Mia Hansen-Løve’s Eden would make a wonderfully eye-opening double bill with Inside Llewyn Davis. Though wholly different in tone, style and philosophy, this portrait of a struggling garage DJ as he navigates two decades in the French club scene is similarly sensitive in its evocation of the joys and disappointments of the artistic life, and just as impeccable in its presentation of music.
Starting in 1992, Eden jumps into the decade’s illicit rave scene. It’s here that literature student Paul (Felix de Givry) first encounters garage. Paul forms a DJ duo with Stan (Hugo Conzelmann), and begins promoting his own parties. He keeps the records spinning even as financial troubles mount, friends drift away, and his cocaine use starts to become more than casual.
Scenes set in the clubs have a lived-in authenticity, and Hansen-Løve (Goodbye First Love – JDIFF 2012) is wonderfully attuned to the electric currents that a perfectly mixed transition can send surging through a dance floor.
Andrew Barker
Variety
Please note that the festival is for over 18s only
