It's 2024 – The Grand Tour takes place and it's empty [critique]

Portuguese Miguel Gomes takes a tourist trip between the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to collect a little-known fictional story.

The ferris wheel is spinning. The fairground attraction appears in the film's first shot, as if launching a circular story machine. We are in Mandalay, Burma. Apparently in the present, but the voice-over places things in 1918. Soon the black and white of the early eras will add a layer of timelessness. With Portuguese Miguel Gomez (Muharram, One Thousand and One Nights…) Things get mixed up: documentary footage contaminates the narrative that is taking place from within. In 1918, in London, a man and a woman are about to get married. Unfortunately, the future husband, a British Empire official in Burma, has gone off the rails, leaving his bride in a predicament. She has considered following in the footsteps of the scoundrel, somewhere between Singapore, Manila, Bangkok… Well, well, this summary is very reminiscent of another, the summary of caught by the tide By Chinese Jia Zhangke who was also introduced in the competition a few days ago.

Cannes 2024 – A journey to the far reaches of China amidst the tides [critique]

If Changqi has been animating a silent melodrama that has merged with the economic convolutions of his country for twenty years, we don't quite understand where Miguel Gomez comes from. Let's try anyway. This Grand Tour Twofold. First trip with the male character. The second is with the feminine. The places are therefore inhabited and crossed twice. A beautiful narrative idea that is concretely embodied in the story, but unfortunately it does not produce much of the subtle side. The two characters, who lack real consistency and are exhausted by themselves, prevent us from caring about their torments. So the singularity of Gomez's cinema seems a bit contrived, with an artificial irony. In the territory of the “dream film” (a genre in itself) we prefer the frenetic, mystical journeys of Lave Diaz or the rebellious poetry of Albert Serra. ” She woke up sweating from dreams she couldn't remember “No better,” says the voiceover.

Written by Miguel Gomez. With: Gonzalo Waddington, Crista Alviati, Teresa Madruga… Duration: 2h05. Indefinite exit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDu2fLuDzjg