Sky Dome 2123, Challengers, Back to Black... Films to watch or avoid this week

Animation by Tibor Banoczki and Sarolta Szabo, 1h52

In 2123, all animal and plant life has disappeared from the earth's surface, which is now barren, dried up and devastated by a climate crisis. In Budapest, residents survive under cover, protected by a glass dome. At least until they turn fifty. Once this age limit is reached, a seed is implanted in their hearts to transform them into trees in secure shelters. Harvesting the leaves, then dried, gelled and flavored, helps feed those who remain. A psychologist by profession, Stefan is there to support loved ones after each departure, reminding them of the value of the sacrifice left by the absent. However, when Nora, his wife who has remained inconsolable since the death of their son, volunteers to be implanted well before her time, he is ready to do anything to free her from the center where she was taken, to prevent the inevitable transmutation. which has already started. Our future in a century imagined by the two directors is hardly encouraging, between disguised cannibalism and ravaged hostile landscapes, crossed by powerful storms. But Sky Dome 2123 has some nice surprises in store, marking its uniqueness. More than a political dystopia, this post-apocalyptic ecological film is above all a poignant love story in a doomed world where man no longer has his place. V.B.

Also readOur review of Sky Dome 2123: the odyssey of the species

Drama by Dani Rosenberg, 1h38

Shlomi throws down the gauntlet. At 18, he was a soldier in the Gaza Strip. He has enough. Neither one nor two, here he is deserting. This impulse propels him to Tel Aviv where he wants to join his girlfriend who works in a restaurant. The goal is to ask for her hand. Between his engagement and the future of his country, there is no need to hesitate. In her new clothes, Shlomi travels through the city where people continue to live as if nothing had happened. Outside, the sirens sound. Residents are accustomed to this background noise. The authorities believe - or pretend to think - that he was kidnapped by Hamas. The news is looped on the continuous news channels. On the small screen, commentators take him for a victim, for a hero. He knows exactly what is going on. This forces him to deploy Sioux tricks. He kept practicing his profession. He hides, blends into the background, sows his pursuers. Humor and the absurd are not absent from this flight forward carried out staccato, to drumming music. The film bubbles with energy, like this young man who throws himself at food with infectious greed. IN.

Also readOur review of the film The Deserter: love without permission

Thriller by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, 1h50

It all begins with the terrifying double homicide of a couple in a small village in the Vosges. Two investigators are dispatched to solve this particularly bloody affair. Commander Élisabeth Guardiano (Virginie Ledoyen) is reluctant to team up with a gendarmerie captain (Paul Hamy) who has traveled to investigate a series of disappearances of children... However, they will be forced to team up, facing to the turn certain events take. New crimes are taking place, revealing the irrational presence of local occult legends, notably that of a certain “Soul Eater”, a sort of Vosges bogeyman. Specialists in horror and horror cinema, the duo Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo are taking advantage of the adaptation of Alexis Laipsker's thriller to try their hand at the horror thriller. Of course, we often think of Purple Rivers, but also of the strange and disturbing atmosphere of Litan, the strange fantasy thriller by Jean-Pierre Mocky. Effective and well-acted, The Soul Eater can be watched without boredom. But it lacks a little originality in terms of staging. O.D.

Drama by Luca Guadagnino, 2h11

The screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes imagines two friends in life and rivals on the court. Patrick (Josh O' Connor, the young Prince Charles from The Crown) and Art (Mike Faist), still students, have a crush on Tashi (Zendaya), future champion. The three sportsmen fool around for an evening under the sign of soft threesomes before Patrick wins the pretty piece. Art bides his time, and it doesn't take long to come. On the short side, Tashi is seriously injured and gives up her career. She becomes Art's intractable wife-coach-manager. The years go by. After winning everything, Art is at the bottom of the wave. Patrick vegetates in second-rate tournaments. The two men find themselves in the final of one of these tournaments (the challengers), to (re)launch themselves before the US Open. This pop and queer Jules and Jim does not disrupt the genre. Zendaya doesn't pull the strings, she holds the candle. E.S.

Also read: What is Challengers, the crypto-gay romance with Zendaya, worth?

Biopic de Sam Taylor-Johnson, 2h02

Often, reality is stranger than fiction. And the real lives of musicians are much better than those sold by biopics. The mediocrity of some of them is such that one would almost want to impose a moratorium on their production. It takes a lot of guts to offer a cinematic version of the tragic life of the brilliant British singer when a documentary as excellent as Amy, which was dedicated to her in 2015, exists. However, the producers of Back to Black deemed it appropriate to showcase the brief existence (twenty-seven years of earthly life) of the most phenomenal British singer of the beginning of this century. This role falls to the pale Marisa Abela. At no time is the actress capable of rising to the height of the character, dilapidated, certainly, but fascinating and above all singularly endearing. In the film, Amy Winehouse is reduced to a succession of clichés. The film dwells on the personal life of the artist. There is a lot to say but it all rings very false. As for the staging, it is almost non-existent. We are very bored watching this film with its cheap aesthetic, which makes Amy Winehouse what she was not: a banal and predictable character. WE.

Also read: Lazy, cutesy, even silly, boring... Back to Black or Amy Winehouse explained to dummies