Help but at what cost? With “Black Flies”, Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire plunges the Cannes public into the daily life of New York paramedics confronted with the violence of a city that never sleeps. For better and for worse.
Presented Thursday in competition, this new feature film from the director of “Johnny Mad Dog” (2008) and “A Prayer Before Dawn” (2017) is freely inspired by Shannon Burke’s book.
The viewer follows Ollie Cross (Tye Sheridan), a young paramedic who dreams of going to medical school. But his work, alongside the somewhat jaded veteran, Gene Rutkovsky (Sean Penn) gives him no respite.
Among their leaders, Mike Tyson makes a rather sober appearance on the screen, far from his ardor as a former terror of the boxing rings.
Violence, drugs, disease, extreme poverty… Ollie Cross is a direct witness to the ills that plague New York society.
“I wanted to film the real world of New York, that reality,” explained the director at a press conference. “That’s why apart from the main roles, I chose non-professional actors”.
“Black Flies” asks a question: how do you take care of people who take care of others?
“Today, institutions are beginning to take into account the question of the psychological balance of teams. It’s a good thing,” added the filmmaker.
By offering a dark portrait of a city known for its graphic beauty, the director takes the risk of falling into the cliché.
“What we wanted was to show that we respected New York City and we were all ready to do our best,” actor Tye Sheridan said.
The strength of the film, however, lies in its pace.
From the first minutes, the viewer is as if immersed in the brutal reality of the paramedics. Through his shots of Ollie’s face and body, constantly in tension, the director manages to show his fear but also his powerlessness.
A tension maintained from the beginning to the end of the film.
This immersion is made possible thanks to the impressive mastery of sound, which manages to render the oppressive universe in which the characters evolve.
adm/mch/hj
2023-05-19 14:20:09
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