Jean Marimoutou / French Guiana / 1h27
Synopsis
Music producer travelling in Cuba, Jean meets an old farmer couple: Choli and Alexandrina. During nine years, he documents his visits in the Sierra Maestra, until sad circumstances make Choli leave their cabin-without-doors and bring them live in another world.
When our first viewing started, we could not imagine that “D’un Monde à l’Autre” would end in our selection. Some films are obvious must-sees from their intro, some others charm us over time.
We have to say that this one doesn’t begin propitiously. The editing is disconcerting— transition effects à la Windows Movie Maker, sentences sometimes cut off, a few misspellings in the embedded subtitles… And above all, a recurrent insistence on pathos: were those slow-motions, zooming in, with piano and violin in addition, really necessary?
There you’re thinking: wow, these are bad remarks for a selected flick. But here comes the mystery of this feature film! Despite a few evident wrong choices, a harmony gradually appears. The voice-over, with a text sometimes overemphasizing but anyway enjoyable, is quantitatively well-balanced, present enough to structure the narration, but also sufficiently spaced to let us breathe, alternating with musical moments and direct sound scenes. And unconsciously, the viewer leaves his first incredulity behind and accepts the director’s codes to dive into this offered world.
Generous in its pictures and its story, the film quickly attaches us to its protagonist and to this rural life upon a Cuban mountain. Friendship, philosophy and emotion greatly occur. Especially moments of conversation with Choli or Alexandrina are stunning. Jean Marimoutou’s sincerity serves as a vector. Even occasional participants on-screen for one minute without real introduction seem endearing.
When it stopped, we were a little dazed: we’d just watched a totally realist report and at the same time got the impression we lived like an adventure fiction. To write this review after some time, did we look forward to meeting Choli again for a second viewing? Hell yes.
Conclusion
Stronger than its formal errors, this adorable film in a logbook style remains interesting from end to end, and even manages to touch.
C.A.
« D’un Monde à l’Autre » joins official selection for the Little Croco Festival’s second edition, nominated in the Feature Film category.
Trailer:
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