Customer Reviews

1981

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

(special thanks to Film Movement for providing me with a screener!)

What is it to be a young person on the cusp of adolescence? To sense that there's a great big adult world out there that you're not privy to. To feel those first stirrings of romantic desire. It's a stage we all go through at one point in our lives. Some of us prefer to ignore that part of of our past. Ricardo Trogi chose to make a movie about it.

The film is called 1981 and centers around his life growing up as a recently-relocated eleven-year-old boy living in Quebec. It tells the tale of young Ricardo adjusting to life in a new school, dealing with his family (including a sister who is obsessed with the family cat), making new friends and developing his first crush on a beautiful girl who knows how to write in long-hand...

This is an all-around entertaining film! Ricardo is a very sympathetic character, and even when he does something rather cruel, we sense that it's not out of cruelty that he does it. His parents are both hard-working individuals who are trying their best to provide for themselves and for him. His friends all come off as realistic and the one boy who is something of a bully is still shown in the end to be a decent lad with some issues.

I've never seen any of Trogi's films before, but after seeing this one I'll definitely be seeking out more. This was an entirely enjoyable, entertaining movie and I'd love to see some follow-up films a few years down the line. Truly excellent!

== Short Film ==

This month's short film truly is short, coming in at only a few minutes. It's a few great minutes, however! It's called "Lupe & Bruno" and is a delightful stop-motion movie showing a young girl who has a crush on a young boy who doesn't seem to know she exists. It's vastly entertaining and very funny and adds to the value of this disc. A really wonderful short!

This French film is based upon director and writer Ricardo Trogi's early childhood focuses on his coming of age antics at the age of 11. The French film is set in Canada during 1981. The setting is so true to 1981, that the viewer is instantly and authentically taken back to 1981. The film is a wonderful film, very well done, well directed, and continuously interesting throughout, humorous, and sensitive.

Eleven-year old Ricardo enters a new neighborhood and realizes he doesn't quite fit in with the classmates. His parents are not well off financially, and his father is between jobs. Young Ricardo is observant to the clothes of the wealthier students, gets caught up in the materialism and makes up some lies to get by. In one funny scene, he chastises his parents for living beyond their means and his mother gives him one helluva verbal scolding.

It is often in children's lives that they become embarrassed about their own family, who do not meet the standard the child's views as acceptable. Plus, another complication sets in...Ricardo has a crush on the pretty girl from school. But, on top of all his deception and lies to fit in, he learns something about his friends.

This film is labeled a Film Movement, a production that makes available foreign film that includes quality movies, quality directing...... Rizzo

Let me start by stating that I have become a huge fan of the Film Movement library of foreign and indie movies, released on a monthly basis. I have seen quite a few of them lately and have rarely been disappointed.

"1981" (102 min.; 2009 release from Canada) is a delicious coming of age movie, briging us the story of 11 year old Ricardo Trogi as he settles into a new school after his family moved. Among other things, Ricardo develops a crush on a girl in his class, and he tries very hard to fit in and to befriend several of the 'cool' kids in the class. This movie does for the late 70s/early 80s what "Stand By Me" did for the 1950 and "The Wonder Years" for the late 60s/early 70s. The tone during the entire movie is bitter-sweet, and a smile ic never far away when you are watching this.

It should also be noted that the movie is spoken in a decidely French-Quebecois accent, which is quite hilarious at times. Last but not least, the movie was directed by... Ricardo Trogi, yes the title character in the movie. I only caught on to this when the credit were rolling at the conclusion of the movie. Quite the autobiographical film, indeed, and very much worth seeing.