[NoHo Arts District, CA] – This month’s Mike Peros movie and TV reviews are Coup de Chance and The Beautiful Game.
It’s been a while since a Woody Allen film has been released in the USA, and though Coup de Chance has reached American cinemas, it hasn’t exactly been granted a wide release. Which is a shame, because it’s among the best of his relatively recent efforts, lovingly photographed, briskly paced, with a bouncy jazz score—all playing off a tale of marital unrest, re-ignited love, secrecy, guilt, jealousy—and chance.
Lou de Laage’s Fanny is fairly content—she’s living in a beautiful apartment in Paris, she’s got a good job, a wealthy husband in Jean (Melvil Poupaud) whose source of wealth is a mite mysterious (as is the fate of his previous partner, but I digress), and an active social life. And yet, when by chance, she runs into her high school friend Alain (Niels Schneider), now a successful writer working on his current novel—things become a tad complicated. As their tentative friendship inches into extra-marital affair territory, there is some suspense as to whether (or not) they will be found out, so I won’t spoil things for prospective viewers. (Though you’ll probably guess how things may play out.)
I will say there are a few nice twists, especially when Fanny’s mother Camille (a scene-stealing Valerie Lemercier) enters the scene and begins making some unsolicited inquiries. And all four leads are solid, with Ms. de Laage making an appealingly conflicted “trophy wife,” and Melvil Pompaud exuding a good blend of charm and menace. If Coup de Chance is to be Woody Allen’s last film, it’s a pretty good way to finish.
If you’re a Bill Nighy fan like me, then pretty much any movie he’s in is all the better for his participation. And better still when he is one of the leads. The Beautiful Game is an old-fashioned paean to teamwork and overcoming some pretty serious odds. In this case, it’s about the competing teams in the annual Homeless World Cup (of global football), all of whom have things to prove, whether to themselves or to their families. Nighy is the coach of the British team, Michael Ward is Vinny, a troubled former wannabe star who has now fallen on hard times, Valeria Golino (always a welcome presence) is one of the heads of the Cup. The other teams get their chance for some screen time (and they all have issues of different varieties). What works here is that the conflicts and resolutions do not get too maudlin, there are some rousing moments, and the ending is satisfying, but not exactly what you’d expect. And the magisterial Bill Nighy, with his irony, warmth and good humor is the strong center of it all. Directed by Thea Sharrock and written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, it’s worth seeing on Netflix.