How entertaining? ★★★☆☆
Thought provoking? ★☆☆☆☆ 11 July 2016
A movie review of NEWS FROM PLANET MARS. |
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“I’m sick of this castrative society,” Jérôme (Vincent Macaigne)
Director Dominik Moll has made a sporadically (very) amusing comedy that is not enough. Not biting enough. Not observant enough. Not dark enough. NEWS FROM PLANET MARS opts for a sweet climax of reassurance, rather than a rug pull. Normally the filmmaker opts for the unsettling (HARRY, HE’S HERE TO HELP), though here flexes a gentler muscle. Certainly far from dull, the passive man buffeted on life’s ocean of petty injustices had the makings of something satisfyingly cathartic or uncompromisingly observational.
Director Dominik Moll has made a sporadically (very) amusing comedy that is not enough. Not biting enough. Not observant enough. Not dark enough. NEWS FROM PLANET MARS opts for a sweet climax of reassurance, rather than a rug pull. Normally the filmmaker opts for the unsettling (HARRY, HE’S HERE TO HELP), though here flexes a gentler muscle. Certainly far from dull, the passive man buffeted on life’s ocean of petty injustices had the makings of something satisfyingly cathartic or uncompromisingly observational.
Philippe Mars (François Damiens - DELICACY) has a gormless disposition when confronted by choices not to his liking. Instead of growing a backbone, life has turned him into a bit of a doormat – one that grows in frustration as people continually metaphorically wipe their shoes on him. Crude revenge in the vein of ME, MYSELF & IRENE is not on the cards. Philippe is distinctly middle of the road, so there is no inadvertent idiot savant vengeance either (think the superlative LE DÎNER DE CONS). Populating the runtime here are plenty of weirdos, who entertain but not BEST IN SHOW entertain.
Opening on Philippe as an astronaut in space, fans of Moll would understandably wonder if he has gone GRAVITY or INTERSTELLAR. It is merely a pleasurable dream of escape, disturbed by his TV news reporter in the field ex-wife, Myriam (Léa Drucker). She calls to abruptly drop off their teenage children, Sarah (Jeanne Guittet) 17 and Grégoire (Tom Rivoire) 13. The latter is of the age when he clearly needs a father figure, while also forging his own path. Sarah is academically driven in fear of becoming like her father, who she harshly calls a “loser”. Philippe is not. Fractious family commentary is not close to the same league as brill Icelandic comedy, COUNTRY WEDDING.
An office drone, the workplace could have been OFFICE SPACE satirical; rather, easy laughs are gained from colleague Jérôme – constantly on the precipice of a breakdown until it finally happens. Going on a rampage with a meat cleaver, he accidentally injures his only kinda friend Philippe and is sectioned. The surreal mounts as our lead daydreams of his dead parents talking to him not quite helpfully. He is clearly melancholy by annoyances of a thousand cuts. Social commentary is distinctly lacking though.
NEWS FROM PLANET MARS excels when it is being especially outré, shame then it pulls its punches the majority of the time.
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