2018 Blind Spot Series: Fat Girl

Written and directed by Catherine Breillat, A ma soeur! (Fat Girl) is the story of a twelve-year old girl who is on vacation with her family including her 15-year old sister who falls for an Italian law student leading to a corruption of innocence. The film is a coming-of-age story that revolves on a young girl who deals with her looks as well as her older sister’s beauty just as she watches her sister’s loss of innocence. Starring Anais Reboux, Roxane Mesquida, Libero de Rienzo, Arsinee Khanjian, Romain Goupil, and Laura Betti. A ma soeur! is an eerie and mesmerizing film from Catherine Breillat.

The film revolves around a couple of sisters vacationing where the eldest meets an Italian law student as she would lose her virginity to him thinking its love while her younger sister deals with what she sees and the corruption it would bring. It’s a film with a simple and minimalist premise as it mainly takes place in the span of a few days as it’s really about the relationship of two sisters who don’t really look like each other as the 15-year old Elena (Roxane Mesquida) is thin and beautiful while the 12-year old Anais (Anais Reboux) is fat and insecure. Catherine Breillat’s screenplay doesn’t have much of a plot as it’s more about Anais’ fascination with her older sister’s interest towards sex upon meeting the Italian law student Fernando (Libero de Rienzo) who charms Elena and her parents (Arsinee Khanjian and Romain Goupil). Upon visiting her later that night, the two engage in sexual activity much to Elena’s reluctance with Anais watching with discomfort and intrigue. Notably as the relationship becomes troubling with Anais feeling disconnected from Elena as well as some moments that would play into the dissolution of the relationship.

Breillat’s direction is intoxicating for the compositions she creates in the film as well as aiming for something simple and to the point in her approach to the story. Shot on locations in France at small towns such as La Palmyre for the beach scenes and Les Maithes for the resident scenes along with some interior shots at a studio at Arpajon. Breillat does use wide shots of these locations to play into the sense of boredom Anais and Elena endure during the vacation as well as these moments such as the woods that would be important in their idea of love. The attraction between Elena and Fernando is immediate but Elena’s idea of sex and losing her virginity is seen from something that feels innocent but Anais who would watch their first sexual encounter in her bed in the same room doesn’t see it that way. Especially as Fernando would coerce Elena into ideas about willing to do things for him as an act of love.

For Anais, seeing her sister falling for Fernando is troubling just as she starts to deal with her own physicality such as a scene looking at herself in the mirror exposing her breasts. It’s a scene that is disturbing considering that Anais is underage while Elena is 15 years old though she’s only one year away from being legal (in Europe) as it is equally as disturbing that she wants to lose her virginity to a law student in his 20s who would trick her into having sex thinking she would marry him later on. Instead, things get troubling as it relates to the fact that the vacation was cut short because Elena and Anais’ father had to leave vacation for business and later other things that would impact the vacation altogether during an appearance from Fernando’s mother (Laura Betti). Breillat would create these intricate compositions that play into the drama including a second sex scene that is shown from Anais’ perspective as she is seen in the foreground while Elena and Fernando are in the background. Even as it play into this idea of a loss of innocence that would come to ahead in the film’s final moments which play into a graphic scene of violence. Overall, Breillat creates a riveting yet unsettling film about two sisters and their loss of innocence in their encounter towards sex.

Cinematographer Yorgos Arvanitis does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography as it is low-key in its approach to colors for many of the film’s exteriors along with the look of the interiors including the film’s two major sex scenes. Editor Pascale Chavance does amazing work with the editing as it is straightforward with some jump-cuts in a few scenes that don’t require long shots in some of the big dramatic moments. Production designer Francois Renaud Labarthe, with set decorators Cecilia Blom, Fabienne David, Christophe Graziani, Fabrice Heraud, Gerald Lemaire, Jean-Luc Molle, and Yann Richard, does fantastic work with the look of the bedroom that Elena and Anais share as well as a few other interiors at the house.

Costume designers Ann Dunsford and Catherine Meillan do terrific work with the costumes from the stylish and skinnier look that Elena wears to the more casual look of Anais. The sound work of Jean Minondo is superb for its natural approach to the sound in the way a location sounds as well as music that played on a radio. The film’s soundtrack largely consists of diegetic music that is either played on location or through a score by Breillat that is played in a couple of scenes with music from Laura Betti, Tavernanova, and David Bowie.

The casting by Fabrice Bigot, Gilles Cannatella, Olivier Carbone, Nicolas Lubin, and Michael Weill is wonderful as it feature a few notable small roles from Laura Betti as Fernando’s mother, Albert Goldberg as a mysterious man at a rest stop, Romain Goupil as Elena and Anais’ father, and Arsinee Khanjian as Elena and Anais’ mother. Libero De Rienzo is excellent as Fernando as a charming law student who falls for Elena as he convinces her to engage in anal and oral sex as a way to give her this idea of what love is. Roxane Mesquida is amazing as Elena as a 15-year old girl who falls for Fernando thinking it would give her this idea of love and sex only to realize that it’s actually complicated and filled with a lot of demands she’s too immature to understand. Finally, there’s Anais Reboux in an incredible performance as Anais as a 12-year old girl who is fascinated by the idea of sex despite her own issues with her appearance as she also becomes fascinated but also disgusted by what Fernando and Elena does as it adds to her own sense of despair as well as feeling disconnected from her sister.

