Friday is series (and movies too). On the eve of the weekend, Le Parisien offers a selection of fictions, films, documentaries not to be missed on online video platforms. On the program this week, Count Dracula who becomes hero of a series, and a positive comedy about an overweight young woman…
NETFLIX
The scary series: "Dracula"
The creators of "Sherlock", Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, are not afraid of anything and attack a new figure in popular culture: Dracula. No modern version this time, the British duo sticks to Bram Stoker's book by situating the action at the end of the 19th century while taking wide liberties compared to the original work.
The ambition is to replace the vampire, played by Claes Bang ("The Square", "The Affair"), in the center of the story rather than letting him wander in the shadows. The casting is perfect and the decorations very successful. The castle reconstructed in the first episode, in particular, is cold in the back.
EDITOR'S NOTE: 4/5
“Dracula” , a British series by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss (2020) with Claes Bang, John Heffernan… 3 episodes of 90 minutes (put online this Saturday).
The breathtaking western: "The Brothers Sisters"
With such majestic sets, masterful actors - Joaquin Phoenix in an ultra-violent breakdown, John C. Reilly in a sensitive dreamer - and an apparently tenuous common thread (two men, on horseback, chasing a third ...), Jacques Audiard would have was able to make a contemplative film. This is far from being the case: if the feature is of breathtaking formal beauty, the intrigue is constantly revived by meetings, injuries, alliances that are made and unmade.
And especially by the evolution of the relationship between the two brothers, the overwhelming younger brother and the elder sage, whose spectator gradually discovers the tumultuous past. Audiard signs a splendid film, inhabited, deep.
EDITOR'S NOTE: 4/5
“Les Frères Sisters” , by Jacques Audiard (2018), with John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal… 2 hours.
AMAZON PRIME VIDEO
The black series: "Hap and Leonard"
Adapted from the novels of Joe R. Lansdale, "Hap and Leonard" is a series which features two marginal friends in Texas in the 1980s. Hap is a former white prisoner imprisoned for refusing to fight in Vietnam, Leonard is a black gay veteran in rural America. Trudy, the former wife of the first, offers to help him recover a million dollars hidden in a car at the bottom of a lake. A business that is going to set in motion a gear of trouble.
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The complementary interpretation of James Purefoy ("Rome", "Sex Education") and Michael Kenneth Williams ("The Wire") impresses in this series heir to the black novels while not taking himself seriously. Actress Christina Hendricks ("Mad men") completes the picture with the air of a femme fatale.
EDITOR'S NOTE: 4/5
"Hap and Leonard" , American series by Jim Mickle and Nick Damici (2016-2018). Seasons 1 to 3 (18 episodes of 42 minutes).
The zombie movie: "World War Z"
Formerly confined to horror films, zombies have become pillars of TV series and they can also be the central element of a big budget production involving a star such as Brad Pitt. It is besides him who financed this "World War Z".
In this version, the actor plays the role of Gerry Lane, a disease specialist who, to shelter his family while the world is ravaged by a pandemic that turns people into the living dead, resumes service for the 'UN. A terrifying blockbuster full of suspense, endowed with important means that can be seen on the screen.
EDITOR'S NOTE: 4/5
“World War Z” , by Marc Forster (2013), with Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale… 2 hours.
MYCANAL
Positive comedy: "Shrill"
Annie is fat, but doesn't really want to lose weight. On the other hand, she wants to change her life by stopping to let herself be trodden on, in her professional and romantic life. Employed by an information site, where she is only an assistant in the agenda section, she tries to assert herself as a journalist and write her own articles. On the private side, she has been sleeping for months with a man who does not want to appear in public with her.
Even if the series is a little awkward at its beginnings, we let ourselves be taken by this touching comedy, positive and relevant, especially thanks to the fair performance of the main actress, Aidy Bryant.
EDITOR'S NOTE: 3.5 / 5
"Shrill" , American series by Lorne Michaels and Elizabeth Banks (2019) with Aidy Bryant, John Cameron Mitchell ... Season 1, 6 episodes of 25 minutes.
The grand epic: "Hostiles"
In 1892, cavalry captain Joseph Blocker, a former hero of the wars against the Indians, was forced, on his last mission, to escort a former enemy, Cheyenne chief Yellow Hawk, suffering from cancer, to his former lands. A difficult journey on horseback between New Mexico and Montana, where the little troop will be regularly attacked by whites or Indians, and take with it a woman, Rosalie, survivor of a massacre where she saw her whole family murdered by Comanches. Here she is forced to travel with those she dreams of eliminating ...
Intimate and realistic when she squeezes her characters closely, the production offers dazzling moments of action of incredible violence for the combat sequences and leaves room for the immensity of the landscapes crossed by this convoy. The way in which Christian Bale passes all the suffering and then the appeasement of Captain Blocker commands admiration.
EDITOR'S NOTE: 5/5
“Hostiles” , by Scott Cooper (2015), with Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi… 2h14.
SCO
The New York series: "How To Make It In America"
What hangs above all in "How To Make It In America" is its very successful credits which stroll in New York multicultural and popular to the sound of "I Need A Dollar", the tube of Aloe Blacc. The series follows the attempts of Ben and Cam, two boys in their twenties who want to make a name for themselves in urban fashion by creating their own line of clothing. Full of ambitions and dreams, the duo exploits their local networks to launch their business.
Touching and funny, "How To Make It In America" is not without its faults, but that's what makes it so charming. She especially benefits from the sympathy capital of her two performers: Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rasuk, whom we immediately want to love. Raw nugget created almost ten years ago, this series was unfortunately canceled after two seasons.
EDITOR'S NOTE: 4/5
“How To Make It In America” , an American series by Ian Edelman (2010-2011) with Bryan Greenberg, Victor Rasuk… Seasons 1 and 2 (16 episodes of 26 minutes).
The orphan film: "Rémi without family"
Raised by a very poor farmer, Rémi is first separated from the cow, his only friend, sold to the neighbor. When the one he believed to be his father returns - crippled - from the war, the little boy learns that he was in fact taken care of soon after his birth and is forced back to the orphanage ... From which he only escapes because Vitalis, an old bearded musician played by Daniel Auteuil, decides to blackmail him. For Rémi then begins the rough life of acrobat…
Fortunately, there are bright moments in this feature film by Antoine Blossier inspired by the novel by Hector Malot. Very captivating, the film is also beautifully staged, inhabited by haunting music very present and shot in the magnificent landscapes of Aubrac and Tarn.
EDITOR'S NOTE: 4/5
“Rémi sans famille” , by Antoine Blossier (2018), with Daniel Auteuil, Maleaume Paquin, Virginie Ledoyen… 1h49.
