By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Stéphane Batut
Starring: Djolof Mbengue | Judith Chemla | Saadia Bentaïeb | Thimotée Robart
Original language title: Vif-argent
Country: france
Year: 2020
Running time: 104
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10224624/reference
Michael says: “This curious French first feature directed by Stéphane Batut, a Casting director with nearly 80 films, including Claire Denis’ FRIDAY NIGHT and LET THE SUNSHINE IN, and Laurent Cantet’s TIME OUT is stars off with an intriguing premise, and somber, subdued tone, before whipping itself into a frenzy of romantic melodrama complete with pivotal scene that could have worked fine, but instead was so incredibly cheesy, that I lost all interest from that point forward. Juste wakes up in the woods by a riverbank. his memory scrambled, and ignored by passers-by until a man sees him and brings him to Karmaraz, who seems to be a social worker or a nurse, who asks him a few questions, which he can’t answer. She just wants him to come up with one memory, something that might give his life some definition, rather than a hazy jumble. Then Juste can’t come up with anything, Kramarz gives him a job of sorts. He is to find people in a similar condition to him, which, as it turns out, is dead, have them remember one thing from their life, at which point, she will come to take them to their final reward. Juste accepts this life, shepherding souls, as it were, until he bumps into Agathe, a woman perhaps 8 – 10 years his senior, who recognizes him from his life.
“From here, the films slowly starts to unravel. Certain things stop adding up; Agathe and Juste embark on a rather steamy sexual relationship, which abruptly blossoms into true love that apparently transcends death. Kramarz suddenly removes his ability to be seen by the living, something he’d retained until that point in order to get him back on track, but it only makes him more desperate to reconnect with Agathe. Things just spiral further and further into melodrama and frankly, inertia until the film finally ends.
“I really disliked BURNING GHOST when I finished but, yet a week later, it was the subject of our Chlotrudis film discussion Zoom — and I would like to thank Diane, Amanda, and Chris, for at least showing me a few of its more effective moments, that i had overlooked out of general disinterest. I think the biggest problem was the screenplay, which was uneven, and frankly, a little silly. The direction could have used some work, but perhaps first-timer Batut will improve. And I have to say lead actor Thimotée Robart didn’t really impress me either.. His somber, rather one-note performance was unconvincing to me. Some of the supporting characters brought much more to their game, and I appreciated some of the side stories, but it wasn’t enough to get my rating up beyond 2 cats”
Diane says: “‘…a rather steamy sexual relationship, which abruptly blossoms into true love that apparently transcends death.’ Michael, you know this happens all the time IRL!
“I’ll give it 3 cats, since there were some scenes that I felt captured very well how we hold on to the dead irrationally and beautifully.”
Chris says: “I’m in the middle with nearly a haiku of a review: