Tag: Victor Seguin

FULL TIME (2021)

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Written & Directed By: Eric Gravel

Cinematography: Victor Seguin

Editor: Mathilde Van De Moortel

Cast: Laura Calamy, Anne Suarez, Genevive Mnich, Nolan Arizmendi, Sasha Lamaitre Cremaschi, Cyril Guei, Lucie Gallo, Agathe Dronne, Mathilde Weil, Dana Fiaque 

Just when Julie finally gets an interview for a job that will let her raise her children better, she runs into a national transportation strike.

This film seems to have the mentality that when it rains it pours.

It seems the first to be such a simple film. You know a single mother trying to do better for her kids and her life by trying to get a better job you know pays more maybe a little closer to home better hours. 

Then it turns it into a thrill a minute story of tension as she has to deal with bringing the kids to this babysitter, then trying to get to work on time where you know either trains are off schedule or late or you know the workers are having a strike, and She has to take a different route or find a totally different way to go to work 

Even you know, kind of flirting with someone who she’s not necessarily really attracted to, but she knows it suite on her just so she can get a ride and then shockingly him rebuffing her. so that even her sideline romance seems to fail in the middle of all her other hardships you rule for her throughout, but feel the loss.

And then not only that struggling to get to work late with her supervisor notices and penalizing her for but then also trying to get back home on time to pick up her kids on time you know it’s not quite run Lola run or that was it character dealing with all these different fates and felt kind of mystical this is just hard-core reality.

Justice things seem to go positive for this character they always seem to be a curveball throw as we watch in the way that she has to maneuver for survival as she faces one challenge or dilemma at a time, and usually after another close together.

It’s a portrait of one single mother that speaks for a number of them out there as they try to do their best for themselves, and most importantly, their families, and the seemingly increasing levels of difficulty and challenges they must face it seems even just to break even.

Her ex seems to disappear, avoid, and take no responsibility or offer solutions. You admire her to a degree, and the film teaches. You have to take it day by day moment by moment, each one seems to be worse and truly a horror film of its own.

Thank you to John Waters, whose list of 2023‘s best movies listed this film as one of them, or else I probably never would’ve heard of it, or probably not for some as the film is exhilarating and exemplary 

Grade: A

BLUE JEAN (2022)

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Written & Directed By: Georgia Oakley 

Cinematography: Victor Seguin

Editor: Izabella Curry 

Cast: Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday, Lydia Page, Amy Booth-Steel, Stacy Abalogun, Lainey Shaw, Farrah Cave

England, 1988 – Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government is about to pass a law stigmatizing gays and lesbians, forcing Jean, a gym teacher, to live a double life. As pressure mounts from all sides, the arrival of a new girl at school catalyses a crisis that will challenge Jean to her core.

The film is about having to hide who you truly are, and the Lengths be forced to just to have peace in your life and peace of mind. 

As the main character sees a student of hers as a kind of kindred spirit, or a younger version of herself only much braver and not caring so much about what others think. However, she also feels the need kind of warn her and protect her against the problems, which she might be opening herself up to.

So that teacher is suspected of a rumor to be gay. She goes immediately into defense mode. alienates everyone around her and suspects that her student might be the one who is causing all of this suspicion. 

Even when she tries to act straight, it shows how bored she is and trapped, especially in a scene where she is stuck having a drink with coworkers, and there seems to be no escape yet when she’s out with her girlfriend or even her friends, we see how freeing and open they are.

The film is more about the teacher, but also the heart of the film is the student, just trying to live her life and seemingly being persecuted, especially by one girl at the school who kind of sets her up and definitely Hass to be one of the most villainous characters seen in a film in a while unexpectedly though, you also suspect that the villain might also actually be attracted herself to the other girl.

This is a film that is surprisingly affecting going in. You expect one thing, but by the end, you are just floored and are all excellent. The film is a tearjerker and kind of a heartbreaker but it’s also not an LGBTQ film that makes any character necessarily a martyr or makes the story come off more as traumatic than it needs to be.

There is tension throughout, and a lot of questioning of oneself morals and ethics in the people you surround yourself with add heart. It is also a film about embracing yourself, loving yourself, and truly letting others know your own definition, and not live up to theirs.

You must remember this film is based on recent political times not too long ago even though it works as a period piece there is still the history of prejudice and hatred that ran through countries’ governments and unfortunately people’s hearts and minds.

Grade: B