it was originally intended by the Director,and that necessarily could not engage or invoke the audience to deliberately sustain disturbance(to feel the appeal of the protagonist more,thematically) as the director might have intended through them and that exposed artificiality or "for the sake of" facts of the film.The gibberish could be more real,more substantive and more natural;about so many other necessary chores or subjects of a household that keeps a family engaged,rather than the "for the sake of ones" that undermine the film.Disturbance intended through one action but subsequently caused by the failure to perform such action or by different or deviant actions doesn't mean success.The acting is flawless no doubt and the face and expressions of Gaspard have been such as I did expect.Otherwise great,if you can muster the patience.I would rate this as 8 out of 10.