“Amélie and the Metaphysics of Hits,” “Once Upon a Time in Gaza”… Cinema releases for Wednesday, June 25

♦ Amélie and the Metaphysics of Tubes ***

by Liane-Cho Han and Maïlys Vallade

French animated film, 1 hour 17 minutes, for ages 7 and up

A successful adaptation of an autobiographical novel by Amélie Nothomb, this animated film transports the viewer to the wonders of Japan, where the Belgian author spent her childhood. In this coming-of-age tale with lively animation, the two-year-old child, shaken by an earthquake, begins to see herself as an omnipotent god at the center of everything. Four seasons to move from infancy to childhood, through the lens of loss and mourning, and accompanied by a strong spiritual dimension.

Winner of the Audience Award at the Annecy Film Festival, Amélie and the Metaphysics of Tubes is accessible to younger audiences, but offers several levels of interpretation to appeal to a family audience, thanks to a very present voiceover, that of the adult Amélie. The animation, with its stunning level of detail, offers graceful plays on transparency and textures that seem tangible, for a true bath of the senses.

» READ THE REVIEW: “Amélie and the Metaphysics of Tubes,” Amélie Nothomb’s bestseller gracefully revived

♦ Once Upon a Time in Gaza **

of Arab and Tarzan Nassar

Palestinian, French, German and Portuguese film, 1 hour 27 minutes

Opening with the voice of Donald Trump, who wants to turn Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East," the film jumps back to 2007, the year of Hamas's victory in the legislative elections and the ensuing Israeli blockade. We meet Yahya, who pays for his studies by working in Osama's fast-food restaurant, supplementing his income by spiking his falafels with fentanyl. A crooked police officer, Abu Sami, commits the irreparable to get the case. After his friend's death, Yahya finds himself embroiled in a Hamas propaganda film.

Winner of the Best Director Award in the "Un Certain Regard" section at the last Cannes Film Festival, Once Upon a Time in Gaza boasts a mischievous script and absurd humor, which particularly serve the second half of the film, after a rather lengthy introduction. From their exile, the two director brothers have been mocking the Islamist regime and its attempts at ^cinema . The film ends with a cruel moral that pits Hamas and Israel against each other in their desire to imprison the Gazans.

» READ THE REVIEW: “Once Upon a Time in Gaza,” a cruel tale about the imprisonment of Gazans

♦ The Great Move **

by Jean-Pascal Zadi

French film, 1 hour 23 minutes

The hero of an Afrofuturist galactic comedy, Franco-Ivorian Pierre Blé (Jean-Pascal Zadi) is welcomed, in the greatest secrecy, to Abidjan with "the elite of the continent and the diaspora." Their goal: to prepare and succeed in the first all-African space mission, to conquer the planet Nardal.

Jean-Pascal Zadi once again questions the place of Black people (after Tout simplement noir and En place) with a central character he mocks and favorite actors often from stand-up (Fadily Camara, Fary, Claudia Tagbo). Credible thanks to its carefully crafted sets, the film (with a title that thumbs its nose at the critics of the "great replacement") relies on often absurd humor, targeting characters with sexist, racist, homophobic, etc. remarks, even if it gives them plenty of space. The societal critique, sprinkled with discreet references to Black thinkers, deserves to go further.

» READ THE REVIEW: “The Great Displacement”, Jean-Pascal Zadi's space epic

♦ F1, the movie **

by Joseph Kosinski

American film, 2 hours 35 minutes

Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a penniless independent racing genius, responds to a request from Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), his former teammate and boss of a failing team: to return to Formula 1 thirty years after a serious accident. The team's young driver, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), could use some support, and the two men quickly become rivals.

Joseph Kosinski, director of Top Gun: Maverick, manages to give the viewer a sense of flight with the virtuoso race sequences filmed from every angle. Co-produced by F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, the film immerses aficionados (or not) in the strategies and choreography of races. The testosterone-fueled script balances out a bit with two somewhat clichéd but interesting female characters; however, it completely ignores the issue of the sport's environmental impact.

» READ THE REVIEW: “F1, the movie,” Brad Pitt at breakneck speed

♦ Angel *

by Tony Gatlif

French film, 1 hour 37 minutes

The director of Gypsy origin takes Arthur H on this road trip across France, a pretext for a journey back in time punctuated by musical commas. The singer plays the role of Ange, a musicologist returning to his country after having gone off on a tangent and lived like a nomad aboard his truck, leaving behind the two women in his life (Maria de Medeiros and Christine Citti), his friends, and a girl he knew nothing about. She embarks alongside him when he decides to head south to find his good friend Marco, to whom he supposedly owes money.

Carried by the filmmaker's own energy, punctuated by wonderful poetic moments like the sounds of everyday life that transform into musical rhythms, the film leaves us a little hungry as the script is reduced to its starting point and to the placid presence of Arthur H, whose talents it does not exploit enough. Only the finale, with an unleashed Mathieu Amalric and a magnificent ode to world music, saves it from a certain boredom.