04/11/2009

This week, Belgian theatres are playing host to a major event: The Barons [+see also:
film review
trailer
Interview with director and actress of…
interview: Nabil Ben Yadir
film profile] are hitting screens, determined to take on audiences. Following the success of Eldorado [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] last summer, French-speaking Belgium is hoping for a new hit, and Nabil Ben Yadir’s film is a serious contender.

Hilariously funny, Les Barons plunges viewers into the depths of a dazzling Brussels, a Brussels too seldom seen on the big screen, which proves to be an ideal playground, a cross between Brooklyn and Amélie’s Montmartre. A bizarre combination for a bizarre film, whose protagonists advocate idleness as the best way forward.

This resolutely mass-appeal film aims to bring everyone together, and has fun (and entertains us) by flouting cultural taboos. It draws inspiration from Rabbi Jacob, whose humour explodes community divisions.

Ben Yadir insists on the "added informative value" of his work. In a sense, the film is a fantasised version of his own story, containing fragments of real life. He focuses on a generation of young Belgians of immigrant stock, who no longer ask themselves where they come from but, instead, where they are going.

Heading the cast is Nader Boussandel (discovered in Edouard Baer’s Akoibon) in a scene-stealing performance as Hassan, a young lad torn between his love for his father – who pushes him behind the wheel of a public bus and into the arms of a young, eminently suitable fiancée – and his love for the stage and Amazon-like Malika (Amelle Chahbi, from the Jamel Comedy Club).

The film stars a host of other well or lesser known actors, including Mourade Zenguendi (seen in JCVD [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Julien Courbey as the hanger-on in the group, Edouard Baer as Mr Loyal, and the impressive Jan Decleir.

Produced by Entre Chien et Loup and Liaison cinématographique, the film is being released by Cinéart on 11 screens.

This week’s other European releases are Marco Amenta’s Italian film The Sicilian Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Alain Resnais’ latest enchanted interlude, Wild Grass [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

(Translated from French)