[critical] THINGS PEOPLE DO

Ct his year, the editors leave the rooms of post production in which they flourish and take matters in hand. Not enough to give body to the story of another, they then change hats to tell their own story, and direct during the shooting, before returning to their positions of choice. A trend is not so surprising, as the art of climbing is, in some way, to achieve.

While the first film’s editor british Andrew Hulme arrives a few weeks later (Snow in Paradise), it is THINGS PEOPLE DO, the israeli Saar Klein who first presents to us.

If its name does not tell you much, you should know that man is busy between the other of the mounting of two films of Terrence Malick , and not least, namely The Red Line and The New World. And when the end of the vision of THINGS PEOPLE DO, this note does not seem so harmless as this, as the man seems to have been marked by his collaborations with the filmmaker, the most mysterious of our time.

From the first images, we wonder if we are not facing the work of Emmanuel Lubezki on the Tree of Life. The photography is superb, very naturalistic with a sun almost mystical and a steadycam follows the children playing around and in a swimming pool, all constantly cut out and accompanied by the soft and unobtrusive music of Marc Streitenfeld. These moments of joy family are flown poetic that dot the narrative, and contrast with the reality steep to the world outside of which is faced Bill.

Bill (Wes Bentley) is the father of a family magnet that hides from his wife and two sons he has lost his job. With a real estate loan increasingly difficult to assume, he finds himself very quickly to achieve the end, because of a simple day at the office, while becoming friends with a police officer not recovered from the departure of his wife and his child (Jason Isaacs). How far will Bill ?

Through this pitch, not necessarily very new, but which distils some surprises, Saar Klein wonders about the place of morality in a society, assuming that you dismiss from one day to the next, where back is turned to you, regardless of your seniority (the banks). While showing some originality in many points.

“A first successful test between social drama and thriller, the haunting atmosphere“

The pool for example, which is in contrast with the extreme aridity of the atmosphere in which the family has chosen to live, is treated particularly. His evolution over the film resonates as a psychological state in which a Bill for such and such a time.

Also, the double life of the main character allows the director to juggle between two genres : social drama and the polar, which is not displeasing to us, as the narration is gripping and the atmosphere haunting. The film’s gaze is cold enough on the speed at which the man can tip over into illegality once at the foot of the wall, the victim of a lack of communication, when her self-esteem is shattered, until the guilt catches up with him.

As for the conclusion, if some will find it a bit easy, it works in spite of everything rather well and finishes to highlight a just writing. In sum, a first successful test, to discover.