Cinematography:
Stéphane FontaineComposer:
Ludovico EinaudiCast:
Omar Sy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Tahar Rahim, Izïa Higelin, Issaka Sawadogo, Hélène Vincent, Christiane Millet, Jacqueline Jehanneuf, Liya Kebede (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Samba came to France 10 years ago from Senegal. He plugs away at various lowly jobs. Alice is a senior executive who has recently undergone a burnout. He is willing to do whatever it takes to get working papers, while she is trying to get her life back together by doing volunteer work in an association. Both struggle to get out of the dead-ends of their lives... until fate draws them together. Juggling humor and emotion, their story leads them on a new path to happiness. What if Life had more imagination than either of them? (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (8)
Samba is about twenty-three things at once, which logically can't work with such a weak script and clueless direction. The biggest casualty to this is the development of individual situations, which is rushed and unrealistic, not to mention the editing between scenes, some of which would be inappropriately funny if I knew the film was made by, say, Werner Herzog, but which in this case are just plain inept. Fortunately, more than once they manage to create a scene or dialogue that keeps the attention on a comedic or dramatic level, but for all that the film wants to be, it's mostly just two hours long.
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Three previous encounters with the works of the duo Nakache and Toledano turned out great, so I took a risk and chose a film from their workshop that I already knew wouldn't quite sit well with me. I've never liked Gainsbourg. From her involvement in the snobbish films of Lars von Trier, she has gone even lower, and her presence on the screen is a real nuisance to me. I do not share the director duo's belief that we will solve the problems of third-world residents by resettling them in Europe. Contemporary France may be attractive to a pragmatic tourist who chooses the ideal ratio between price and the number of experiences. They can save themselves the trip to Algeria, Lebanon, Senegal, and many other destinations. However, the diverse multicultural environment brings a lot of painful cultural and political conflicts that can easily escalate into something much worse. Just feeding the growing and increasingly angry security apparatus confronting an expanding and more reckless group of Islamic radicals at a time when the French economy becomes uncompetitive and the country clearly declines is an unsolvable puzzle. You won't find any disturbing questions or a more comprehensive view of the phenomenon of immigration in the movie. But what is worse and leads to surprising disappointment is the mediocrity of storytelling and the absence of chemistry between Omar Sy and Gainsbourg. This film desperately lacks spontaneity, liveliness, originality, and freshness. It is predictable and comedically impotent. The main problem lies not in the casting or social significance, but in the poor entertainment value. Even the two stars I'm giving it are flimsy. Overall impression: 35%.
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Nakache and Toledano excel in telling a story of a random encounter of two completely different people with ordinary problems and connecting two completely different worlds in a way that will leave you with a really good feeling after you watch their movie. It was just as perfect as The Intouchables and you’ll fall in love with this movie just the same. There might be one problem – Samba is even more topical nowadays than it was when the movie came out, even worldwide. When I saw this movie, an outrage was storming through Europe about the refugees that were trying to get from the Near East to the West and the media made it very topical; even more topical than before, and it was already quite topical since this movie was talking about it. But a lot of people get annoyed by topical issues and I’m sure it will be the same with this movie. However, as for me, I must say that Omar Sy and Tahar Rahim have showcased such strong acting performances that it was hard not to love their refugees. In the end, you realize that these issues aren’t about groups of people, but about individuals. But you can’t separate, so we’ll always talk about them as groups.
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Quite disappointing. I admit that I expected more from the filmmakers and the cast. Not really from the cast, because Omar Sy is great, as is Charlotte. I believe in them in every scene, but the film just has a very slow pace, and in the end, it's quite clichéd and doesn't offer anything new. That's a shame.
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The first major disappointment from the duo of Omar Sy and Eric Toledano (The Intouchables). While the film nicely depicts the fact that immigrants have it tough in France and Omar Sy can be as good as he wants, no one has mercy without papers. There is very little humour, but there is no boredom. If you're in the mood for a topical social drama that's well acted and filmed, it's fine to watch. 65%.
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