Les deux films vraiment intéressants de la semaine, le documentaire ASK DR RUTH et le drame DIRTY GOD, ont tous deux été présentés au Festival de Sundance en février dernier, ce qui est déjà un gage de qualité en soi. Pour le reste, on nous assomme avec un spin-off de la série FAST & FURIOUS, qui devrait faire un malheur, une v.f. (uniquement?) de PLAYMOBIL, THE MOVIE qui, de toute façon, n’intéressera que les moins de 10 ans, et deux films indiens, qui démarrent chez nous au même moment qu’en Inde. Quant à Buster Keaton, il n’a strictement rien à voir avec la programmation, mais la photo (extraite de THE CAMERAMAN) est belle. Jean-Pierre THILGES 

ASK DR. RUTH

Documentaire; Réalisateur, scénariste: Ryan White; avec le Dr Ruth Westheimer; Directeur/Photo: David Paul Kacobson; Musique: Blake Neeley; USA 2019, 100 minutes; Sundance Film Festival 2019.

Focus sur la vie de Ruth Westheimer, la sexothérapeute la plus célèbre des Etats-Unis. Née en Allemagne, elle est une survivante de l’holocauste. La petite juive émigre en Amérique du Nord dans les années 1950, où elle conserve un fort accent allemand. Elle devient sexothérapeute et anime dans les années 1980 et 1990 des émissions à la télévision américaine. Aujourd’hui, à quatre-vingt-dix ans, elle revient sur son parcours improbable et sur la façon dont elle a démocratisé la manière de parler de sexualité auprès des téléspectateurs…

• In Ryan White’s breezy documentary “Ask Dr. Ruth,” the 90-year-old Ruth Westheimer asks a fair share of the questions. “Are you hungry?” “Are you sure you’re not hungry?” And with her grandmotherly credentials thus verified, she’s free to turn to her Alexa and ask it to find her a boyfriend. Alas, the app demurs. “If she doesn’t know that, what good is she?” the doctor tuts of the AI program. Not good enough to do what Westheimer did: leap from being a licensed sex therapist with a risqué 15-minute radio call-in show into a national sensation with six TV programs, more than three dozen books, and countless talk-show appearances in which she’s used her no-nonsense charm to, among other things, needle Arsenio Hall into saying the word “vagina.” Dr. Ruth denies she’s political — she even says she’s not a feminist — but that moment on Arsenio was a political act. Men needed to recognize female pleasure, especially men like Hall who constantly alluded to the male organ on his show, yet squirmed when Westheimer changed the focus. (…) The irony at the core of the Dr. Ruth persona is that the maverick who made the bedroom public is herself incredibly private, and while she encourages women to get intimate with their bodies, she’s not in touch with her own emotions. Still, she is vocal about respecting boundaries, and White acquiesces, trusting that the facts of Westheimer’s life say plenty about her peppy workaholism. At her most personal, Dr. Ruth tells White that as a survivor, she feels an obligation to live out loud. This refugee who wasn’t even allowed to attend high school managed to earn a doctorate and grab a microphone — and she has no intention of letting go. (Amy Nicholson/Variety) 

FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW

Fim d’action; Réalisateur: David Leitch; avec Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren, Eddie Marsan, Ryan Reynolds; Scénaristes: Chris Morgan, Drew Pearce; Directeur/Photo: Jonathan Sela; Musique: Tyler Bates; USA 2019, 138 minutes.

Depuis que Hobbs, fidèle agent de sécurité au service diplomatique des Etats Unis, combatif mais droit, et Shaw, un homme sans foi ni loi, ancien membre de l’élite militaire britannique, se sont affrontés dans “Fast & Furious 7”,  les deux hommes font tout ce qu’ils peuvent pour se nuire l’un à l’autre. Mais lorsque Brixton, un anarchiste génétiquement modifié, met la main sur une arme de destruction massive après avoir battu le meilleur agent du MI6 qui se trouve être la sœur de Shaw, les ennemis de longue date vont devoir faire équipe pourfaire face au seul adversaire capable de les anéantir…

• Genocide, schmenocide,” growls Idris Elba through a mouth of silver-capped teeth in “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw,” a line that pretty much summarizes where the film stands in relation to reality, the English language and what old-fashioned moral philosophers (like “Leviathan” author Thomas Hobbes) thought of as the respect for human life, and the insatiable thirst for power. Here, in the extravagantly cartoonish ninth entry in the “Fast & Furious” franchise (sequel, schmequel, this is a stand-alone spinoff that requires no knowledge of the films that came before), Elba isn’t playing a human being, but whatever comes next: a kind of bionically upgraded cyber-villain with computer-enhanced eyeballs, bulletproof hands and an unwavering will to eradicate what this not-exactly-Shakespearean screenplay broadly describes as “the weak.” Elba, a gifted actor with a capacity for making otherwise tired genre characters feel fresh and vulnerable, puts aside that instinct to embody the uni-dimensionally menacing Brixton Lorr — or “Black Superman,” as co-writers Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce like to think of him, displaying once again their uncanny ability to boil complex concepts down to a pair of chuckle-inducing words.  (Peter Debruge/Variety) 

