TIFF 2014: Samba & The Keeping Room
Samba is the follow up from directing duo
Olivier Nakache and
Eric Toledano, whose last film, The Intouchables, was a film that was filled with touching moments, lots of laughs, and had two amazing leads. Nakache and Toledano's are collaborating again with Omar Sy, who plays the title role. Omar Sy and Charlotte Gainsbourg both command every scene that they are in, bringing many laughs, and are one of the main strengths of Samba. In this outing, the directors still bring plenty of the same charm, as well as some more dramatic material to play with, although I did not find myself quite as engaged as I was with The Intouchables. The chemistry between Sy and Gainsbourg is strong, but I feel the more dramatic elements present could have played a much bigger part. While the abundant humour and more crowd pleasing elements of the film (mostly) worked, I would have liked to see a bit more weight given to the issues with France's immigration laws instead of the romantic aspects of the plot.
Still very enjoyable and well done, Samba doesn't make full use of it's dramatic potential in favor of a more crowd pleasing movie. With that said, I don't think that's the kind of movie Nakache and Toledano set out to make, and that's alright with me.
8/10
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One of the films I was looking forward to the most this festival was Daniel Barber's The Keeping Room, his follow up to his 2009 film, Harry Brown. This time set during the Civil War and led by an incredibly strong half-American, half-UK cast, Barber's new film is a departure in some ways from his last work. I will be keeping an eye on Daniel Barber's works from now on, as he evidently has a talent for evoking very powerful performances and maintaining a certain intensity throughout his films.
With that said, if the performances were not as strong as they were here, in particular the three leading ladies (Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld, and a breakout performance from Muna Otaru)... the film would not have worked on me nearly as well. The violence is intense and the suspense is kept up through much of the second half of the film, but I felt that the film was trying too hard at making me cry and cheer on these women in holding their land. I love strong women characters and I love sad movies, but the abundance of teary-eyed monologues, as well as the emotional and physical pains these girls have to go through in one night felt too heavy-handed at points. That's not to say there weren't a few great moments that made the audience and myself cheer, nor is this the kind of film that should have a ton of humour thrown in, but much of these problems seem to come from Julia Hart's script.
Some of the dialogue between the soldiers and the three women came off a little awkward, and some scenes dragged on longer than they needed to. The strongest moments for me were those where the characters were in silence, whether that be when the three girls were taking care of one another or when the house is being torn apart by bullets by the two soldiers. On the performances alone, and for those interested in the subject matter, I recommend this rather dark and heavy drama. With a few minutes shaved off it's already swift 95-minute runtime, and a few narrative fumblings removed, I could maybe recommend this film more.
7/10
Still very enjoyable and well done, Samba doesn't make full use of it's dramatic potential in favor of a more crowd pleasing movie. With that said, I don't think that's the kind of movie Nakache and Toledano set out to make, and that's alright with me.
8/10
----
One of the films I was looking forward to the most this festival was Daniel Barber's The Keeping Room, his follow up to his 2009 film, Harry Brown. This time set during the Civil War and led by an incredibly strong half-American, half-UK cast, Barber's new film is a departure in some ways from his last work. I will be keeping an eye on Daniel Barber's works from now on, as he evidently has a talent for evoking very powerful performances and maintaining a certain intensity throughout his films.
With that said, if the performances were not as strong as they were here, in particular the three leading ladies (Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld, and a breakout performance from Muna Otaru)... the film would not have worked on me nearly as well. The violence is intense and the suspense is kept up through much of the second half of the film, but I felt that the film was trying too hard at making me cry and cheer on these women in holding their land. I love strong women characters and I love sad movies, but the abundance of teary-eyed monologues, as well as the emotional and physical pains these girls have to go through in one night felt too heavy-handed at points. That's not to say there weren't a few great moments that made the audience and myself cheer, nor is this the kind of film that should have a ton of humour thrown in, but much of these problems seem to come from Julia Hart's script.
Some of the dialogue between the soldiers and the three women came off a little awkward, and some scenes dragged on longer than they needed to. The strongest moments for me were those where the characters were in silence, whether that be when the three girls were taking care of one another or when the house is being torn apart by bullets by the two soldiers. On the performances alone, and for those interested in the subject matter, I recommend this rather dark and heavy drama. With a few minutes shaved off it's already swift 95-minute runtime, and a few narrative fumblings removed, I could maybe recommend this film more.
7/10
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