Movie reviews

LOLA VERS LA MER (LOLA)

Watchable. The beginning, bar the staggering funeral scene, is trite, regardless whether you treat it as a family conflict drama or a road movie. For about the duration of the first act, I couldn't stop thinking I had seen it all before. The conclusion's predictable too. But the middle is compelling. Lionel-to-Lola is trans and the picture uses the genre gimmicks at ease. Lola gets compared to a unicorn. When random children play with soap air bubbles, a rainbow appears. At the stop the travelling pair take, their hosts play gay icon Boy George's "Karma Chameleon". The music use extends to the meaning of lyrics in several pieces, most notably "I am feeling a little peculiar" from 4 Non Blondes' song "What's up" is played right when Lola is applying her make-up and her dad is gawping at the activity. Remarkably, the story commences and finishes in bright daylight and the catharsis takes place at night. The best thing about the picture is its clear structure and the fact it's perfectly comprehensible to straight folk. And also to the non-Belgian/French, in spite of some strictly cultural notions like men peeing in public places. As for examples of predjudices, those will be understood in narrow-minded Poland even better.

I'm reviewing it from a screener and, again, the white subtitles, even though of decent size, on white background were sometimes barely legible. I never had that problem at cinemas. I wonder if the contrast between whites was higher or if the subtitles for the big screen are different.