04/07/2023 - A pair of idealists sailing around the world take an enigmatic Djiboutian man on board to help cross the perilous Gulf of Aden in Guillaume Bonnier’s debut feature film

(l-r) Abdirisak Mohamed, Thibault Dierickx, Daphné Patakia and Pierre Lottin in Everybody Calls Me Mike

"You’re not the one going towards the island, it’s the island that’s coming towards you". The perception of the world at sea is very different to our perception on land: "if you look at the horizon, you’ll go round in circles: the horizon is curved, you’re the one in the middle of the circle."

With his first feature film, Everybody Calls Me Mike, which is released in French cinemas on 5 July courtesy of À Vif Cinéma and The Dark, Guillaume Bonnier has thrown himself into an interesting attempt to convey this change of perspective, taking inspiration from the existentialist philosophy of the legendary itinerant navigator Bernard Moitessier (mainly famous for having given up a near-certain victory, in 1968, in the first non-stop, solo race around the world, by suddenly veering off course and going elsewhere because "boats are all about freedom, they’re not just a means to an end"). The filmmaker takes his exploration of the mystique of sea travel and the ascetic desire to turn one’s back on the obstacles that come with living on land, and gives it a modern overhaul, setting his story against a backdrop of piracy in the Gulf of Aden, though using a very stripped-back style which couldn’t be further from the cinematographic standards of Captain Phillips or Hijacking [+see also:
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"Who said it would be easy?" Jean (Pierre Lottin) and Isabelle (Daphné Patakia) met by chance in the port of Toulon. Romance blossomed and this idealist couple, with a thirst for freedom and a tad impoverished, have now set out (with Damien, Isabelle’s very young son) on a journey aboard Jean’s little sailboat, crossing the Mediterranean and then the Red Sea before their boat is damaged and they’re forced to make a stop in Djibouti. It’s there that they randomly meet Mike (the charismatic Abdirisak Mohamed), a local who helps Jean to find the part they need to set off again. Crossing the Gulf of Aden looks set to be perilous (someone even offers Jean a kalashnikov, which he turns down) given the risk posed by Somali pirates, and, after radio communication with the international "Task Force" monitoring the area, the French skipper decides to take Mike (who wants to leave Djibouti) on board as a teammate, despite Isabelle’s reservations ("we don’t know him"). Isolated on the boat and in the middle of the ocean, all manner of unpleasant surprises await them, and choices will need to be made…

Stripped back in terms of its narrative, the film impresses most for its highly realistic depiction of the proximity that comes with day-to-day life on a small boat, in contrast with the immensity of the ocean outside. It’s a focal point which gradually teases out the protagonists’ different characters before they’re exacerbated by the pressure of events, leading the film along clear thriller lines though leaving room for a few remarks about the current state of the world ("the 7th plastic continent", predation of local fishermen’s resources in the vicinity of the horn of Africa, the pull of migration to escape African poverty, which clashes with the humanist desires of Westerners, etc.). Visibly shot with a restricted budget, this first feature film does well despite its limitations, boasting the charm of an antihero and a true sense of the sea.

Everybody Calls Me Mike is produced by Spectre Productions and The Dark (the latter also handing international sales), in co-production with Studio Orlando.

(Translated from French)