It All Starts Today Movie Review
It All Starts Today Review
"It All Starts Today" Overview
Rating: NR
1999
Cast and Crew
Director : Bertrand TavernierProducer : Frédéric Bourboulon,Alain Sarde
Screenwiter : Dominique Sampiero,Bertrand Tavernier,Tiffany Tavernier
Starring : Philippe Torreton,Maria Pitarresi,Nadia Kaci,Véronique Ataly,Nathalie Bécue
Ya know, if you'd told me someone made a movie about a poor region in northern
France, where a harried schoolmaster runs a kindergarten the best he can, well,
I would have told you that was a stupid idea for a movie.
And I would have been right again!
It All Starts Today is not just one of the worst movies of the year, it's one
of the worst movies I've actually sat all the way through--ever. If I was in a
movie theater instead of watching a video, I would have walked out. And if I
didn't have to write something coherent about this thing I would have shut off
the tape and thrown it away. Alas, I had to sit through the whole two hours,
so you don't have to.
Why Bernard Tavernier, best known for his masterpiece Coup de Torchon, decided
to make this picture I'll never be able to fathom. While our hero schoolmaster
(a pasty-faced and dead-eyed Torreton) fights the good fight, intervening in
cases of abuse and doing everything he can for his 2-6 year old students, the
man has no character whatsoever to make him interesting. Compound that with
the problem that the movie has no real plot to speak of (in fact, the film
could easily be mistaken as a documentary of a subject not worth documenting)
and It All Starts Today gets genuinely bad. To make matters worse, the
photography is dull at best, and out of focus at worst. And the miniature
white subtitles have the uncanny ability to be displayed over white backgrounds
in at least half the scenes. I'd rail against this "movie" even more but I've
already wasted enough time on it.
Of course, all of this just goes to show that famous French directors can do
whatever they want, slap their name on the finished product, and call it art.
No one notices that it's crap until it's too late, so even more hype and money
is thrown at making the art appear worthwhile. Well it's not going to work
this time. Tavernier's latest is pap to be avoided at all cost.
Strangely, tis film was made very well as a documentary as To Be and to Have.
Aka Ça commence aujourd'hui.
Reviewer: Christopher Null
