“This film is dedicated to all those who have a clitoris,” said Ricardo Trogi as he introduced his short film of the week to the 500,000 spectators who were following assiduously. The race destination world 94-95 late Sunday afternoon on Radio-Canada. Those who were glued to their televisions that day still remember it.
To the tune of Verdi, a young woman danced in the desert waving a red flag as the budding filmmaker tackled the sensitive subject of female genital mutilation, a departure from his previous reporting. This TV moment is so memorable that nearly 30 years later, the director of nineteen eighty one, 1987 And 1991 thought it best to make it the heart of 1995. Rather its laborious making of…
PHOTO PROVIDED BY IMMINA FILMS
Actor Jean-Carl Boucher, who reprises his role as Ricardo in 1995
Having buried his dreams of cinema, Ricardo learns that he has been chosen to participate in The race 1994-1995 edition. Halfway through his journey around the world, the young man meets Yunnis (Shadi Janho) on the plane taking him to Cairo. Believing that the latter will lend him a hand in this country he does not know, Ricardo notes with dismay that he only brings him problems.
After Yunnis accidentally breaks his camera, Ricardo, who firmly believes he has found the ideal subject to shoot his masterpiece, can do nothing but wait for the one sent to him by the team of There vsbear. Meanwhile, the viewer, whose patience will be severely tested, will seek in vain to understand why Ricardo is so keen to film a report on excision, a subject he discovered by chance in a magazine.
A formidable and tireless storyteller, Ricardo Trogi provides the narration, always as tasty and colorful, of 1995throwing in cultural references here and there that will make Generation X and viewers of the time collapse with laughter.
Faithful to the post, Jean-Carl Boucher takes on the role of Ricardo with the same ease. If the director’s sister, Nadia (Rose Adam), is practically relegated to oblivion, her parents, Claudette and Benito, who have little screen time, manage to stand out each in one scene.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY IMMINA FILMS
Actors Sandrine Bisson, Claudio Colangelo, Jean-Carl Boucher and Rose Adam
Sandrine Bisson, still as fiery, inherits the most hilarious scene in the film, the one where Ricardo literally becomes his mother during the interview with the team of There racewhile Claudio Colangelo, with a reassuring discretion, wins the prize for emotion in the last act.
While Trogi takes us behind the scenes of There raceit is with disappointment that, apart from François Parenteau (Guillaume Gauthier), of whom he sketches an endearing portrait, none of the competitors obtain their 15 seconds of glory. Not even Hugo Latulippe, one of the most popular candidates of the 1994-1995 edition, presented as an arrogant young man.
In the role of Pierre Therrien, Mickaël Gouin happily reproduces the host’s impeccable diction. As for the judges, who are not very present, only Jean-Michel Vidal, played with aplomb by Francis William Rhéaume, appears a few times. Special mention to David Leblanc, who perfectly imitates the phrasing of the critic Michel Coulombe in a short scene.
Carried by the careful photography of Steve Asselin and the fluid editing of Yvann Thibaudeau, 1995like the previous episodes, turns out to be an entertaining comedy punctuated by tender moments and funny scenes. Of the lot, however, it turns out to be the most anecdotal.
Ricardo Trogi says very little about his six-month journey around the world. In fact, he sums it up in this overly long and exasperating sequence where his young alter ego, like a certain Gallic hero, goes back and forth through the maze of customs to obtain various forms, stamps and letters of reference. After having devoted nearly half of his filmography to telling his life story, 1995 Being his ninth feature film, has the director signed one part too many?
In theaters from July 31
Comedy
1995
Ricardo Trogi
Jean-Carl Boucher, Sandrine Bisson, Claudio Colangelo, Shadi Janho
1:59