Manager: Stephan Castang
Gender: Fantastic
Year: 2023
Premiere: 03/08/24
★★★
HE French genre cinema is having a good time. In the space of a few months, three clear examples have been released in Spain: ‘Animal Kingdom’, ‘Vermin: The Plague’ and now ‘Vincent Must Die’, all shot in 2023. All three are also first or second feature films. This encourages us to talk about a new generation of filmmakers who share obvious knowledge of fantasy cinema (but also horror), the madness that occurs when delving into this cinema (in ideas or execution), and, above all, incredible technical expertise.
These are packaged films and well above average direction. Stéphan Castang shows all this in ‘Vincent Must Die’, where the hero, an ordinary man, begins to be attacked by people for no apparent reason. The film, which is similar to the recently released ‘Dream Scenario’ (2023), has a strong concept.
Castang, too, has enough resources to ensure that the idea doesn’t run out as soon as it’s conceived: like much of contemporary fantasy cinema, ‘Vincent Must Die’ falters a few times, but for the most part it works because of the nerve and tension the filmmaker employs in depicting the hero’s journey. It is an effective movie. that fantastical dimension, tense, disturbing and disturbing. Yes, his (very clear, very verbally supported) reflection on a world increasingly dominated by violence is not very inspiring.