Deauville 2023: We saw Kit Harington as a violent mobster and Luc Besson’s new film

The 49th Deauville festival has opened. No stars were announced, but stayed home in solidarity with the actors’ and writers’ strike that has been ongoing in Hollywood for several months. But to get the ball rolling with quality films like The Queen’s Brilliant Game and Absolute Past Life, the competition’s first contender.

The race for the Grand Prix continued on Sunday, September 3, with two new films: the quirky The Sweet East and the thriller Blood for Dust. While Luc Besson unveiled his new feature film, DogMan, the night before.

Dogman

Პirveli – Luc Besson returned to the cinema four years after the release of Anna and faced allegations of rape and sexual assault against him, which were upheld by the Court of Cassation in June 2023. Where it competes, this new feature film has nothing in common with Matteo Garrone’s film of the same name.

It is about a young man full of life since childhood, who finds his salvation thanks to the love that dogs have for him. Filmed in English and expected to hit French cinemas on September 27, DogMan stars Caleb Landry Jones, winner of the 2021 Cannes Interpretation Prize for his intense role in the disturbing Nitram.

sweet east

competition – The films follow each other, but they are not at all similar at the Deauville festival. And that’s what makes it so fascinating. After a thrilling story of thwarted love and a weightless thriller, this is an oddity that has been offered to the audience. Twelve years after Eyes Find Eyes, Sean Prince Williams takes us across the United States sweet east.

In the preamble of the screening, the filmmaker said that his new film was about today’s America. Which says a lot about this modern variation of Alice in Wonderland, which is tinged with an ounce of fantasy. And not enough about what awaits the audience.

Currently without a release date in France, The Sweet Orient is one of those movies you better know as little as possible about, the better to be surprised as the heroine. But imagine if, instead of the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter, Alice encountered… Nazis and conspirators. among others.

David Lynch’s crushing shadow hangs over the story, and Sean Prince Williams’ few ghostly tics can make it difficult to get into a film that works in segments. But he becomes more and more convinced of his madness, which echoes the madness of his country. Talia Ryder, seen in the excellent film Never Rarely Some Always, helped her reveal well.

blood for dust

competition – like the air of Westeros on the boards of Deauville. Emilia Clarke headed out to accept a new Hollywood award (and introduce The Pod Generation). Peter Dinklage, despite his absence, will be honored at the She Came to Me preview, and Kit Harington shines in the competition. with violence.

A theme that runs through the work of director Rod Blackhurst. Revealed thanks to the Amanda Knox documentary she signed for Netflix, she returns to fiction but remains within a certain realism. Because Blood for Dust may be inspired by a true story that won’t surprise us.

A debt-ridden salesman, Cliff finds himself on a slippery slope when he discovers Ricky, an old acquaintance with questionable methods, who lures him into a risky business. And with a black-haired cut with a knife. Could it be any different in a film that begins with a suicide and a stream of blood covering a family photo?

Fans of neo-western thrillers set in deep America, where violence often stems from desperation, will not be disappointed by Blood for Dust. But they may be treading too much familiar ground as the feature film struggles to reinvent the genre. Despite the clean staging and solid cast.

Scoot McNair excels once again as an ordinary man in an extraordinary situation. And he proves to be more convincing than Kit Harington in his role as a mobster. But in this role we see a desire to break the image acquired with Jon Snow and Game of Thrones, and this intention is more than commendable.