ALONE (SEULS) (2017 - French)

Studio:       StudioCanal
Director:    David Moreau
Writer:       David Moreau, Guillaume Moulin
Producer:  Abel Nahmias
Stars:     Sophie Lesaffre, Stephane Bak, Paul Scarfoglio, Jean-Stan Du Pac, Kim Lockhart, Thomas Doret, Renan Madelpuech

Review Score:

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Summary:

Five young teens wake up to find that everyone else has inexplicably disappeared from their town, which is surrounded by a mysterious fog.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

While the news reports on the murder of a man named Saul Bertier, 15-year-old Leila Bennami learns from her parents that her terminally ill brother Aysam’s condition is worsening. Additionally frustrated following a bullying incident at school, Leila blows off steam alone at Bertolli’s Circus, a carnival that just arrived in her small town of Fortville.

When Leila wakes the next morning, she is inexplicably unable to find any other people in the city. Leila eventually meets 14-year-old Camille Delaborde and 12-year-old Terry Chabolle, who are similarly confused as to where everyone went.

Thinking the police can help, the trio goes to the precinct. They only find aloof 16-year-old Dodji Sango. They free Dodji from his handcuffs, but Dodji takes off alone on a motorbike.

Seeing ‘SOS’ spelled with lit windows on the side of an office tower, Leila, Camille, and Terry enter. The trio meets 16-year-old Yvan Gersh, the privileged son of a wealthy investment banker. Leila commandeers a classic car from Yvan’s father’s collection to take the others around town in search of clues.

The teens find Dodji lying injured in the road with an arrowhead stuck in his body. Everyone rushes into a nearby ambulance as arrows are shot in their direction. Leila drives away.

The quintet takes refuge inside the Majestic hotel. After he recovers from his wound the next morning, Dodji leads the others to the edge of town where they see that their city is surrounded by thick clouds of smoky fog.

The group goes to Camille’s house to replace a pair of glasses Camille lost while examining the fog. When they return outside, they discover that their car was moved. A masked man wielding blades chases the teens, but they escape. From footage he shot with his phone, Terry identifies their attacker as ‘The Knife Master,’ a character from the comic book “Steelman.”

Using an armored bank car, the five teens plan to drive through the fog to see what lies on the other side. A voice over the radio suddenly warns them to stop. The voice claims that a chemical fire forced Fortville to evacuate, but they were somehow missed. The teens provide their location coordinates when the voice claims a rescue will come within 24 hours.

Everyone returns to the Majestic to celebrate with rare wine. Knife Master infiltrates the hotel and chases Leila, but Dodji frightens him away.

The next morning, Leila follows Dodji to a church where he leaves a message for his mother in a prayer box. Flares summon Leila and Dodji back to the hotel where they discover that Camille was kidnapped. A robotic camera drone that had been spying on the group relays instructions for the teens to follow it to an abandoned building if they want to save their friend.

Per their instructions, Dodji enters the building alone. Unable to wait any longer after several minutes go by, Leila goes in after him. Leila finds Dodji dead. Knife Master attacks Leila. Terry comes to the rescue and Knife Master is captured.

With everyone regrouped at the church, Knife Master is unmasked as 16-year-old Remy Mauvoisin. Terry stops Leila from killing Remy by pointing out that Remy is a special needs boy who was clearly manipulated by someone else. Leila, Yvan, and Terry bury Dodji.

The radio voice taunts the teens by revealing it had been manipulating them all along. Leila, Yvan, and Terry free Remy from his restraints and escape the church as constricting fog begins destroying the walls.

From the sound of horses heard over the radio, Leila traces the broadcast signal to Bertolli’s Circus. There, they find a fair-skinned man with platinum blonde hair tormenting Camille, who is suspended in a glass cage. In his Knife Master costume, Remy confronts the man while the others hide. The man kills Remy with an arrow, prompting Leila, Terry, and Yvan to pull guns on him. After the man taunts her, Leila shoots him in his neck.

Yvan recognizes the man as Saul Bertier, the man whose murder was widely publicized on the news. The revelation triggers a flood of flashbacks during which Leila finally realizes that all of them are actually dead, and are connected by being the six teens that died in a fatal fire at the funfair, including Remy.

Leila digs up Dodji and explains that they are all dead. Dodji stops Leila, who is despondent over the fact that none of them exist, from running into the fog and returns her to the others.

