* indicates that the film is also available for digital sale or rental on various platforms.
“The Worst Ones” (2022, Kino Lorber*) A filmmaker (Johan Heldenberg) and his crew seek an authentic tone to their socially conscious drama by casting a group of teens from an impoverished suburb in northern France who are deemed “the worst ones”: kids marginalized by money, circumstance, and unguided emotion. Former casting directors Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret won the Un Certain Regard Award at Cannes 2022 for this mostly satisfying look at good intentions and the road it paves in the filmmaking world, where the personal struggles of real people are often tapped to add real pathos to manufactured premises, including that of this film itself, which uses real non-professionals (all exceptional presences) for its four young leads. Kino’s subtitled DVD includes a short, “Chasse Royal,” by the filmmakers.
