Icarus Films and France’s premiere film production
and distribution company, Distrib Films, will be joining forces on June 4 for
the domestic DVD debut of actor/director Alex Lutz’s César Award-winning film, Guy.
Guy,
starring Alex Lutz (The Visitors: Bastille
Day, Odd Job, Le Talent de Mes Amis) and
Tom Dingler, captured six César Awards nominations, including Best Picture,
Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, with Lutz winning the César for
Best Actor. It opened for a very brief
arthouse showcase just prior to Christmas and arrives on DVD with an ARR of 172
days.
Lutz plays aging recording artist Guy Jamet (Lutz),
who is about to embark on a bittersweet tour to promote his latest “greatest
hits” reprise album. Meanwhile, a
journalist by the name of Gauthier has just lost his mother and among her
effects he discovers a letter that reveals that Jamet is his biological father
… it’s a bit of a trap for Gauthier.
He promised his mother that he would never speak of his father, so it is
very much out of the question that he track him down and “interview” him. He owes that to his beloved mother.
Gauthier hits upon a unique solution, he will
approached the aging and near-forgotten recording star about filming a
documentary about his current tour and in the process ferret-out the reasons
for his father’s absence growing up.
Jamet agrees to the journalist’s proposal and off we
go. What is amazing is that Alex Lutz
plays both the old man version of Jamet and his younger self (in vintage videos
and flashbacks) … the makeup is absolutely astounding. You’d swear that it was two different
actors.
Old, near-forgotten (except for the aging fans who
remember him in his prime) and very much alone, Jamet is almost a caricature of
what one would expect of a once popular romantic performer who is pulled from
the grave, dusted off, dressed up and put on stage to perform at old folks homes.
The conceit of a documentary being filmed within the
structure of the film itself allows Jamet to play with a full range of emotions
… and eventually the “detached” documentarian becomes the central focus of the
story. Can Gauthier come to terms with
what “life has dealt him” and move on?
If not forgiveness of his father, at least acceptance for who and what
he is?
Guy is
presented in French with English subtitles.
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