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Just an Illusion (Juste Une Illusion)

Directors – Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache – 2026 – France – Cert. 12a – 119m

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The trials and tribulations of a young French teenager in the mid 1980s – out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 11th

1985. 13-year-old Vincent Dayan (Simon Boubill) is fed up with living at home with his elder brother Arnaud (Alexis Rosenstiehl) who loves listening to new wave music while Vincent prefers funk. Vincent wants his own room, because he can’t do his homework in there with Arnaud playing his music, and Arnaud doesn’t want him putting up his own music posters. The two brothers can be fighting tooth and nail one minute, and relaxing together the next.

Vincent is also fed up with the constant arguing of their parents Sandrine (Camille Cottin from House of Gucci, Ridley Scott, 2021; Call My Agent!, TV series, 2015-2020; Allied, Robert Zemeckis, 2017) and Yves (Louis Garrel from Little Women, Greta Gerwig, 2019; Redoutable, Michael Hazanavicius, 2017; The Dreamers, Bernardo Bertolucci, 2003).

Dad has a run in with neighbour and car park attendant Berger (Pierre Lottin from The Stranger, 2025; When Autumn Falls, 2024, By the Grace of God, 2018; all François Ozon) when he discovers he’s lost his cherished no.… Read the rest

Hallelujah:
Leonard Cohen,
A Journey, A Song

Directors – Daniel Geller, Dayna Goldfine – 2021 – UK – Cert. 12 – 118m

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The career of writer-turned-singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, with particular emphasis on his best known song Hallelujah – out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 16th

There have been films about Leonard Cohen before, hardly surprising given his status as one of the major singer / songwriters of the twentieth century. This one falls between two stools.

On the one hand, it’s an attempt to document his career, and as such comes across as another Leonard Cohen movie which is fine as an introduction if you don’t know his career and music and I suspect fine for Leonard completists. As someone in the middle, this aspect seemed to be all talking heads treading mostly predictable ground.

On the other, it explores Cohen’s best known song Hallelujah, his struggles in writing it and how the piece ultimately took on a life of its own. This second aspect hasn’t been explored that widely to the best of my knowledge and proves a far richer seam into the mind, workings, practices and artistry of Cohen, making you wish the filmmakers had dumped much of the other material and explored this area at greater length.… Read the rest