On the menu of biopics that are released in theaters throughout the years, it is the turn of NTM and the story of these two members, Joey Starr and Kool Shen, to appear on the big screen.
Directed by Audrey Estrougo,
Suprêmes
follows the story of one of the most influential rap groups of its time, from its beginnings in a nervous but culturally seething Seine-Saint-Denis, to the first concert at the Zénith in Paris, in 1992.
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Suprêmes
, the first steps of NTM
A feature film well received by
Le Figaro,
who sees in this biopic an “
energetic evocation of the rise of the pioneer group of rap in France, with two convincing actors.
Olivier Nuc particularly appreciated the performance of the two main actors.
“
The live stages are by far the most successful, perfectly reflecting the electricity of NTM, a great stage group.
The amateurism of the two leaders is touching, like the patience of those around them.
The two actors who play Kool Shen and JoeyStarr are very convincing.
(...) An ultimately sensitive evocation of a period that belongs to history.
"
Between live energy and societal dimension
The press as a whole cannot agree on the merits of the film.
L'Obs
delivers a relatively lukewarm review. “
In the musical biopic genre, it's a good job. The story gives pride of place to JoeyStarr (who oversaw the script), stage beast, valve machine gun and unmanageable rock star that only the ambitious Kool Shen knows how to reframe. The young actors are wonderful, the group's chaotic dynamic and the energy of the concerts well recreated.
But the effectiveness does not manage to forget the many flaws of the film. "
Downsides? The Pavlovian writing of JoeyStarr's painful relationship with his tyrannical father (each father-son confrontation is followed by a shoot scene) and the societal dimension, rather summary, after a judicious opening on a speech by François Mitterrand on the state of the suburbs still relevant,
”says Nicolas Schaller.
In the same vein,
Liberation
salutes Audrey Estrougo's feature film, without being dithyrambic.
“For the narrative eccentricities and the keys of arms to the myth, one will come back:
Suprêmes
is a perfectly rectilinear film, from the slump to the glory, passing by the road exits and the great accelerations, full of acrobatic shortcuts and, inevitably, exhausting clichés - please, that we stop once and for all with the songwriting scenes, it's ridiculous.
“Faults far from being crippling for Lelo Jimmy Batista. "
And it works.
Not madly, not dizzyingly, but it works.
Thanks, essentially, to a contagious energy, based on a repetitive but effective pattern - headaches / brawls / concerts, sometimes out of order, sometimes all three at the same time. "
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House of Gucci
,
At twilight
,
Suprêmes…
Films to see or avoid this week
For its part,
Le Monde
dwells on the director's decision to focus on the social reality in which the two rappers grew up.
“What the film documents very well is the way in which the emergence of the group goes hand in hand with that of a political conscience: that of a rap becoming both a way of becoming aware of oneself and of finally exist in the eyes of a society. Rather than talking about political consciousness, we should talk more about energy, which seems to be the real subject of Audrey Estrougo, less anxious to fetishize an era than to follow in the footsteps of the collective fever which is about to contaminate the whole world. youth of a country and which she captures superbly in all concert stages. "
Les
Inrockuptibles
speaks of a “
good surprise, and yet not really by a search for singularity, for an author's“ touch ”, but rather for the quality of its execution, for a tangible requirement that allows Estrougo to make a product. formatted (scrupulous respect for the chronology, dissemination of period signals, essential scenes from the specifications of the musical biopic: the film all the same seems to tick the boxes of a checklist), but very muscular and powerful in the key scenes induced by its format. ”
Théo Christine and Sandor Funtek received unanimously ... or almost
France Info qualifies the feature film as
“nervous and electrifying”
, and highlights the performance of the two leading actors. "
If Theo Christine honors the character he plays, a role poisoned as it is so difficult to interpret the pure charisma, and if the film lingers a little too much on the personal concerns of JoeyStarr, it is nevertheless of Sandor Funtek which will be remembered for the longest time. His performance as Kool Shen is remarkable in terms of accuracy and human depth. Intense and yet all in restraint, he does justice to the most discreet and demanding Bruno Lopes, too often eclipsed by his sidekick. In the end, it's him that we fall in love with. Star seed, between Reda Khateb and Tahar Rahim
”s'enthuses the public service chain.
The two actors are described as
"dazzling"
by
20 Minutes
, which notices
"a galvanizing impression which emerges at the end of this film which shares with respect the work of NTM and the power of their most beautiful titles like
The World of Tomorrow
. Beyond the musical tastes of each one, this energetic biopic proves to be fascinating for what it reveals about a group which imposed rap in France and opened the door to many other artists.
"
Unlike the rest of the press,
Le Point
was not convinced by Theo Christine and Sandor Funtek's performance.
"They overplay emotion, jaws well forward when they want to express anger, chin trembling in sadness, we too often come close to melodramatic soap"
laments the weekly, although "
the creative dynamic between the two idle boys is good transcribed.
"Clearly, a"
disappointing
"film, which"
misses its mark
".
"A wet firecracker"
While most media report an effective but conventional film, some like Point are more acerbic.
This is the case of
La Voix du Nord
:
"The defect of
Suprêmes
appears on its credits:" Screenplay written with the collaboration of JoeyStarr and Kool Shen ".
OK for the faithful and didactic illustration.
Lacks a piercing and cheeky look at the genesis of the legendary French rap group NTM, made up of the two aforementioned ”
regrets the daily life of Hauts de France.
See also
Suprêmes
plunges back into the France of the 1990s, which saw the birth of the NTM phenomenon
Surely the most acidic criticism, the specialist magazine
Première
speaks of a “
wet firecracker
”, regretting “
a very scholarly musical biopic, which blends all the imposed figures of the genre and refuses to choose a guideline, an angle that would give a real meaning to the company, beyond the exercise of admiration and fan enjoyment.
"The monthly praises all the same
" the energy, the talent and the investment of the two principal actors
", but criticizes
" the normative power of the biopic-Wikipedia, and its depressing succession of boxes to check, which gives a damn all the while. air."
Suprêmes
will soon have to bear the comparison with
The World of Tomorrow
, a mini-series developed by Arte and also dedicated to the genesis of NTM, which will arrive on small screens in 2022.