QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM TALLINN
An underworld of survival opens up in Laurent Micheli’s captivating story of identity set in the City Of Light. The film’s English title, Nino In Paradise, is an ironic play on the lead character’s name, as well as his predicament.
Nino Paradis (Oscar Högström) is in his early 20s, partying and avoiding his landlord as he and his girlfriend Lale (Mara Taquin) make ends meet through odd jobs, and illegal side hustles. A fight during a party sees Nino flee to the Foreign Legion, only to be sent straight back when he flunks a drug test. Returning to his found family of friends and conspirators, he works in order to to survive, while also avoiding arrest or eviction.
It would be lazy, and incorrect, to say this is the story of a guy who can’t help but get in his own way. Yes, Nino invariably chooses the path to quick cash, and more than one of his misfortunes are self-inflicted. However, as his fascinating world opens up, the film begs the question: what choice does he have when the system around him is rigged?
We see Nino fired from a frozen foods warehouse job for asking for gloves, and Lale continually battling sexual harassment at the part time roles she picks up. For all their bad decisions, their greatest crime is lacking the compliance of the world around them, choosing legally grey paths to live rather than simply survive. As Nino says in his narration: “I’m not proud, but I fight with the weapons I’m given”. As his tale goes on, it’s hard not to find some empathy in that statement.
Just as endearing are the relationships portrayed onscreen, which feel more authentic to a younger generation. Nino’s best friends, Malik (Bilal Hassani) and Charlie (Théo Augier), are both openly gay and far more flamboyant than him, but blend so naturally in their friendship without making differences in gender or sexuality an issue. It’s a refreshing change that perhaps better reflects the fluidity of younger people, where spirits align rather than labels.
Director and co-writer Micheli makes Paris a looming presence onscreen, as both a gateway to opportunity and an obstacle course for those beneath a certain tax bracket. It’s a place of lamplit streets and gorgeous skylines, but also crumbling underground raves and unforgiving tower blocks. It’s a vision that feels personal to the characters, inviting you to live in their world.
Högström is magnificent in a convincing central performance. With big innocent eyes and a defensive demeanour, he embodies the choices of someone who has had to grow up quite quickly. The viewer both understands his friends’ frustration over his constant drama, and yet understands how it might not all be his fault. Reminiscent of a more likeable version of the lead in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Högström’s performance makes him a name to look out for in the future.
The third act offers a stunning rug pull, where the happy ending Nino has been chasing only further cements his need to live life on his own terms. It’s a fitting coda to a stunning ode to rebellion, filmed with as much passion as the characters onscreen.
Nino in Paradise just premiered in the Critics’ Picks strand of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
