I'm glad I clicked on Philippe Lesage's 2024
Who By Fire on the almost 12 hour flight back from Athens the other day. This after a couple of other art house/international cinema picks on the same flight -
Sunburn from Portugal's Vicente Alves (2018) and 2024'a
The Room Next Door, Pedro Almodóvar's first English language film with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore (is she in virtually everything these days?). Of the three Lesage's was head and shoulders above the others. When I saw it's length, two-and-a-half hours, it looked a bit daunting. But I took the plunge. And it's the best film I've seen in perhaps a couple of years.
Who By Fire of course is a play on
Leonard Cohen's song by the same name. But, no, the song is not on the soundtrack and for that, I'm thankful to the director - no need to ram the point home. How should I describe it? It's a meditation and dissection of friendships, coming of age rage, professional rivalry and people vs nature. The film opens with a very long shot of the back of a car driving in the Quebec wilderness, backed by a musical one note. It's eerie and ominous. Those in the car are a father, his two children and a friend. They arrive at a lake where another man, a long time colleague, flies them to his remote lodge. It turns out the two men, Albert (Paul Ahmarani) and Blake (Arieh Worthalter), are esteemed filmmakers. They're also intellectuals. Their initial meeting goes well. But over the course of several days competitive egos start to play havoc. Meanwhile one of the teens, Jeff (Noah Parker) an aspiring filmmaker, is also sowing his wild oats. His attraction to Albert's daughter Aliocha (Aurelia Arandi-Longpré) is fraught with crude moves. And his despair leads him to a loss in more ways than one. Moreover nature in all its beauty and power is lurking in the background, inspiring and threatening. This is a very "talking" and character-driven movie and those who want "action" will tune it out. But those who like the study of human dynamics and the a slice of the best and worst of human nature will find it intriguing, incisive and exasperating. This movie is that absorbing.
