Un jeune poète

This summery feature debut by short-film maker Damien Manivel looks as light as the azure blue sky above the Mediterranean, out over which the young poet from the title looks. This would-be poet is seeking inspiration In the fishing village of Sète in the South of France. With pen and notebook at the ready, he wanders around hoping for a literary spark. But the ideas just won’t come, even though he does everything a poet should: climb a hill, sit on a bench by a churchyard, visit a museum with a girl and drink vodka.
The seven chapters correspond to the days of the week, during which Rémi sees his poetic efforts increasingly wither. The charming and slightly lanky acting of Rémi Taffanel turns A Young Poet (Special Mention Locarno) into a disarming, gentle film about a boy whose artist waters just won’t come to the boil. Manivel plays with the contrast between the calm village, drenched in blue and white, and Rémi’s gloomy inner battle with language.

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