Take Me Home (2023)

Take Me Home (2023). 1h 42m

“Why such a low rating? Too many finer feelings?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFiner feelings do not prevent Frank Capra from making great movies! u0026quot;Monsieur Le maireu0026quot; turns u0026quot;Mr Smith goes to Washington u0026quot; in its last sequence .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt was based on a true story ,but u0026quot;freely u0026quot; adapted by the screenwriters ; it looks more like a fable than a realistic tale ; it would have taken Caprau0026#39;s genius to transcend such a cloying story :the grumpy mayor whose son died some years ago ,who accomodates an unwed mom and her children just to avoid the announced closure of the school .Here ,it takes us back to Jean-Paul Le Chanois u0026#39; cinema ,slagged off by the notorious NV whereas his humanism is true in his best works such as u0026quot;lu0026#39;école buissonnièreu0026quot; u0026quot; messieurs Ludovicu0026quot; u0026quot;le cas du dr Laurentu0026quot; ,even more u0026quot;sans laisser du0026#39;adresseu0026quot; , in which Bernard Blier helped an unwed mom (Danielle Delorme)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhich lays on the table the grave problem of the rural ( here a small village in the mountain) depopulation. A school is the heart of a village; when it closes , itu0026#39;s the beginning of the end .The mayoru0026#39;s would be good deed is actually an obnoxious self-interested motive ,even though he acts for the public good of his citizens : to accomodate a family for some time to bring enough pupils to the school to avoid closure ….and then get rid of them .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut the black mom (Eye Hadara) is not prepared to accept it and itu0026#39;s a tug of war (like in the movie when the mayor bites the dust -or the mud ) ; fortunately there are some politically correct people ,who will show the half-corrupted mayor the straight and narrow.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eClovis Cornillac and Eye Hadara have a tendency to overplay ,but they eventually win their audience over .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJust a pivotal question:why have the mom,a professional chanteuse,sing in English? All the songs she sings are in English ,but we are in france ,ainu0026#39;t we? Fail to use French songs and the French culture will slowly fade away in our seventh art . When pop singer Gauvain Sers sings about the closures of the schools which happen every year in France ,he sings IN FRENCH.”