11/12/2009

In its 144th issue, Cinergie webzine looks at three Belgian films, currently showing or soon to be released.

Firstly, Cinergie zooms in on Les Folles Aventures de Simon Konianski [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Micha Wald, director of Sim…
film profile] (“The Crazy Adventures of Simon Konianski”). Director Micha Wald admits that an "unsuccessful comedy is a wasted effort, a millstone around one’s neck", whereas a drama that doesn’t perform well at the box office may at least enjoy "critical acclaim and be a landmark in one’s career".

Aware of the inevitable comparisons with Woody Allen, he nonetheless feels that, beyond their Jewish roots and self-deprecating humour, the only thing he has in common with the director is a certain predilection for big glasses. Among his influences, he cites the Coen brothers, and above all, "form-focused films” like those of Wes Anderson.

Almost regretfully, he comments that the story of Simon Konianski "is too strong", and that in order to "limit distractions", they had to abandon symmetries and elaborate costumes and set design. Nowadays, he "feels bitten by the comedy bug", and irresistibly drawn to characters that are "larger than life, funny, touching, and colourful…"

At the other end of the genre spectrum, director Lucas Belvaux talks about Rapt [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lucas Belvaux
film profile], and the way he portrays the character of the industrialist based on Baron Empain. He avoids making "dictatorial films" that impose a meaning, and insists that he does not always agree with his characters.

In reference to the film, he claims that "suffering does not make individuals more human or make them better people", it merely makes them more aware of their own fragility. Moreover, the character does not experience redemption, and at the end, the film asks the question "How far should we accept our own shortcomings?"

Finally, writer-filmmaker Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt reveals that after making Oscar and the Lady in Pink, he has "fallen in love with cinema", and in particular the teamwork aspect. This includes his collaboration with DoP Virginie Saint-Martin, who gave him chiaroscuro effects “that we seldom see in film", and Michel Legrand, who "contributed a lot during the editing phase, so that the music pervades the images".

(Translated from French)