Freedom: A captivating romp

Freedom (2024) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Not rated, but akin to R for violence, nudity, sensuality and profanity

Available via: Amazon Prime

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 11.10.24

Director Mélanie Laurent’s new film is a cheeky, rollicking crime saga based on actual events that seem impossible to believe.

 

Bruno Sulak (Lucas Bravo) and lover Annie (Léa Luce Busato) make a formidable
team, but they soon realize that their luck can't hold out forever.

From the summer of 1978 through the early 1980s, France was captivated by the audacious exploits of “gentleman thief” Bruno Sulak, a former paratrooper with the Foreign Legion, who began his criminal career with a series of daytime supermarket robberies.

He was young and cordial, politely asking each check-out clerk to empty her till, while his partner similarly prompted the manager to empty the safe in the upstairs office. Both Sulak and his colleague brandished guns to show they were serious, but never fired them, or roughed up the citizenry; Sulak made a point of non-violence.

 

Coupled with a “shake up the establishment” air of defiance, Sulak quickly developed a reputation as a “Robin Hood of crime,” and was dubbed a real-life Arsène Lupin.

 

A civil understanding apparently existed between the French gendarmes and such low-level criminals, from the late 1960s to the early ’80s; grudging respect existed on both sides, as long as unspoken boundaries remained in place. This attitude was fueled, in part, by disenchantment with the government, and — during those latter years — public pushback against the pro-capitalist policies of newly elected President François Mitterrand.

 

Indeed, Sulak’s initial robberies were cheered by citizens concerned that the explosive growth of supermarkets would drive beloved family shops out of business.

 

Although Laurent and co-scripter Christophe Deslandes acknowledge being inspired by French author Philippe Jaenada’s 2013 book, Sulak, they’ve taken occasional liberties. Bruno’s “outlaw love” Thalie has been reshaped into Annie Bragnier (Léa Luce Busato, in a stylish big-screen debut), who takes a more active role as getaway driver.

 

But the overall arc of Bruno’s crime career is accurate, and the sensuous interludes with Annie enhance what quickly becomes an energetically frothy romp. There’s also a strong echo of 2002’s Catch Me If You Can, due to Sulak’s cat-and-mouse antics with dogged police inspector George Moréas (Yvan Attal).

Ticket to Paradise: A bumpy trip

Ticket to Paradise (2022) • View trailer

Three stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, and stupidly, for one wholly unnecessary blast of profanity

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang

Old-style romantic comedies live or die on the basis of three essential ingredients:

 

• Stars with charisma and chemistry;

 

• A premise that’s either fresh or, if familiar, has some sort of novel twist; and

 

• Dialogue that sparkles with wit, flirty banter and just enough — but not too much — snark.

 

David (George Clooney, left) and Georgia (Julia Roberts) may look cheerful, as they
arrive in Bali and see their daughter waiting on the beach, but their ulterior motives
are far from noble.

It also doesn’t hurt if the setting is swooningly gorgeous.

Director Ol Parker’s Ticket to Paradise manages about 1.5 out of three, with bonus points for location-location-location.

 

George Clooney and Julia Roberts obviously have charisma to burn, and they’ve demonstrated delightfully flirty chemistry in earlier films such as Ocean’s Eleven. But this story — co-written by Parker and Daniel Pipski — finds them indulging far too long in spiteful bickering and bad behavior, to the detriment of a sweet parallel plot element that becomes far more endearing than anything involving our two stars.

 

David (Clooney) and Georgia (Roberts) married 25 years ago, enjoyed five years of wedded bliss, then divorced and have spent the past two decades sniping at each other from opposite ends of the country … much to the dismay of daughter Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), who has tried hard not to pick sides.

 

As the film begins, David and Georgia reluctantly re-unite — as briefly as possible — in order to celebrate Lily’s graduation from college, where she has worked hard toward an anticipated career as a lawyer. By way of reward and emotional release, Lily and BFF Wren (Billie Lourd) take off for a sun, sand and — in Wren’s case — soused vacation in Bali.

 

Slightly more than a month later, David and George receive a bombshell email: Lily has decided to abandon her law school plans, remain in Bali, and marry the just-met love of her life … a seaweed farmer named Gede (Maxime Bouttier).

 

Determined to prevent their daughter from making the same mistake they made a quarter-century ago, David and George reluctantly team up in order to make Lily come to her senses, by sabotaging the wedding.

 

A few problems here.

 

We’ve already watched Lily and Gede “meet cute,” and — even though she falls for him improbably quickly — Dever and Bouttier are totally endearing together. A match made in heaven. We also can’t help being charmed by a subsequent sequence when Gede explains his long-held family profession to Lily; he’s far more savvy entrepreneur than “mere seaweed farmer.”

 

Watching David and Georgia burst into this dazzlingly romantic scene, like bulls in a china shop, is wincingly painful.