Unashamedly and unabashedly feel good, A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA is a singularge reason to book into Europa Europa Film Festival.
The 2025 festival opened with A Little Something Extra, the highest-grossing French film of 2024, surpassing 10 million admissions at the box office. Directed by popular French comedian and actor Artus, this heartfelt comedy follows a jewel thief and his son who find themselves at a summer camp for young adults with disabilities. The film’s casting of non-professional actors in supporting roles has drawn widespread acclaim for its authenticity and humanistic approach. It’s also goofy, genial and a bit gluggy.
A real gem of the programme is MOTHER MARA, which begins with a long static shot of a quadrangle of people milling about until a vehicle enters the frame and the crowd recedes through a single exit. Then pall bearers emerge carrying a coffin followed by mourners.
We then shift to the after funeral lunch. The pace is slow and right fully, conveying the void in time that the deceased’s absence has wrought.
To get out of her funk, the mother of the deceased, Mara, leaves the wake, and returns to work the next day, shocking her colleagues.
But the shocks don’t stop there. A young man, When the 28-year-old Milan (Vučić Perović), a hunky personal trainer, comes to her office with a property question, and tells her that he knew her recently dearly departed son, she is intrigued.
Much more believable than the flash trash of Baby Girl, MOTHER MARA is intrinsically the attraction of an older woman and a younger man.
He is 28. She, she says when asked her age, replies, “old”.
She has just lost her son, a victim of congenital heart failure that may have been precipitated by drug use or alcohol. He had just gained admission to the London School of Economics and was partying hard in celebration. Her new lover may be implicated.
Co-written, directed and starring Mirjana Karanovic, is an extraordinary work of grieving and sexual desire.
Europa! Europa Film Festival is back for its fourth year, with an exciting line-up of European cinematic treasures, this year’s festival promises another unforgettable journey across the continent’s diverse and vibrant film culture.
Featuring 44 films from 26 countries, the 2025 program presents a handpicked selection of inspiring, innovative, and visually stunning films, showcasing everything from emerging talents to acclaimed auteurs.
Playing SYDNEY till 12 March at Ritz Cinemas in Randwick
Website: europafilmfestival.com.au
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