Coco (2009)
Country: FR
Technical: col/2.35:1 95m
Director: Gad Elmaleh
Cast: Gad Elmaleh, Pascale Arbillot, Jean Benguigui, Gérard Depardieu (guesting as a cardiologist)
Synopsis:
An obscenely rich and vainglorious Moroccan Jewish business tycoon plans to make his son's bar mitzvah an event of national importance, but news of a dangerous heart condition causes him to bring the date forward, creating conflict with the Jewish orthodoxy and his own family.
Review:
Typically of the comic anorexia of this film, which spews colour, words and gesture across the screen while depriving itself of nourishing wit or irony, the hero refrains from telling his family of his condition; equally in line with its feeble attempts at sentimental drama, he multiplies his own stress levels several times over and... nothing happens. This is a self-authored project by an allegedly prodigious standup talent, and therein lie all its problems. As a half-heartedly cautionary tale about the perils of laying too much importance on material possessions and celebrity, it feels like an embarrassing case of self-revelation. The film earned a staggering $8.5 million in its opening weekend in France, though receipts dwindled rapidly thereafter.
Country: FR
Technical: col/2.35:1 95m
Director: Gad Elmaleh
Cast: Gad Elmaleh, Pascale Arbillot, Jean Benguigui, Gérard Depardieu (guesting as a cardiologist)
Synopsis:
An obscenely rich and vainglorious Moroccan Jewish business tycoon plans to make his son's bar mitzvah an event of national importance, but news of a dangerous heart condition causes him to bring the date forward, creating conflict with the Jewish orthodoxy and his own family.
Review:
Typically of the comic anorexia of this film, which spews colour, words and gesture across the screen while depriving itself of nourishing wit or irony, the hero refrains from telling his family of his condition; equally in line with its feeble attempts at sentimental drama, he multiplies his own stress levels several times over and... nothing happens. This is a self-authored project by an allegedly prodigious standup talent, and therein lie all its problems. As a half-heartedly cautionary tale about the perils of laying too much importance on material possessions and celebrity, it feels like an embarrassing case of self-revelation. The film earned a staggering $8.5 million in its opening weekend in France, though receipts dwindled rapidly thereafter.
Country: FR
Technical: col/2.35:1 95m
Director: Gad Elmaleh
Cast: Gad Elmaleh, Pascale Arbillot, Jean Benguigui, Gérard Depardieu (guesting as a cardiologist)
Synopsis:
An obscenely rich and vainglorious Moroccan Jewish business tycoon plans to make his son's bar mitzvah an event of national importance, but news of a dangerous heart condition causes him to bring the date forward, creating conflict with the Jewish orthodoxy and his own family.
Review:
Typically of the comic anorexia of this film, which spews colour, words and gesture across the screen while depriving itself of nourishing wit or irony, the hero refrains from telling his family of his condition; equally in line with its feeble attempts at sentimental drama, he multiplies his own stress levels several times over and... nothing happens. This is a self-authored project by an allegedly prodigious standup talent, and therein lie all its problems. As a half-heartedly cautionary tale about the perils of laying too much importance on material possessions and celebrity, it feels like an embarrassing case of self-revelation. The film earned a staggering $8.5 million in its opening weekend in France, though receipts dwindled rapidly thereafter.