Out of the box: DIRTY GOD

Drame; Réalisatrice: Sacha Polak; avec Vicky Knight, Katherine Kelly, Eliza Brady-Girard; Scénaristes: Sacha Polak, Susanne Farrell; Directeur/Photo: Ruben Impens; Musique: Rutger Reinders; Pays-Bas/GB/Belgique/Irlande 2019, 104 minutes; Sundance Film Festuval 2019. 

Le visage à moitié brûlé et une petite fille de deux ans. C’est tout ce qu’il reste de la relation de Jade à son ex, qui l’a défigurée à l’acide. À la violence de cette histoire, succède désormais celle du regard des autres. Pour ne pas couler, Jade n’a d’autre choix que de s’accepter, réapprendre à sourire et à aimer…

• An astonishingly vibrant and engaging performance by feature first-timer Vicky Knight drives this urgent, passionate drama from Dutch film-maker Sacha Polak. Set in a selfie-obsessed world of Instagrammed “beauty”, it follows the survivor of an acid attack as she struggles to reclaim her life, and redefine her identity. Making her English-language debut, Polak (director of festival-favourite award-winners Hemel and Zurich) conjures a fearless drama, as raw and revealing as it is tender and affecting. There are no dramatic platitudes here, nor soft-soaped cliches. This is full-blooded (and arrestingly tactile) fare, which gets right under the skin of its central character, in appropriately unruly and unflinching fashion. (Mark Kermode/The Guardian) 

PLAYMOBIL, LE FILM (v.f.)

Animation numérique; Réalisateur: Lino DiSalvo; voix françaises: Franck Dubosc, Kad Merad, Jérôme Commandeur; Scénaristes: Blaise Hemingway, Greg Erb, Jason Oremland; Directeur/Photo: Charlie Ramos; Musique/chansons: Heitor Pereira; France/USA 2019, 100 minutes; Festuval du Film d’Animation Annecy 2019. 

Lorsque son petit frère Charlie disparaît dans l’univers magique et animé des Playmobil, Marla se lance dans une quête hors du commun pour le retrouver ! C’est le début d’une aventure pleine d’action et d’humour où Marla fera des rencontres inoubliables : un sympathique vendeur ambulant qui vit dans son food truck, un agent secret élégant et charismatique, un affectueux petit robot et une bonne fée fantasque seront autant de nouveaux amis qui l’aideront à échapper aux dangers qui la guettent….

• Playmobil, the toys, are recommended for children ages 4 through 12. As for Playmobil: The Movie, it’s safe to say that anyone who has already reached double digits will find little to enjoy in this generic and lifeless promotional tool from director Lino DiSalvo, who served as head animator on Frozen and Tangled. At best, the pic, which cost a purported $75 million (…) has the distinct merit of trying to feature what looks like every single Playmobil item available in the company’s catalogue. It’s a tour-de-force of blatant salesmanship that, in narrative terms, comes across as absolute nonsense. Nonetheless, tykes who get a kick out of playing with the beloved German toys may drag their parents to see them in theaters. (Jordan Mintzer/Hollywood Reporter) 

KINEPOLIS GOES BOLLYWOOD

JABARIYA JODI

Jabariya Jodi (transl. Forced couple) is an upcoming Indian Hindi-language action romantic comedy film, starring Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra. The film is based upon the tradition of groom kidnapping, prevalent in Bihar. Malhotra is playing a Bihari thug in the film, which is co-produced by Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor and Shailesh R Singh and is directed by Prashant Singh. Principal photography of the film began on 10 August 2018 in Lucknow, and it is scheduled to be theatrically released in India on 9 August 2019. Running time: 139 minutes. (Source: Wikipedia) 

NERKONDA PARVAII

Nerkonda Paarvai (transl. Straightforward Vision) is an upcoming Indian Tamil-language legal thriller film written and directed by H. Vinoth, produced by Boney Kapoor. It is a remake of the Hindi film Pink (2016), the film stars Ajith Kumar, Shraddha Srinath, Abhirami Venkatachalam and Andrea Tariang (reprising her role from the original film) in the lead roles. Rangaraj Pandey and Adhik Ravichandran will act in pivotal roles. Nirav Shah is the cinematographer of the film, while Gokul Chandran takes care of the editing.The film’s soundtrack and background score was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja and was released under the record label Zee Music Company. The film is scheduled to release on 8 August 2019. Running time : 158 minutes. (Source: Wikipedia) 

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