Starring: Hugo Conzelman, Felix Armand, Lola Créton
It’s 1971 and just outside of Paris, a group of young
left-wing and anarchist students are rebelling against the government with
demonstrations, independent newspapers and graffiti. When an attack goes wrong,
the gang split up across Europe to temporarily hide from the police, and one of
the gang members, a painter named Jean-Pierre (Conzelman) goes on a journey of
self-discovery.
There’s something about the counterculture and the end of
the 60s and beginning of the 70s which lends itself to cinema. Part of this is
the effect that these events had on great film-makers (this period coincides
with ‘New Wave’ periods in the film industries of America, Germany and Italy to
name a few, although the French beat this period to the punch with their New
Wave, which served as an influence) and part is to do with the turbulence of
the era making for very cinematic story-telling. There’s Something In The Air
captures elements of this. When the film focuses on the violence of the era, it’s
very effective, even if it does slightly wash-over some of the more violent
actions by the likes of the Baader-Meinhoff Gang or the Brigate Rossi and the
film’s use of music to evoke mood is impressive. However, the film simply lacks
focus. It meanders and wends through the story in such a lackadaisical manner
that it’s hard to grasp the length of time in the story transpires, and drains
some of the life from its characters. With a good edit and a trim this could be
a very strong effort. As it is, it’s decent and promising, but when you see the
lead working on a goofy movie involving Nazis and dinosaurs at the end of the
film, you start to wish you were watching that instead.
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