A ma soeur! is a phenomenal film from Catherine Breillat. Featuring a great cast, mesmerizing visuals, and a disturbing story of the ideas of sex and love. It’s a film that is definitely not for everyone as it play into the idea of girls dealing with their own image as well as the expectations of love and sex that is filled with complexities they’re unprepared to understand as well as an ending that is visceral in its delivery. In the end, A ma soeur! is a tremendous film from Catherine Breillat.

Catherine Breillat Films: (A Real Young Girl) – (36 Fillette) – Romance - (Brief Crossing) – (Sex is Comedy) – (Anatomy of Hell) – (The Last Mistress) – (Bluebeard (2009 film)) – (La belle endormie) – (Abuse of Weakness)

© thevoid99 2018

Kaboom

When Gregg Araki returned to the film world following a five-year hiatus with 2004’s Mysterious Skin. The film became a surprise hit in the world of art house and indie theaters as Araki was back in a big way. In 2007, Araki made his most accessible and surprising film of his career in a stoner comedy called Smiley Face that starred Anna Faris. The film proved to be another surprise proving that the often controversial Araki could make a film that was entertaining. Following another break in trying to develop projects, Araki would finally return in 2010 with his first original project in more than a decade with the sci-fi comedy entitled Kaboom.

Written, edited, and directed by Gregg Araki, Kaboom tells the story of an 18-year old film student having a sexual awakening as he tries to find himself. Along with his other friends discovering their own sexual awakening, the film student would also have surreal fantasies featuring two different women leading to questions about a possible apocalypse. The film recalls Araki’s mid-1990s Teenage Apocalyse Trilogy of films that included Totally Fucked Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere but with a new, post-millennium sensibility. Starring Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Juno Temple, Roxane Mesquida, Chris Zylka, Kelly Lynch, and longtime Araki-cohort James Duval. Kaboom is a witty, colorful sci-fi thriller/comedy from Gregg Araki and company.

Smith (Thomas Dekker) is an 18-year old film student confused about his sexual preference as he rooms with a hunky, blond surfer named Thor (Chris Zylka). Smith is bothered by a recurring dream he has featuring Thor, his mother (Kelly Lynch), and his lesbian best friend Stella (Haley Bennett) along with two women he doesn’t know. Already having a weird experience in college that includes a stoned resident advisor named the Messiah (James Duval). Things get weirder during a party where one of the women in his dreams is Stella’s new girlfriend Lorelei (Roxane Mesquida). He later meets a British student named London (Juno Temple) where the hallucinogenic cookies he ate has him seeing strange things including an encounter with the other woman (Nicole LaLiberte) in his dreams.

After getting a USB flash-drive in his coat pocket and seeing a strange ritual that involved the woman, later to be revealed as Madeleine O’Hara. Smith wants to know who she is as London reveals that she knows her from her sociology class. Smith would later have weird encounters with three animal-masked men as London reveals more news while Stella would reveal some strange things about Lorelei. At a nude beach, Smith meets Hunter (Jason Olive) whom he would have sex with while Stella is trying to break things off with Lorelei who is revealed to be a witch with powers. With London helping Smith out in the investigation while taking time to have sex with Thor’s friend Rex (Andy Fischer-Price), Smith gets a mysterious message that would about Madeleine’s missing body.

With Smith’s 19th birthday happening, he gets another weird message along with more sexual encounters with Hunter, London, and a surprise. The birthday gets more surprising as he attends a concert where he meets a young guy named Oliver (Brennan Mejia), whom he had been contacting and saw at a party weeks before. Still, Smith’s night gets stranger when he sees a woman who looked like Madeleine as he asks her questions. The night gets stranger when Smith and Stella would have their own strange encounters where Smith makes a breakthrough over what is happening. Even as London helps with an answer leading to a cult as it becomes clear that something is happening.

The film is essentially a genre-bending film that recalls not just Araki’s past teen-angst films of the 1990s but also his exploration with surrealism as it features clips from a couple of films by Luis Bunuel. Yet, the movie is about a young man’s sexual awakening as he encounters mysterious, surreal surroundings leading him to the discovery of a strange cult. Still, it’s a film where Araki gets to refine his filmmaking and his themes of sexual exploration and teenage identity. This time around, he doesn’t fuse it with a lot of pop culture references or cameos that sometimes become a distraction with his past work.

The story is interesting though uneven as the first half is this zany, free-wielding comedy with elements of sex and bits of suspense. The second half becomes more of a suspenseful, sci-fi kind of film with lots of ideas about cults. Still, Araki manages to make things engaging and also entertaining in the way he presents stories with stylized dialogue and dazzling sequences.

