My Golden Days (2016)

Very Cool!!!

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

They say its a prequel to the 1996 film 'My Sex Life' that I haven't seen, but this looked good and its not. I'm not sure how much one has to be familiar with the original film, though it does not matter much I think since it is a prequel. Because everything starts here and follows there. So I saw it, and I wanted to like it, but not fully impressed. The story was told in chapters. The opening was like some kind of a spy thriller, but soon when the episode 'Esther' begins, it turned into a romance drama.A man who has been investigated when another person with the same identity was found. So he reveals his school day's events, followed by his first girlfriend and complication surrounding it he had faced. That, how he had won her over the older boys and about his close friend, till leaving them behind to work in the central Asia. Mostly it is a love story with some twists in the affair, but how it all ends still remains mystery even after the narration ended.The issue is it is not detailing anything, just reveals events of a youngster's romance life. Particularly the end was not good. So I think that's why I need to see the first film, resuming the narration could continue from where this one concluded. I leave (_b_l_a_n_k__s_p_a_c_e_) till I saw that and update this review, if I change my stance over this one. Even if I didn't like, still I would update it.Meanwhile back to the review; it is like a French version of 'Flashbacks of a Fool'. Technically, there's no fault in this, only the screenplay did not convince me. The actors were so good, no doubt its a well made film that some people would enjoy it and I hope you are one of those.6/10

One event in which Paul allows a Russian person a forged identity, which essentially is his, to go to Israel brings up old thoughts as he is stopped, decades later, at an airport. Old thoughts of perhaps the only girl consistently in Paul's life who was both mesmerizing and infuriating. Yet over 10 years they broke up and got back together. Cheated on one another with strangers, and in her case with his friends and family, yet though too volatile to stay together, they were too drawn to one another to stay apart. This tale is their slightly twisted love story featuring what often kept Paul away from being where Esther wanted him.CommentaryAmerican romance films are often simple. Girl meets boy, girl usually is there to help the boy become a better person, boy doesn't appreciate it till it is almost too late, then he does a grand gesture for a happy ending. This, to me, is the norm. Making it so when movies like 500 Days of Summer come out, they become cult hits. With French cinema, though, it seems the opposite is done. Happy endings are few and far between and while usually the focus is on the male and him learning and growing still, things are drastically more complicated.You see, despite the French being considered the romantics, there is a line drawn between words of love and acts of passion. The words are what we believe are their culture. Things said which makes you swoon and flutter your eyes like a fool. However, the passion is often anything but romantic. The fights, the betrayals! Oh, there is nothing simple about romance in French films. In this movie, Esther is the girl who supposedly all the girls hate and all the boys either wanna be with or sleep with. She seems so assured of herself to the point of arrogance. A trait Paul quite admires as he approaches her with seemingly no romantic experience. Yet, somehow, he turns this lioness into a sheep. One who needs him desperately to the point it is surprising the only damage she does to herself is sleeping around with people and not drinking and drugging herself into oblivion. But, despite her being open with her transgressions, and he to her, it is weirdly accepted because often there is a distance between them.Their back and forth is often wild and confusing. Especially with her sleeping with those who are his friends and family. Those who should be supporting Paul's relationship with her are the ones taking advantage of his absence. Yet there is so much forgiveness for reasons you can never understand why.Yes, Paul and Esther are cute together, but her clinginess and aversion to being social makes them seem like an odd couple when they are outside seclusion of a bedroom, rooted in a private intimacy. Though perhaps the real odd thing about this film is how this all starts with Paul being stopped at the airport for it is believe his passport is fraudulent and then us going into issues he has had with his parents and this one spy-like mission he did in Russia. To say the least, while this film is primarily focused on Esther and Paul's relationship, it creates so many arguments as to why they could never be that you sometimes wonder what the movie wants you to learn, see, or understand.Review SummaryHighlightsYou have to admire how in French cinema there often doesn't feel like a tried and true way to go. There doesn't seem to be a formula. It is just two people feeling each other out, often clashing, yet melting into one another after their shields are broken, walls were torn down, and there is nothing left but the softness of skin left to protect them.Low PointsPerhaps what bothered me the most about this film is that Esther was never allowed to become more than a love interest. It is noted she went to school, perhaps didn't have the best relationship with people, especially her parents, but she was just a mess with little explanation as to why. The time spent on the Russian story, meeting Paul's siblings, who basically disappear halfway through the film, and then this airport thing, a lot of that time, I felt, could have been dedicated to building up Esther. Though, for what I know, perhaps there is a place for Esther like characters. Women who are but love interest and that's it. Maybe it is just some political correctness planted in my head which leads me to believe both leads deserve equal backgrounds.On The FenceThe tender moments, usually when in a bedroom alone together, are when you can understand Paul and Esther's relationship always being rekindled. There is a softness to her which seemingly is only available when naked. Otherwise, insecurities, arrogance, and an inability to compromise rage in her to the point she seems less like a person and more like someone whose world revolves around Paul. A 2D depiction of someone's ex placed into a script. Which seemed a tad unbelievable considering how cool and independent she was initially shown as. Though, I guess, the argument could be that once the infatuation phase was over we got to see the real Esther.

