Crazy comedies, for everyone
Comedy that makes you laugh without having too much to think about often does a lot of good, no matter how old you are. These two comic novelties from here, fiction series aimed at very distinct audiences, fit perfectly into this category by exploiting familiar frameworks.
Magical family is aimed at the whole family, but will appeal above all to elementary school children. Daniel Coutu, one of the favorite magicians of children, is the creator and plays one of the main characters. The one who made himself known thanks to his shows and broadcasts where he skilfully mixes popular science and magic here plays his own role of conjurer, but with a little something unusual: he has real magical powers. He is not alone: his children, his parents and his grandmother and sister also have supernatural gifts. Even the house of this large family has particular “talents” …
These magical faculties, distinct for each member of the family, are sometimes an asset, but often a nuisance, especially since they must remain secret. This “exceptional” reality for an apparently ordinary family turns out to be a particularly fertile ground for absurd situations and intrigues, halfway between burlesque and absurd humor, in this rather classic framework of the sitcom classic wagon.
Coutu, who had already shown a certain talent for straightforward comedy in the sketches of his magic shows, is very convincing as a dad, a member of an unusual tribe and husband of a lamp, in tune with young actors and “veterans”. »That are Marie-Chantal Perron, Luc Senay and Stéphane Crête, neighbor ex-magician. The presence of the latter reminds us moreover that the production is not so far from the spirit of In a galaxy near you, but for a slightly younger audience.
For his part, Completely high school rather speaks to teenagers fond of American melodramatic series intended for them, and to adults who have consumed a lot of them. This hilarious parody of Degrassi, of Dawson’s Creek, and others One tree hill, fruit of the imagination of Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais and Rosalie Vaillancourt, who also play the main roles there, and directed by Alec Pronovost (The Killing), uses all the clichés of the genre with vigor and rigor.
This web series, which skilfully copies the visual style of these big budget productions, was first shot in English. The actors, who exploit all the clichés of the characters who are just as much (the little new one with glasses, the macho football star, the popular pimbêche), then doubled by imitating the French “international” accent and the tics of language characteristic of these French versions.
This comic spring constitutes a sizeable asset to enhance the very limited interest of the arch-worn intrigues which animate the corridors of the “high school” of New Garden Hills Valley, in the suburbs of Chicago. It’s big, it’s fat, and we laugh heartily. We would have taken more than eight episodes.
Magical family
ou.tv Extra, from December 7, and ICI Télé, Saturdays, 10 a.m., from January 8
Completely high school
Noovo.ca, starting December 7
Pearl Harbor, Apocalypse style
Just 80 years ago, the United States, until then a “neutral” nation during World War II, became belligerent after the “surprise” attack by the Japanese military (and the declaration of war against it). preceded by half an hour) from Pearl Harbor Naval Base in the Hawaiian archipelago. Télé-Québec marks this anniversary by presenting a still brand new French documentary (produced in 2021) which recounts in detail this attack which changed the trajectory of the Second World War, and its deadly consequences, in both camps.
French director David Korn-Brzoza, a regular in documentaries on the history of the 20th centurye century, including ten projects dealing with various aspects of the Second World War, offers here a feature film that inevitably brings to mind the series Apocalypse. He only uses archival images, many of which are colorized, to tell the story of this conflict, often from first-hand testimonies from soldiers, civilians and politicians who lived it up close, all narrated by the quiet and dramatic voice of French actor Vincent Lindon. The formula works wonderfully in this mine of information, certainly already known to fans of WWII, but often new to ordinary bears who think they know a lot about this conflict.
Pearl Harbor, the world is on fire
Télé-Québec, Monday and Tuesday, 8 p.m.