Araki’s direction is definitely as potent as ever as he is given more to do with his camera while creating scenes that are fun to look at. Even in creating sex scenes that are surreal from the viewpoint of its characters. Yet, Araki manages to create a lively world of college life that is about having sex, going to parties, and all of those things. Yet, the framing of the scenes along with the suspenseful, surreal moments he creates is definitely mesmerizing in its imagery. Despite the limited budget he has, Araki was able to create sci-fi moments that are very strange yet electrifying to watch.

Since it’s a largely stylized film that includes some weird transitional wipes and other stylized cuts to create something vibrant due to Araki’s work as the editor. Even as he creates a lot of intense moments for the film’s suspenseful scenes as it’s clear that Araki is becoming more confident as a director. While the film’s abrupt, what-the-fuck ending will definitely turn off a lot of people. It’s Araki’s way of subverting things since the film was to lead to a climatic ending as it does end things with a bang, literally. Whatever flaws the film has, it is proof that Araki is getting better as a director.

Cinematographer Sandra Valde-Hansen does a fantastic job with the film’s vibrant yet colorful photography. Notably in the party scenes where the lights are filled with dazzling colors mixed in with blue and pink while the nighttime scenes are exquisite in its haunting presentation. Valde-Hansen’s photography is definitely the film’s technical highlight for the way it allows the film to be stylized without over-doing it.

Production designer Todd Fjelsted, along with set decorator Kristen Rajterowski and art director J.B. Popplewell, does an excellent job with the film‘s art direction from the blackish look of the restaurant where the students eat to the parties they attend. The art direction and set pieces created for the film are amazing to look as it plays to Araki’s style. Costume designer Trayce Gigi Field does a spectacular job with the film‘s costumes from the big earrings that Stella wears to the 80s-like clothing that London wears. The costumes are fun to look at as its’ another of the film’s technical highlights.

Visual effects supervisor Wesley Cronk does some very good work with the minimal visual effects needed for the hallucination scenes as well as weird sex scenes involving Stella and Lorelei. Sound editor Trip Brock does a fine job with the film’s sound in capturing the atmosphere of the parties along with the climatic suspense scene towards the end of the film.

Music composer Robin Guthrie, along with Vivek Maddala, Ulrich Schnauss, and Mark Peters, does a wonderful score that is a mixture of shoe gaze, dream-pop, and ambient music. Notably in playing some of the dream sequences that Smith encounters throughout the film. Music supervisor Tiffany Anders helps create a diverse yet intoxicating soundtrack that features A Place to Bury Strangers, the Horrors, the xx, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, Friendly Fires, Metro Area, Airiel, Tears Run Ring, Cut Copy, Helen Stellar, Placebo, Explosions in the Sky, the Big Pink, the Depreciation Club, and Ladytron. The mixture of indie and electronic music is definitely amazing as with any of Araki’s films. The soundtrack and score is always a highlight of his films.

The casting by Jenny Jue and Johanna Ray is superb for the use of young actors needed as well as veterans. Small yet notable performances include Michael James Spall as a mysterious cult figure, adult film star Christine Nguyen as a girl Thor sleeps with, Carlo Mendez as a trailer for Smith’s mom, and Nicole LaLiberte as the mysterious Madeleine. Other notable small but memorable roles include Andy Fischer-Price as Thor’s surfer buddy Rex, Brennan Mejia as Oliver, Jason Olive as the nude-beach guy Hunter, and James Duval in a hilarious performance as stoner resident advisor the Messiah.

Roxane Mesquida is incredibly sexy and cool as the witchy yet mysterious Lorelei who seduces Stella and freaking her out. Chris Zylka is funny as the very attractive blond surfer Thor who often says silly, stupid things around Stella while is often impressed by Smith’s sexual appetite. Kelly Lynch is very good in a small role as Smith’s workaholic mom who is carrying a big secret about what is going on with him. Juno Temple is great as London, the British student who helps Smith in his journey to find out what is going on while having a great sexual appetite where Temple has a great monologue about how to perform oral sex on a woman.

Haley Bennett is excellent as Stella, Smith’s sarcastic arty friend who helps him out while dealing with her own strange encounters with Lorelei as Bennett gets to play cool. Finally, there’s Thomas Dekker in a superb role as the sexually-confused Smith. Dekker plays up to the character’s naiveté in his sexual exploration while learning about the dreams he’s having in relation to the strange things he is dealing with as Dekker does a fantastic job.

While it may not live up to the brilliance of Mysterious Skin or past films like The Living End and The Doom Generation. Kaboom is still a stellar yet entertaining film from Gregg Araki. Armed with a great ensemble cast that includes Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Roxane Mesquida, Juno Temple, and James Duval. It’s a film that fans of Araki’s work will enjoy in its style and how he engages the characters in their situations. While it’s not a perfect film that has a very odd ending, it is a film that definitely plays with people’s expectations of a genre-bending film like this. In the end, Kaboom is a colorful, mesmerizing, and funny film from Gregg Araki.

Gregg Araki Films: (Three Bewildered People in the Night) - (Long Weekend (0’ Despair)) - The Living End - Totally Fucked Up - The Doom Generation - Nowhere - (Splendor) - (This is How the World Ends (TV)) - Mysterious Skin - Smiley Face - (White Bird in a Blizzard)

© thevoid99 2011