"My Golden Days" (2015 release from France; 123 min.; original title "Trois Souvenirs De Ma Jeunesse" or "Three Memories from My Childhood") brings (further) stories from Paul Dedalus. As the movie opens, we see Paul and his Russian (?) girlfriend lament the fact that Paul is returning to France after 8 years away. It makes him think back to his childhood, and we flash back to Paul as an 11 yr. old boy, fighting with his (mentally deranged) mother. Back to the current day, Paul is being stopped by French officials at the airport for "passport problems". At this point we are 10-15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: when I wrote earlier that this movie brings the further stories of Paul, it is because writer-director Arnaud Desplechin made a previous film about this character, 1996's "My Sex Life... or How I Got into an Argument", with the role of Paul played by Mathieu Amalric, who reprises the role almost 20 years later. I admit I haven't seen the 1996 film, but that didn't stop me from checking this out, as I think Amalric is one of France's finer actors of this generation (check him also out in the recent "La Chambre Bleue", "The Grand Budapest Hotel", etc.). "My Golden Days" turns out to be a somewhat nostalgic look back to the 'good ol' days'. Of the "three souvenirs" referenced in the original French title, by far the longest amount of time is spent on Pauls' relationship with Esthel during Paul's university days, and set somewhere in the late 1980s. I grew up in nearby Belgium just a few years earlier (doing uni in the early 80s), and I can attest that the director captures the mood of those university years perfectly. It's probably the reason why this movie resonated with me so well, but I also want to emphasize that if you didn't grow up in Europe during those years, you'll still 'get it'. Newcomer Lou Roy-Lecollinet, in her first role on the big screen as Esthel, is simply outstanding, and surely we have not see the last of her. Last but not least, there is a bunch of great music featured in the film, both as to song placements and the original score, the latter courtesy of acclaimed French composer Grégoire Hetzel ("Incendies", "Intrusions"). A quick look around tells me that the score is available on Amazon France."My Golden Days" premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, to general critical acclaim. Not sure why it's take so long to play in US theaters, but this past weekend, the movie opened without any pre-release buzz or advertising at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and I know what that usually means (a one week run). The Wednesday evening screening where I saw this at was attended okay but not great. That's a darn shame. Hopefully this is a movie that can find a wider audience when the DVD finally comes out. If you are in the mood for a nostalgic yet effective foreign film that looks at what it was like growing up in France in the 80s, you cannot go wrong with this. "Trois Souvenirs de Ma Jeunesse" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This movie was a bit of a chameleon for me. Initially I found this story of Paul Dedalus's recollections of his youth disappointing. The story of Paul's broken family life was short and cryptic. The story of intrigue in Russia was interesting and begins to tell us something about Paul. The main focus, the recollection of his relationship with Esther, did not draw me in. Yes they were beautiful, but almost too much so, and their interactions did not seem authentic.My thoughts evolved on further consideration. Paul is recalling the peak experiences from his youth, but how accurate are his memories? Were he and Esther really that beautiful? As another reviewer pointed out, his appearance at that age seems inconsistent with his younger and older selves - an accident of casting? Was he madly in love with her? His actions and decisions suggest otherwise. Did he fail to appreciate the importance of this relationship because of his youth and inexperience? Maybe, but consider the start of the movie.