Film Reviews: Interview, My Best Friend and More

GO  MY BEST FRIEND Light, airy and sweet, Patrice Leconte’s latest comedy swings his favorite premise — fruitful encounters between opposites — away from romance and into the wistful hunger for friendship in a careerist world. Daniel Auteuil slyly tweaks his easy geniality into a subtle form of heedlessness as François, an ambiguously successful antiques dealer who treats everyone around him with the same chilly dispassion he brings to his pursuit of beautiful objets d’art. When his business partner (Julie Gayet) challenges him to a pricey bet that he can’t come up with a true friend in 10 days, he finds himself stumped for buddies until he meets his opposite, Bruno (the adorable Dany Boon), a sociable cabdriver and collector of Panini stickers who gives François free tuition in how to be loyal and sympathique. The lesson backfires, and their rocky friendship is tested in an uproarious and tender climax on the set of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, where Bruno captures France’s heart just by being a nervous wreck. Leconte embraces sentimentality with the wisdom of a seasoned man and the goofy, light heart of a teenager, but he’s never glib or condescending, and his mastery of tone makes this delightful farce a nutty feel-gooder about the difference between a friend and a contact. (The Landmark) (Ella Taylor)

TALK TO ME See film feature

TEKKONKINKREET The word “tekkonkinkreet” is a punning mishmash of the Japanese terms for “iron,” “concrete” and “muscles,” which goes a long way toward explaining what’s wrong with the anime feature Tekkonkinkreet: It’s both too cute and too rambling. Director Michael Arias manages to translate the visual quirks of Taiyo Matsumoto’s serial manga to the screen but he just can’t seem to stop himself from cramming episode after episode into a non-episodic medium. We get endless scenes of death and regeneration, mostly centering around Black and White, two street urchins who either are or act like brothers. Black is a teenager with visions of grandeur while White still looks like a boy and seems even younger. These vigilantes-in-training are waging war against mobsters who want to build an amusement park in the ancient heart of their beloved city. This metropolis is the film’s saving grace: Like many classic superhero cycles, Tekkonkinkreet harnesses the dramatic power of the decaying city to spectacular effect. (The Landmark) (Julia Wallace)