The first feature film by Steve Achiepo accumulates virtues of a well-documented film on an unlveking practice and sense of the romantic.
by Jacques Mandelbaum
It is always pleasant to be surprised by the film of a stranger, to discover, at the turn of a first feature film, the promises of a budding filmmaker. This is the case here with this sandman, from Steve Achiepo, who combines virtues of a documented film on an unlushly brilliant social practice – both widespread and poorly known (sleep merchants) – and aesthetic held, without Given either in the sense of the romantic.
Djo (Moussa Mansaly, perfect in his character), burned head and friendly guy, comes out of jaw and juggles in his life between a thousand hassle. Delivery in a company held by a community semi-mafieux called “the colonel”, he tries to do it again, still lives with his mother in a crowded apartment devolved to solidarity between originals, and houses his girl there in conditions that displease Her ex-wife, Aurore (Ophélie Bau), who also exercises the profession of social worker. When his aunt Félicité (Aïssa Maïga) and her children fleeing in France disembark in France in France and finding himself in the greatest destitution, his life will be complicated a little more.
deeming it impossible to accommodate her decently with her mother, not having the courage to leave her even a night in a Parisian host home, where all the misery in the world will meet In a terrible promiscuity, he will finally meet, through the “colonel”, of Yvan (Benoît Magimel), a character who seems to know the real estate market as his pocket and who, while doing lucrative business, occasionally helps people in need. This is at the very least what DJO understands of his activity, which enters his service to manage his clandestine rentals.
misery of the world
In doing so, believing that one would come to the aid of people who would find themselves otherwise at the mercy of the street, promote his own career and increase his lifestyle, Djo puts his finger in a gear that can only be fatal. Steve Achiepo, who seriously studied his file, reconstructs through these three characters the structure of this sinister sleep market. Men of good will, like Djo, who, more or less naively, redeem a conscience because they come to the aid of others. The mafia, who, like “the colonel”, exploit theirs without the shadow either of a moral or a consciousness. Traffic managers, who, such as Yvan, cynically shoot the strings by optimizing goods. Magimel, once again masterful, interprets in this case a perverse character, biface, small civil servant of the shadow with fallacious speech on one side, obnoxious flambe enriched on the misery of the world.
You have 15.86% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.