Gust Van den Berghe proves adept at detailed world creation with his irresistibly visually attractive The Magnet Man, which takes us into the world of the circus.
Lucien is leading a rural life in literal shades of grey with his mother and father. A protagonist in the Buster Keaton mode, there's not much to smile about in his loneliness. His one skill, although using that word for it is certainly debatable, is that he is able to attract metal objects in the manner of a magnet - an ability that is brought home in gloriously comic fashion after an altar boy's swinging censer becomes stuck to his leg at his mother's funeral.
Things change when opportunity - in an unusual form - comes knocking at his door. Heading to the station to meet his father with a violin stuffed with money, the...
Lucien is leading a rural life in literal shades of grey with his mother and father. A protagonist in the Buster Keaton mode, there's not much to smile about in his loneliness. His one skill, although using that word for it is certainly debatable, is that he is able to attract metal objects in the manner of a magnet - an ability that is brought home in gloriously comic fashion after an altar boy's swinging censer becomes stuck to his leg at his mother's funeral.
Things change when opportunity - in an unusual form - comes knocking at his door. Heading to the station to meet his father with a violin stuffed with money, the...
- 11/18/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Lucien (Danny Ronaldo) in The Magnet Man. Gust Van den Berghe: 'I think humor is amazing. But at the same time, it cannot come for free? I do like it when it comes with weight' Photo: Courtesy of Tallinn Film Festival Belgian director Gust Van den Berghe transports us both back in time and to a world that, though a far more vibrant aesthetic, recalls the careful creations of Roy Andersson, in that it is simultaneously realised in glorious detail while retaining a theatrical, otherworldly edge. It is there that we meet Lucien, a near-silent protagonist in the Buster Keaton mould, who lives with his parents in the countryside. He’s a simple soul with an unusual talent - the ability to attract metal objects. When he accidentally finds himself attracted to a train on the move and deposited a long way from home, he joins a circus, where...
- 11/16/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Philippe Bober’s Coproduction Office, whose recent films include Jessica Hausner’s Cannes Competition title “Club Zero” and Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness,” has kicked off international sales on Gust Van den Berghe’s “The Magnet Man.” The Paris and Berlin based production and sales outfit is attending this week’s Mia Market in Rome.
Van den Berghe’s previous films, “Blue Bird” (2011) and “Little Baby Jesus of Flandr” (2010), have both premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
“The Magnet Man,” which is in post-production, tells the tragicomic tale of how our greatest talents can become our greatest flaws, and how unpredictable our lives can be.
The film follows Lucien, who is a human magnet: everything made of iron sticks to his body. Rural Belgium at the beginning of the 20th century is no place for his unusual natural talent. One day, he accidentally gets attached to...
Van den Berghe’s previous films, “Blue Bird” (2011) and “Little Baby Jesus of Flandr” (2010), have both premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
“The Magnet Man,” which is in post-production, tells the tragicomic tale of how our greatest talents can become our greatest flaws, and how unpredictable our lives can be.
The film follows Lucien, who is a human magnet: everything made of iron sticks to his body. Rural Belgium at the beginning of the 20th century is no place for his unusual natural talent. One day, he accidentally gets attached to...
- 10/11/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
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