Home Video debut for Jean-François Richet's remake of Claude Berri's ONE WILD MOMENT

When Claude Berri's 1977 film Un moment d'égarement was first released in the USA (not until 1981), as TrustMovies recalls, it was not met with much enthusiasm from our cultural guardians. Its theme of inter-generational sex (as well as caring and connection) between an older man and the daughter of his best friend proved too much for our hypocritical taboos.

Now Jean-François Richet (of the Mesrine movies, Blood Father) and the remake of Assault on Precinct 13) has remade the original (which he's dedicated to M. Berri) with an updated version, also titled in English ONE WILD MOMENT. The good news: It is very well done indeed.

M. Richet, shown at left, has cast his movie extremely well, using two of France's most popular and talented actors in the "dad" roles -- Vincent Cassel and François Cluzet (shown above and below, with M. Cluzet on the right) -- and with two young, beautiful and talented new actresses in the daughter roles. Although the director (who also co-adapted, with Lisa Azuelos, Berri's original screenplay) more often makes crime movies, he clearly has a knack for comedy, as well. Richet's blending of the humorous and the heartfelt with that age-old generation gap and a nice touch of feminism is quite expert. Further, as funny and crazy as things get, he never allows them to reach the point of unreal.

One Wild Moment stays grounded at all times, thanks hugely to the performances of Cassel -- who proves lighter on his feet here than I have seen him in years; the actor is always good, but he's usually given darker roles to play -- and Cluzet, who gets the more unpleasant of the two dad roles and runs with it to completion.

The two daughters are played by newcomer Lola Le Lann (above) and Alice Isaaz (below). Both are excellent, though Ms Le Lann all but steals the entire film, thanks to her great beauty and a talent that is not far behind. She's a knockout in all respects, controlling the movie -- pretty much as she does Cassel's character -- with ease, grace, beauty, charm and a whole lot of willpower.

Because the sex is initiated via the girl and not the dad (who tries his best to resist, again and again), the carnality goes down a lot easier. And it would be hypocritical to imagine that young girls do not sometimes feel this attraction. Couple that to their usual sense of entitlement (particularly when they are as gorgeous as our heroine here) and you have a recipe for an eventual explosion.

How that explosion happens is brought to fine fruition by Richet and his cast. To his movie's credit, its aftermath is only suggested rather than insisted upon. One Wild Moment is yet another example of why and how the French handle the intricacies of oddball romance and sex better than just about any other culture.

Frem Under the Milky Way and running 105 minutes, the movie makes its U.S. debut via home video tomorrow, Tuesday, September 25, available on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Xbox, Microsoft, Vudu, Comcast, Cox, Charter, Spectrum, RCN and additional VOD platforms. 

Charm, chubbiness, bullying and breath-holding: Jim Loach's MEASURE OF A MAN opens

A most interesting example of the coming-of-age film hits theaters this week, and it's one that's full of both the expected and the just-slightly-skewed. This combination proves a most winning one, and that, together with the lead performance by a young actor named Blake Cooper that is as real and on-the-mark as you could want, turns what could be mere feel-good fodder into something occasionally quite rich and strange.

MEASURE OF A MAN, directed by Jim Loach (shown below, and, yes, he's the son of Ken),

with a screenplay by David Scearce (from a novel by Robert Lipsyte) turns out to be a rather deft rendition of the education of a bullied fat boy -- via the various people around him -- regarding himself, his situation and the world he inhabits.

While much of the story does indeed have a certain been-there/done-that quality, the oddities involved in the details of both the supporting characters and the situations at hand combine to make the movie consistently interesting and pleasantly-if-strangely just a tad off-kilter.

Take the seemingly wealthy old man whose offer of summer employment for our hero Bobby (young Master Cooper, above, doing his exercise in breath-holding) comes with some strings apparently attached. As played with his usual flair and decorum by Donald Sutherland (below), this fellow has secrets of his own, which will be revealed in time, but lightly and properly with no trace of the heavy hand, by filmmakers Loach and Scearce.

