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)
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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Charlotte Gainsbourg puts on her rose-tinted glasses and leads Omar Sy all the way to... go ahead and add your own take on what you like to think of as a happy ending. In this film, the options are a) to bed, b) to the sunset, or c) to the Eiffel Tower. Or the untouchable useless encounter between a nymphomaniac and a refugee. French romances of today are in fact quite similar to this. What is the world coming to?
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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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This is ultimately a daring endeavor by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano. Once again, they reach the viewer through unobtrusive music by Ludovico Einaudi, score points with their topicality, and most importantly, rely on the overwhelming charisma and disarming smile of Omar Sy. And miraculously, they emerge victorious again. Their intangible weapons, thoroughly tested by now, have lost none of their firepower. Although the entire situation is once again appropriately lightened and in its essence a bit tough to swallow for those working in the social sphere, I am speechless. This is an attempt to tell a story about an issue that the overwhelming majority of people will laugh at, be moved by, and shake their heads at, but ultimately forget once they leave the cinema. And one cannot help but root for such an attempt.
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