Le Magique (1996)
Dir: Azdine Melliti Fazai
Written: Adzine Melliti Fazai, Nina Jo Baker
Ahmed Chebil
You made eye-contact about ten minutes ago, and now you're on adjacent bar stools.She's of - well, a certain age (as are you). And you're talking film. Wild at Heart, Blue Velvet, Shallow Grave and The Usual Suspects. True Romance, Pulp Fiction, Heat, and Fargo .
At least you like the same flicks. And neither of you have anything planned for tomorrow. What to see?
Le Magique.
Unassuming, mildly romantic and safely exotic (with attractively mis-spelled subtitles), this Tunisian film is inoffensive and almost heart-breakingly sweet without being cloying.
The film recounts the introduction to the art of cinema by the director, Azdine Melliti Fazai (played extraordinarily well by 10-year old Ahmed Chebil). Born into poverty, Deanie is left to look after the family abode by his parents who leave for the "better life" in France.
Deanie ventures to Tunis, where he encounters, and becomes entranced by, "le magique", in the form of the 1960 Spartacus. Returning to his village, he dragoons the other children into manifesting his dream to make a movie, culminating in a wonderfully funny "battle" on a hillside with kids in cardboard armor.
I found the film sagging in the first half, and the pre-pubescent love interest in the second half is uncomfortably sappy.
Still, it's a first film, it's attractive and generally holds up well. And we know that the little boy's dream comes true - the evidence is before your eyes.
Enjoy this film - and watch out for Fazai, Chebil and writer Baker, all of whom have the potential to make great movies in years to come.
Go see it with your new date. You'll both have something to talk about, and she'll definitely think you're cool for having an entree into new African cinema.
Dated: 14 April 1996
| words |
| people vs larry flynt |
| heat |
| 101 dalmatians |
| fargo |