Interesting, too, is the fact that within Bobby's immediate family -- father (Luke Wilson, below, center), mother (Judy Greer, below, left), and sister (Liana Liberato, shown at bottom, left), there are enough things going on that each of these characters could easily have been given a leading place in the story. Yet everything here is rightly supportive to the tale of Bobby and his own situation.

How that situation comes to the fore -- involving a long-time summer friend of Bobby, played with grace and wit by Danielle Rose Russell (below) -- and how it also involves everything from plastic surgery, some GLBT activity, and the usual conflict between the "townies" and the "summer people" in the resort area in which the family vacations yearly simply adds to the ironies and contradictions present.
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The time frame here in that famous year of our country's Bi-Centennial, 1976, and this is wisely used for everything from nostalgia to an unusual (given our current times) GLBT situation. All of this comes together very nicely indeed, and with the strong cement provided by Cooper's very lived-in and real performance, by the time you will have reached the properly feel-good finale, I suspect you will also be able to manage this guilt-free.

While the movie will set no records nor win too many awards, it remains a smart, empathetic, twistily-told tale of the coming of age of a chubby, decent kid.

From Great Point Media and running a just-right 100 minutes, Measure of a Man opens this Friday, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Monica Film Center, Noho 7, and Playhouse 7; in New York City at the Village East Cinema; in Chicago at Facets Cinematheque; and here in South Florida at Cobb's Downtown at the Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens and the Living Room Theater, Boca Raton. It will play simultaneously at more than 25 other cities/theaters across the country, so check the film's Twitter link for further venues.

DVDebut for a funny, French family movie: Laurent Tirard's NICHOLAS ON HOLIDAY

There's a lot to like about the smartly-made, 2014 French family comedy, NICHOLAS ON HOLIDAY (Les vacances du petit Nicolas) co-adapted -- from the children's book series by René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé -- and directed by Laurent Tirard. Set back in the 1960s and featuring a riot of colorful and nostalgic cars, clothes and set designs, the movie offers plenty of fun and frolic for the kids and eye-candy of all sorts for the adults who are likely to be watching with them.

From the opening credits that feature those used-to-be-popular post cards with resort town views (that come alive here in odd and funny ways) to the choice performances that M. Tirard (shown at right) draws from his excellent cast, the movie is full of energy, delight, and just enough of that typical French perversity to make it stand apart from any American film of this type. (Instead of mere fart jokes, we get a quite literal shower of shit.) Further, the movie explores themes such as the male gaze and how easily it strays, the female need for control via "love," and a wealth of oddball habits that distinguish one child from another.

The movie begins with the end of the school year and summer vacation in view, and from there it travels through the annual argument between mom (Valérie Lemercier, above, center right) and dad (Kad Merad, above, right) regarding mountain or seaside vacation, and finally to whether grandma (Dominique Lavanant, above, left) is to be allowed to join the family holiday.

In the role of young Nicolas, Mathéo Boisselier (above) is about as pert and adorable a young actor as you could want. Nicolas narrates the film and it is often from his point-of-view that we see and understand things. That POV is pretty funny, childlike and quite smart in its own way.

Tirard makes certain that his film is full of near-constant charming little touches that will draw out a smile, if not occasionally an outright guffaw. While some of the humor (the intentional change-of-plumbing-pipe incident and the kid who literally eats anything and everything) is pretty perverse, it is also pretty funny.

The supporting cast is made up of a nice array of ages and types, with Belgian actor Bouli Lanners (at left, two photos up) particularly effective as an old schoolmate of Nicolas' dad. M. Marad is properly glum and goofy, Ms. Lavanant's granny is also fine as the mother-in-law from hell, and Ms Lemercier gets her chance to shine in a scene involving too much champagne and a very funny dance number (below).

A kids' adventure that's also about adults having their own adventures, the movie culminates in a funny costume party, a pair of missing children, a fortress/castle dotted with WWII mines and other explosives, and mistaken identities involving gorilla suits.

