"I never bothered catching up with Canto Uno after its less-than-stellar reception, the whole Intermezzo debacle (still unreleased!) and the whispers about its (allegedly?) troubled production. So, sitting down for this, I realized it was actually my first time watching a «new» Kechiche in over a decade. And I got a little excited – because the first five minutes remind you: this man is a gifted director of dialogue and a great builder of tension.
The problem is that this «film» (can it even be called that?) is literally wall-to-wall dialogue. Yes, the characters feel lived-in and their little world feels real – as it so often does in his work – but when you're bombarded with conversations for nearly two hours straight, with barely a single establishing shot and zero breathing room, exhaustion sets in quickly.
That's why the change of pace in the final twenty minutes, as silly as they are as a whole, feels so welcome.
But then… it just ends. Abruptly. Like someone hit stop mid-reel.
What's here plays less like a finished work and more like an assembly of whatever footage they had, with no real shape. I'd watch a third part in a heartbeat – if only because of the many dangling threads – but we all know that's never going to happen. Which makes the non-ending sting all the more."
First review, although it's strange because I think it premiers tonight.