Our Day Will Come (2010)

Patrick and Remy

Arriving Tuesday from Oscilloscope on various digital platforms is Our Day Will Come a twisted little confection starring one of my favorite actors Vincent Cassel.

The plot of the film has a young high schooler names Remy (Olivier Barthelemy) being bullied because he's a ginger (aka red haired). There are of course other issues but the one that everyone points out is that he's red haired and so therefore he's the perfect target of everyone's derision. He gains the sympathy of his guidance counselor Patrick (Cassel) who was himself targeted in the same way. Patrick strives to get get Remy to open up and stand up for himself but in doing so he opens up lots of pent up anger in both of them, with the result that things go dark real fast just as they try to flee to Ireland.

This dark biting film is frequently funny as the pair of very hurt individuals try to just find a place to belong. The problem is that their efforts frequently go sideways and weird. For example Remy finds someone who did him wrong is a toll collector so he simply gets out of the car and beats him up or when Patrick explains to a bunch of girls that the reason Remy looks sad is his dog died...of AIDS. Its funny but it leaves a bitter taste as you laugh at what they are doing but also realize they are in a way making things worse and becoming ultimately less likable.

Not to put too fine a point on it this is one messed up movie, which is clearly the reason that the film has been kicking around a while. I know that most audiences will have no idea what to make of the film and it's black comedy mixed with heartfelt emotion and explosions of violence. I really like the film and yet I have no idea what I think of it or what to make of it beyond saying I like it.

I think the best thing I can say about the film is the result  of talking with a friend who had seen the film before me. I had asked him what he thought of the film and he was kind of neutral on the film, he didn't seem to really know what he thought about it himself, but he stressed, several times, that I really should see the film because it's not like any other film out there. It was a film that makes you work with it all the way through it and makes you think about it afterward.

Having seen the film, I'm not neutral, I do quite like the film, and at the same time I think you should see it because the film will force you to engage it and not be neutral...and it will provide a few catch in your throat laughs as it moves you to feel something.