Along  the way our Nicolas becomes "involved" with the girl next door (or maybe across the street), played by Chann Aglat (above, left, in one of our hero's wedding fantasies) and then with a girl named Isabelle (Erja Maltier, below, right), who begins as a member of some kind of French Adams Family before morphing into a very cute and loving kid.

All in all, Nicholas on Holiday ends up a sweet, funny and smart little movie. Kids'll love it -- if, that is, they can either speak French or read English subtitles, while adults who go along for the ride may be surprised at how easily digestible all this proves to be.

From Distrib Films US and distributed on DVD by Icarus Films Home Video, in French with English subtitles and running 97 minutes, Nicholas on Holiday hits the street this coming Tuesday, March 27 -- for purchase and/or (one hopes) rental.

The reason we love French films: Diastème's sparkling THE SUMMER OF ALL MY PARENTS

Looking for some real sophistication? The sort that casts a wide, maybe wild but also smart and true eye on family dynamics, including parenting, discipline, love, trust, caring and, what the hell, good old humanity itself in so many of its surprising guises. Then of course, you would probably want a French film. Your search is over, as the 2016 delight titled (for the American market, at least) THE SUMMER OF ALL MY PARENTS, has just arrived on DVD last week. The French title, Juillet août, which translates simply as July-August, is much simpler and more appropriate, too, as this small-but-sterling movie deals with a pair of siblings who spend one summer month with their mom and step-dad, and the next one with their father.

The film is directed and co-written by a fellow named Alain Dias, who has now evidently re-christened himself as the single-monikered Diastème (shown at right). Under whatever name, the guy would certainly seem to know what's he's doing, for he's given us an unusual look at a typical "fractured family." But this time, what may initially appear to be the usual clichés soon morph into something quite a bit richer, stranger, more truthful and compelling. How Diastème and his co-writer Camille Pouzol achieve this sneaks up on you via characters who grow slowly and rather quietly, in every case, into something more and better than you will have expected.

Summer/Parents is first of all a movie about character. And growth. That younger sibling, Laura, played with just the right combo of insecurity and ferocity by the terrific little actress, Luna Lou, above, right, and below, left) is coming to terms with late maturation, a lot of anger issues, and the possibility of boarding school. Her gorgeous older sister, Josephine, acted by Alma Jodorowsky (above, left, and below, right -- and, yes, she's the granddaughter of a certain Alejandro), is a young woman discovering what is perhaps her first major love.

Unfortunately that love is for a hot-looking young man (Jérémie Laheurte, above, center) who is a member of a small but somewhat smart criminal group. Meanwhile mom (Pascalle Arbillot, below, right) and stepdad (the fine and funny Patrick Chesnais, below, left) are having their own problems -- physical and monetary -- which eventually spills over to the rest of the family.

By the time August arrives, and the two girls get to Normandy and their very hands-on father (Thierry Godard, below, whom you may recognize from his roles in French TV's police/justice series Spiral and the WWII occupation tale, A French Village), events have taken quite a turn.

How all this resolves is handled with such intelligence and delicacy, avoiding melodrama while offering up a most interesting brand of conflict-resolution that I suspect you will be both charmed and warmed by the insight and kindness on hand.

Along the way, you'll get a very special scene of a girl's first menstrual cycle, a criminal henchman with surprising sense of morality to offset his aroused sexuality, a jewel heist, a teen pool party and lots more -- each of which stands the typical cliché on its head.

If this is not a great film (and I don't think it is), it is still such a very good one that it makes a must-see addition to anyone's list of films about family dynamics. Quiet, smart, funny, believable and full of a sincerity that is never naive, it will, I'm pretty certain, make my extended list of "best movies" come year's end.

Arriving on DVD last week via First Run Features (which most often deals in documentaries but in its choice of narrative films, offers almost consistently some little-known but very worthwhile gems), The Summer of All My Parents, in French with English subtitles and running a just-right 97 minutes, is available now -- for rental, purchase (and probably before too long) streaming.

