20/45
Julie chooses to remain silent
Story
Julie is the star of an elite tennis academy. When his manager is investigated and suddenly suspended, every player at the club is encouraged to speak out. Belgium’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025. It’s not a good movie. It’s a pretty good story, though. The script could have been polished, though. It’s like they had a few scenes in mind and were working on them. There are a few good scenes (the confrontation in the coffee shop comes to mind), but it’s not enough to keep the film moving.
But that’s not enough either
All the actors are in great shape. Especially the young, semi-professional tennis player who plays Julie. She really does the best she can with the material she’s been given. There are too many unanswered questions: what really happened between Julie and Jeremy? Why is she keeping quiet? One minute she’s having a problem with her new coach, the next she’s being coached exclusively by him (I mean, what the hell?). So plot wise it’s just a huge MISTAKE! But here’s my biggest problem with this movie.
The lighting is non-existent
This director simply doesn’t know how to shoot a movie!! The framing is simply wrong. There were shadows everywhere. In one scene we only see two silhouettes talking to each other. He never cuts between scenes between different subjects. It’s like they only have one camera available. Maybe now (and I’m just guessing) he thinks it brings peace and quiet to his movie. But for me it was just boring as hell.
It was just unwatchable at times
And if you decide not to use cuts in your movie, remember to stay in one main shot and let us (the audience) watch where we want/need to go. No, this director decides for himself, we don’t need this information. That’s why in many scenes we see people talking to other people whose heads are (half) cut off or only half of their faces are visible. What do we teach in film schools today??!! And then, was this movie shot on an iPhone??!! When I saw that Nicolas Karakatsanis was the cinematographer for this film, I was speechless! He really called it resignation (pun intended) in this film. To me, it all comes down to one of two things: either this director doesn’t understand the basics of filmmaking, or he doesn’t care.
And that’s very good
Maybe he just wants to tell his stories. But cinema is a visual medium. And here it was treated badly. And I, as a paying customer, want more.