Leila experiences a vision of her brother, who tells her to go through the fog. Dodji revives Leila. Leila convinces the others to drive into the fog with her.

On the other side of limbo, Leila, Dodji, Terry, Camille, and Yvan enter a seeming paradise where they join a large gathering of other teenagers. However, the five of them are shocked to discover everyone assembled chanting at a tower, atop which stands Saul Bertier.

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Review:

Imagine the world of “The Walking Dead” without zombies.  In fact, imagine it without any living or undead entities at all.  That’s the fate facing 15-year-old Leila when she wakes up one morning to find her small French hometown of Fortville inexplicably empty, without a single sign as to where everyone went or why.

Initially feeling like Cillian Murphy in “28 Days Later,” Leila eventually discovers she isn’t as alone as it seems.  Gradually, she grows a small group with four other confused kids anxious for answers no one can give.  But the most immediate matter for the quintet may not be completing their collective quest to uncover what happened.  It’s staying alive when a suspicious drone, arrows from an unseen bow, and a knife-wielding masked man show dogged determination to kill them all.

Much like the kids depicted onscreen, you’ll probably find yourself mirroring their frustrated feelings of being lost in a maddening mind-maze.  That’s because “Alone” is stingy when it comes to dropping hints about what’s really happening.  It turns out there’s a good reason for such stubbornness regarding why the film doesn’t play fair as a mystery.  The movie basically builds to a crescendo twist that, if known from the get go, would reduce the slender story to little more than a hide-and-seek game with a sci-fi slant.

When this revelation finally arrives, which isn’t until well into the last act, you’ll also probably react with a “wait a minute” while experiencing distinct déjà vu that you’ve seen this particular premise before.  And if you’ve been around genre thriller fare often enough, you almost certainly have.

Those less tuned to similar material may respond with a pleasantly surprised “ohh!”  Been-around-the-block parties may instead answer with a disappointed “aww!”  In the middle where both reactions meet is the more balanced observation that “Alone” flirts with familiarity, resulting in a feel that isn’t so fresh in hindsight.  Yet it also trades heavily in David Moreau’s directorial flair, which polishes dystopian bleakness with cinematic sleekness that entertains as an adolescent fantasy far more than it falls flat as slightly flighty fiction.

Led by Sophie Lesaffre, the young actors carry their characters with energetic engagement, even if they are archetypically arranged.  Lesaffre’s resilient tomboy Leila balances outward angst with inner emotions regarding her terminally ill brother.  At the other end of a wobbly would-be romance that never blooms with any real believability is standoffish Dodji, a brooding boy too busy grimacing to contribute to any team effort.  “Alone” oddly has two people filling the bespectacled bookworm slot, although young Camille takes on the traditional role while Yvan mixes in spoiled rich kid syndrome too.  Terry brings up the back end, notable solely for being the youngest.

Spottier than shortsighted personality development are occasions where tasteful social conventions are bucked to build a story beat.  With “Alone” being a French film, I’m willing to chalk up such instances to cultural differences that carry varying weight depending on which hemisphere an audience is in.

“Alone” introduces a special needs boy in a weird way.  Because these kids are so singularly defined by a dominant trait, the manner in which he is used doesn’t sit straight.  Additionally dicey discomfort comes when a 16-year-old drunkenly tries coaxing a 15-year-old into sex.  The film plays this piece for levity, reinforced by everyone’s laughing reactions, but that’s not a scenario that reads the same way universally.

Personally problematic perceptions notwithstanding, sparse action moves swiftly while intrigue remains heavy.  Cool hues lend a good look, accented by visual effects that are aces when they showcase a threatening cloud enveloping the city, but aren’t so hot in overhead establishing shots where cars bump off obstacles like a last-generation PlayStation game.  As is true of the movie overall, bad has to be taken with the good, as well as with the mediocrity in between.

Based on a comic series by Fabien Vehlmann and artist Bruno Gazzotti, “Alone” goes on about three minutes too long.  For fans who shout curses when a movie’s ultimate explanation leaves them in the lurch, here is a case where spoon-fed substance comes off as a cumbersome alternative.

“Alone” concludes on an epilogue meddling more with takeaway satisfaction than if its outcome remained ambiguous.  These final moments have seemingly limited context outside of the presumably deeper source material.  Moreau might have done well to choose different last steps toward end credits, though the journey retains solid value as escapist entertainment with interesting takes on old tropes.

NOTE: The film’s French title is “Seuls.”

Review Score:  65

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