Sophie Nélisse

  • 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On TV, October 2021) I wasn’t a big fan of the first 47 Meters Down—Despite the rather nice suspense of characters being attacked by sharks while caged underwater, I am growing averse to the “imaginary character” trope and I suppose that the best thing about it is that I kept expecting its sequel 47 Meters Down: Uncaged to feature a fictional character. (In vain, as it turns out.)  No, this sequel would rather focus on more sharks and more claustrophobia, as it sends four teenagers in an underground Mayan temple to fight sharks that don’t need eyes to see their prey. It’s about as straightforward as shark movies come, with a steady diet of victims for the sharks, and thrills that don’t stop until everyone is out of the water. Sophie Nélisse and Corinne Foxx headline the film as the plucky half-sisters fighting it out (if you’re guessing the other characters are expendable, well, you’ve seen enough shark films), although it’s nice to see Nia Long looking gorgeous in a very small role. The Mexican scenery is nice when above the surface, but since much of the film takes place underwater, you can expect more shades of blue than lush greenery. The climax does keep something in reserve even after exiting the underground temple, so don’t go reaching for the remote at the sight of sunlight. While I won’t argue too much with those who maintain that the first film is better, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged at least dispenses with hallucinated characters, and that makes it preferable in my book.

  • The Book Thief (2013)

    The Book Thief (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2014) At its most basic level, The Book Thief is about a girl living in a small German town during the Nazi regime: you can predict how well that’s going to go.  But beyond that, it seems as if most of the neat things about the film don’t add much to its foundation.  It’s fascinating, for instance, to discover that the story is narrated by Death itself… except that for all of the added depth that the narration brings (especially during the tacked-on epilogue), it doesn’t have much of an influence over the story itself.  I will gleefully defend any story that takes up reading as its cause… except that it, again, doesn’t seems to do much when set against a backdrop of World-War 2 Nazi Germany.  And yes, it’s great to see WW2 movies… except when it seems to be used to make point made quite eloquently elsewhere already. (Surely I can’t be the only one to have thought about The Reader.) The movie has its strong points: Sophie Nélisse is captivating as the titular heroine, (though there isn’t much book-stealing going on) Geoffrey Rush is warm and likable as the father-figure, while even Emily Watson gets a better role as the film develops her character.  Director Brian Percival ends up packaging a convincing portrait of life under the Nazis.  It’s skilfully made, touches upon many of my own personal leitmotivs… but it seems as if the ending comes too soon, prematurely cutting short a bunch of subplots, making them feel perfunctory or ordinary.  It ends without taking full advantage of its own strengths.  How strange.