Deauville Film Festival 2020
A thread.

Day 1.
The Assistant (2020)
Dir. Kitty Green

As someone who has done this particular job in a similar company this was triggering (and my boss was actually great). I was with a friend who has the same job right now and we kept giving each other looks.

When we heard in the background that someone had lost the DCP. I had heart palpitations.

Julia Garner is a revelation.

Can’t wait to check what Kitty Green does next and what she did before actually because the mise en scene was really assured. I’m sure she directed before.

Minari (2020)
Dir. Lee Isaac Chung

Y’all... it was EVERYTHING.

Don’t want to overhype it because I don’t know when it’ll come out but don’t be surprised if it tops my best of 2020 films at the end of the year.

Don’t listen to people making lazy comparisons with other movies. It is unique yet familiar in all the right ways.

The whole cast is pitch perfect. But since a lot as been said rightfully about Alan Kim and Yoon Yeo-Jeong as the grandma let me shout out Han Ye-ri who broke my heart and should be at the top of every best actress contenders list.

As for (my husband) Steven Yeun. His taste in projects remains unmatched. If Burning wasn’t enough for you to respect his immense talent and unreal charisma this should do it.

For the scores lovers out there ( @TheRealMicky147) get ready.

I have to check every thing Lee Isaac Chung has ever done. I’m not surprise he’s been credited as a DP on his other films. Some of the shots will be stuck in my head for a long time.

As I was walking on the beach... Shout out @dearapriII

Teddy (2021)
Dir. Zoran & Ludovic Boukherma

With Titi Fremaux there it felt like Cannes in Deauville.

I quite enjoyed Teddy. It felt good to see a French genre movie even though it was pretty predictable. Maybe it followed the rules of that kind of movie too closely which didn’t leave much room for surprises.

The directing could pass as daring yet I kept thinking I had seen the movie before. Best I can describe it at 1 am is kind of a mix between Quentin Dupieux’s Le Daim and As Boas Maneiras by Marco Dutra & Juliana Rojas.

“Bar PMU” France was represented and not in a flattering way....

Anthony Bajon continues to be one of my favorite young actors working right now.

Billie (2019)
Dir. James Erskine

The director came to do a presentation. Wonder if he leaves in Europe or are they letting American citizens in now ?

The director said he kind of saw it as a film noir. I like a doc that’s not all talking heads and is at least trying to do something artistic.

I learned a lot about Billie Holliday whose life I didn’t really know. And that voice...

I should say that although it’s marketed (down to the title) as a film purely on Billie Holliday it’s also about the white woman journalist who died while trying to write her biography.

Her death seems to be weirdly tied to Holliday so it makes sense and it’s a « take » I guess. But because I didn’t know beforehand it almost seems like she, Linda Lipnack Kuehl, was hijacking Billie’s Story at times.

Uncle Frank (2020)
Dir. Alan Ball

You asked for an uplifting gay love story with two men older than 30 and Alan Ball delivered.

This was very cute. I have nothing bad to say about it really. It’s a bit corny for my taste but I also have no soul. People around me ate it up.