Early, and most welcome, "Oscar" bait from Nat Faxton/Jim Rash: THE WAY WAY BACK

A coming-of-age-cum-how-I-spent-my-summer-vacation tale, THE WAY WAY BACK sneaks up on you. Moment to moment, it's as real as you could want, with interesting characters and situations, none of which are over-the-top in the manner of Little Miss Sunshine and Juno (two films with which it is being compared). In fact, it's rather ordinary. Yet it's this very ordinariness, served up remarkably well by a skillfully chosen and then beautifully calibrated ensemble cast, that makes it, at first funny and charming, finally important and moving, all without missing a beat or injecting a false moment. At this point in time, here's the movie to beat for Best Picture 2013.

The two men who wrote it -- Nat Faxon, at right, and Jim Rash, below left -- are the same guys who, with Alexander Payne, won the adapted screenwriting Oscar for The Descendants. This time the duo directs, as well, in addition to each man taking on a tasty supporting role in the film (both have acting resumes as long as  my legs). They do a sterling job in all three areas, and if I may say something a tad heretical, this is a bit better-directed film than is Payne's The Descendants -- which, in trying to cram so much into its less-than-two-hour time frame, occasionally seemed alternately under-cooked and over-baked.

Here, however, events are not nearly so momentous. Consequently everything and everyone moves along at a realistic clip, with nothing given a moment more than it deserves. This is how we create reality, movie-wise, at least. The plot of The Way Way Back concerns broken families taking a somewhat communal seaside summer vacation, in the same place yearly where neighbors know (and mostly look forward to seeing) each other during the season. The filmmakers take it for granted, as will most of us, that divorce is common, and so the kids of these families will have to piece together their lives with each parent separately, if at all. So it is with the three sets of families (two of whom have kids) who canoodle over this particular year.

Our underage hero is one, Duncan, played by up-and-comer Liam James, above, whose slightly Neanderthal appearance and behavior, seem just about perfect for that transitional age between boyhood and young manhood. Duncan, with his mom (another fine and properly toned-down performance from Toni Collette, below, left) comes to the summer quarters of mom's significant-other, Trent (a new kind of role for the increasingly versatile Steve Carell, below, right), and his older-than-Duncan daughter named Steph (an appropriately nasty Zoe Levin).

Pushy neighbor Betty (Allison Janney, below and excellent here) lives next door with her beautiful teenage daughter, Susannah (AnnaSophia Robb), and wandering-eyed younger son (a sweet, funny River Alexander).

Nearby reside friends Kip and Joan (Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet) who own a nice boat, which will later come into play. It only takes a night or two for the rondelay to begin, and this ensemble of first-rate performers does it proud.

Into Duncan's young life comes a life-changer named Owen, (Sam Rockwell, in another great performance that, this time, should lead to a nomination), who owns the local amusement/water park, and so we get another whole cast of characters from this venue (including the writer/directors, as well as Maya Rudolf, below, giving a quiet, gentle and lovely performance). All of this meshes so naturally and interestingly that TrustMovies, an inveterate clock-watcher, didn't once check the time during the entire film.

A problem with so many coming-of-age movies is that they jack-up the content with unnecessary melodrama. Not here. The beauty of The Way Way Back is how absolutely in keeping with the moment is each performance, each event, each bit of dialog. The situation might seem do-or-die to the protagonist, but audiences tend to know that it's really not, so any untoward melodramatics simply alienate us. We understand that all this is but one more step along the way in the game of growing up -- a game, by the way, that has rarely been depicted better than here.

In its final moments, which beautifully echo the manner in which the film began, a small action is taken. It surprises us, then overwhelms us, making the movie perhaps the most genuinely-earned, feel-good experience of the year.

The Way Way Back -- from Fox Searchlight and running 103 minutes -- opens this Friday, July 5, here in NYC at the AMC Empire 25, AMC Loews Lincoln Square, and the Regal Union Square Stadium 14; in Los Angeles, look for it at the AMC Century City 15, The Landmark and the Arclight Hollywood. It will simultaneously open this week in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington DC, and in the weeks to come will continue a nationwide rollout.