Fais-moi des vacances (2002)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Didier Bivel

Writers:

Didier Bivel (writer)
Djamila Djabri (writer)

Release Date:

22 July 2004 (USA)

Plot:

It is the end of the school year for the children of a dormitory town. Most of them leave the place...

Plot Keywords:

French Suburb

Cast

Thylda Barès	...	La petite fille défilé de mode
Siraboula Sissoko	...	Gamine défilé école 2
Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux	...	Lila
Thomas Pitiot	...	L'animateur
Ibrahim Koma	...	Adama
Aymen Saïdi	...	Lucien
Albert Goldberg	...	Le vigile
Nabil El Bouhairi	...	José
Makan Fofana	...	Mamadou, le frère d'Adama
Hawa Yakaré Sissoko	...	Fanta, la soeur d'Adama
Marie-Philomène Nga	...	La mère d'Adama
Moussa Sanogo	...	Le chanteur
Laura Mas Navarro	...	Pamela, Lucien's Sister
Hiam Abbass	...	La mère de Lucien et José
Bernard Blancan	...	Le père de Lucien et José

Also Known As:

We Need a Vacation (International: English title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

France:U

Filming Locations:

Calvados, France

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

Visa d'exploitation en France : #97282.

A Completely Delightful and Tender Little Film About Disenfranchised Kids

'Fais-moi des vacances' (WE NEED A VACATION) is a finely wrought little film that studies the disparities between the classes in France while introducing us to a warmly tender and humorous friendship between two young lads. Directed and written by Didier Bivel (with writing assistance from Djamila Djabri) it offers a slice of life we rarely see - that underbelly of France's projects where mixed races strive to exist without the amenities of those with means who surround their neighborhoods.

Lucien (Aymen Saïdi) lives with his father (Bernard Blancan), mother (Hiam Abbass), young sister Pamela (Laura Mas Navarro), and his tough streetwise older brother José (Nabil El Bouhairi) in a small flat. Close by is his African friend Adama (Ibrahim Koma) and his equally poor family of father (Makan Fofana), mother (Marie-Philomène Nga) and sister Fanta (Hawa Yakaré Sissoko). As school ends the kids whose families have money take them on a vacation, a state neither Lucien nor Adama can afford despite their obsession with that luxury. The two boys manipulate funds and ideas and ultimately come up with the idea of secretly jumping aboard a RUV of a family headed for the beach. BUT despite the success of their plan and the encouragement of the daughter of the van's owners, the boys end up not at the beach but at a nudist camp, a fact that makes them flee! Upon returning home both boys' families punish their activities and when Lucien seeks comfort from his older brother, José beats him and tells him to grow up. In the end the boys finagle their way to the beach, but of course by this time vacation time is over and they are on an empty beach re-evaluating their lives.

The cast is uniformly strong, the writing is excellent, and the camera work not only captures the claustrophobia of the projects but also opens up the vistas of the boys' imaginations. It is a fine little film, one deserving of a wide audience. Grady Harp