Thursday 31 October 2019

WatchSeeLookView At The LFF 2019 - Happy Birthday

Following on from last year’s Happy New Year, Colin Burstead, it would seem that there’s definitely a subgenre of “family reunion that doesn’t go to plan”...

Happy Birthday (Fete De Famille)
Dir. Cedric Kahn / Dur. 101 mins / Country. France
Festival Strand:- Love
In A Nutshell:- A family gathering for matriarch Andrea is derailed as interrelations between family members starin to breaking point...

The Good:- There’s a solid cast on offer here headed up by Catherine Deneuve as the matriarch of the family, trying to hold things together for her birthday party, with director Cedric Kahn also taking on acting duties to portray serious older son Vincent. The film plays nicely with setting up a combination of dynamics which it then plays around with, turning around some conceptions you may have had about some of the characters.

The Bad:- Not necessarily bad as such but you;re ultimately left feeling that this is the sort of film that you’ve seen before, Also (and this is possibly a little unfair) but it suffers in comparison to Happy New Year, Colin Burstead which treads over familiar ground but does so in a way that I found much more interesting.

The Verdict:- It’s an enjoyable film with an engaging cast but probably (for me anyway) suffered from being up against much stronger competition within the festival, leaving this one a mid-tier film for me - one that I enjoyed but has not left much of a lasting impression.

The Venue / Intro / Q&A:- At the Vue West End for this one in lovely comfy recliney seats but no intro or Q&A for this one.







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