La Pampa ***
d’Antoine Chevrollier
French film, 1 h 44
They have a false air of the races of The fury of living transposed into Anjou. A bunch of teenagers plays to challenge themselves behind the wheel of motocross. Jojo (Amaury Foucher) holds the dudgery high to the others, necessarily impressed by a boastful as dangerous as Idiote: cross, in full gas, a departmental without braking in front of the cars that borrow it. There is only Willy (Sayyid El Alami), Jojo’s best friend, to stay behind this frenzy.
Between the two boys, friendship is not paid for words. They have the same mirror tattoo on their forearms which complements themselves like yin and yang when they bring them closer. Even if Jojo is the local star, there is no hierarchy in their almost fraternal link.
The nerve center of their young lives is the Pampa, a motocross field that attracts thousands of spectators during the national championship. Driven by Teddy (Artus) and his father (Damien Bonnard), Jojo is prepared for the next competition, with Willy as essential mechanic, virtuoso of last -minute repairs and settings. One evening, the latter discovers, forbidden, Jojo’s secret: his intimate relationship with Teddy, soon father of the family.
A key period of existence
By the gaze of Willy and his sensitivity, Antoine Chevrollier, director of series (The legendary office,Black baron, Oussekine), avoid the position of overhang on this world full of testosterone. He deploys with control a slice of life of this key period of existence. The film evokes the pressure suffered by Jojo on the part of his Father, eternal dissatisfied who demands the flawless, and the consequences of the revelation of his link with Teddy. But it is Willy who is in the center of La Pampa.
He violently refuses the sale of the family home where most of his memories are located with his deceased father, just as he refuses that his mother (Florence Janas) will replace him with a new companion (Mathieu Demy). A student in Angers, Marina (Léonie Dahan-Lamort) makes her glimpse a different world, open to culture, and a salvation that goes through women. Shot in the village where he grew up, Antoine Chevrollier’s first film impresses from start to finish by his explosive energy and his just complexity, his impeccable direction of actors, all excellent, and the acuity of his gaze.
(Tagstotranslate) Cinema critic (T) Chevroollier (T) Initiatory (T) Culture (T) Antoine (T) Energy (T) Cinema (T) Pampa (T) story