
Director: Anthony Cordier
Cast: Johan Libereau, Salome Stevenin, Pierre Perrier

The film was selected for the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes 2005. It traced 3 months' of events in the male protagonist's life ... with several "stories" in parallel 
i.e., 
... about the lead's passion for judo (and the need to lose weight for the competition)
... about his relationship with his girlfriend (and his new rich male friend)
... and about his mother's ways of being thrifty (and the relationship between his parents) ...

My thoughts:
-- The performance by the three lead were commendable ...
-- Overall, the film felt very real, with comical scenes being at the same time sad (because it happened in real life) ... 
-- There were a few major themes ... 
e.g., about change ...
e.g., about love and friendship ... about life being complex ... 
e.g., about the poor and the rich ...
-- It has a very nice English song ...

What could be better ...
-- If at all, the plot could be tighter ... and let the pace pick up a little ...

Conclusion:
Above average ...


Question & Answer 
(The director and the lead actress were there ...
the following is the gist of the questions asked, not in verbatim)

Q: Is it autobiographical? 
A (by director): Like most directors, you want to do something you are familiar with in your first film. So, I did judo which I know a lot about. It is kind of autobiographical, but it really has stories about me, my cousins, people I know etc ...

Q: What did you do to prepare for your role? 
A (by actress): Well, the director got the three of us together and asked us to watch Ken Park. As I am rather different, I also went to the schools to look at how teenagers dressed nowadays and behaved nowadays.

A (by director): And I was reading all these teenagers' magazines and wondered who read them. So, I also asked the actors/actresses to read them.

Q: Did young people watch your film? How did they react to your film? 
A (by director): There were these few days of holidays in France where tickets were cheap and teenagers seized the opportunity to get tickets for movies. It was interesting to note that teenagers in France generally sided with the male protagonist and NOT the female character ...

* hmmm ... thought provoking indeed ... *

that's all