Mine de rien (2020)

Mine de rien (2020). 1h 25m

“The expression u0026quot;mine de rien u0026quot; ,in French ,means u0026quot;you wouldnu0026#39;t think it to look at me/you/him/her/them u0026quot; ; in the movie ,you would not think it to look at them, these people on the dole they are no dummies you (the mayoress) know.nAnd itu0026#39;s a very good word game : the coal mine which closed in 1986 and its slag tips are to be dismantled and demolished ; so it gains another meaning :u0026quot;nothing mineu0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003enAn enterprise (u0026quot;Armaggedon u0026quot;:what a well-chosen name!) which was supposed to hire long-lasting unemployed persons ,has just been relocated in a French region (which means losing your past, your friends , in a nutshell, your roots)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLiving on the RSA (minimum payment given to those who are not entitled to the unemployment benefit),at odds with an aggressive mayoress flanked by her u0026quot;bodyguardsu0026quot;, two cops nicknamed Tic and Tac (from Disneyu0026#39;s squirrels Chip and Dale),these underdogs take a rebel stand against the powers that be : they decide to convert the mine site into an amusement park .Itu0026#39;s their u0026quot;full monthlyu0026quot;, their u0026quot;calendar girls u0026quot;, even though they donu0026#39;t strip .As their admirable motto -probably inspired by Saint-Exupéryu0026#39;s u0026quot;le petit princeu0026quot; – is :u0026quot;the most beautiful resources are inside usu0026quot; says , letu0026#39;s stand together ,hope for the best and damn with the authoritarian mayoress and the brilliant lawyer who wants to steal my children .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWith a low budget ,in a 80 min movie, Mathias Meklus achieves the incredible feat of introducing a dozen of characters ,in the grand tradition of the glorious cinema de papa : thereu0026#39;s Bernadette (a sensational Marianne Garcia ) ,lost in the training scheme for the unemployed to help them find work and in the bar-codes , accompanied with her mentally-retarded son , thereu0026#39;s the old miner (played by wonderful Rufus ) who feels nostalgic and who never forgave one of his colleagues for having betrayed his social class (he became an engineer ), thereu0026#39;s the local dealer, thereu0026#39;s the old mom (the always reliable Helene Vincent ) who suffers from Alzheimeru0026#39;s disease and who carries with her everywhere she goes her husbandu0026#39;s ashes in a cocoa powder box .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd thereu0026#39;s the central character Arnault (Arnaud Ducret): if it were not for his mother -with-the-ashes in tug, it would be the most hackneyed cliché : the divorced man whose wife married again: the spouse, a lawyer luring his stepsons with his dough; but in the end, the screenwriters turn the loser a winner .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBecause itu0026#39;s David vs Goliath :even though the amusement park is more DIY than the sophisticated attractions of Disneyu0026#39;s parks ,with full-price tickets for the wealthy and reduced -priced ones for the poor, itu0026#39;s really a revolution in miniature .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd on the French feel-good scene where the songs in English are heard every fifteen minutes, make way for the old French tunes (including the moving Guichard /Ferratu0026#39;s u0026quot;mon vieux u0026quot;, which brings back sweet memories to the mentally-ill mom!) Bravo!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUnfairly overlooked, despised by the intellectual TV magazines , u0026quot;mine de rienu0026quot; walks a fine line between comedy and drama and wins us over.”