Retrospective 2021 | The good and the bad shots …

It was a year back in theaters for culture. The opportunity to see and appreciate, at the cinema, a large-scale film such as the adaptation of Dune by Denis Villeneuve or, in person, the fabulous Riopelle exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. But there were not only ups… Back on good moves, crushes and a controversy.

The challenge met

Dune by Denis Villeneuve

He was expected with a brick and a lantern by admirers of Dune, Frank Herbert’s science fiction bible, deemed unsuitable for cinema. The general opinion is that Quebec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve rose to the challenge brilliantly, making one of the most successful films of the year thanks to an elegant, majestic and spectacular staging. Dune is a blockbuster author in the best sense of the word. A large-scale, epic, ambitious film bearing the aesthetic signature of the Quebec filmmaker, who also co-signed the screenplay for the first part of Herbert’s novel. We can’t wait to see the rest.

The good shot

The appointment of Rafael Payare to the OSM

Rafael Payare has been named the ninth musical director of the Orchester symphonique de Montréal, succeeding Kent Nagano. With his shaggy mane à la Lenny Kravitz, his relaxed demeanor and his broad smile, the new conductor of the OSM has a rock star aura. Which probably does not harm his status as a rising star in orchestral conducting. Small and slender, both expressive and delicate in his gestures on the podium, the 41-year-old Venezuelan is ahowman flamboyant and charismatic, which has already conquered the musicians of the orchestra and the Montreal public.

The heart stroke

A thousand secrets, a thousand dangers by Alain Farah

A wedding day with incredible twists and turns for a brilliant drawer novel, A thousand secrets, a thousand dangers Alain Farah is my literary crush of 2021. I was moved to tears by the evocation of the character of Myriam revealing her tattoo to her friend, future bride, then I laughed to tears, a few pages later , when the main character’s father (Farah’s alter ego) says he has stomach cramps every time he crosses paths with an aunt in his apartment building, due to the evil eye. Several scenes of this fabulous story seem to come from a Xavier Dolan film. Farah has given birth to a major work.

Full view

Riopelle at the MMFA

The exhibition Riopelle: meeting northern territories and native cultures, presented at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, shed new light on the 1950s and 1970s production of the great Jean Paul Riopelle, retracing the travels and influences that fueled his interest in northernity and autochthony. Nearly 175 works and more than 200 artefacts and a vast selection of archival documents (photographs, videos and extracts from unpublished correspondence) allowing to contextualize the production of the Quebec artist, exiled for three decades in Paris. A magnificent explosion of colors and textures, like precious minerals that have been cut into layers. Majestic.

Controversy

The return of Maripier Morin

Mariloup Wolfe’s next feature film, Arlette!, will feature Maripier Morin in the role of a woman who becomes Minister of Culture thanks to the power of her image. After being denounced by Safia Nolin for physical assault and racist remarks, Maripier Morin was the subject of investigations in The duty and Press revealing the testimonies of people who accuse him of similar behavior. It was therefore not, obviously, an isolated event. Is it too early for his rehabilitation? It will be for the public to judge. The fact remains that to attribute this role to Maripier Morin rather than to another actress, at the same time when the controversy was raging, was perceived by many as a trivialization of the gestures and words with which she is accused.