FINAL CUT (aka COUPEZ!) (2022) Movie Review

Final Cut (aka Coupez!) (2022) d. Michel Hazanavicius (France) 112 min.

Both a literal and spiritual remake of Shinishiro Ueda’s One Cut of the Dead, Final Cut (aka Coupez!) is a love letter to independent filmmaking and the endless list of wackadoodle compromises that go along with it. Romain Duri plays a French filmmaker who has been given the impossible assignment of shooting a 30-minute zombie movie for live television, meaning it’s all to be recorded in one take. As to be expected, mayhem ensues, but the show must go on, and viewers are given backstage passes to watch it all unfold.

For those who have already seen the 2017 Japanese original, some of the jokes will elicit more smiles than outright laughter, but the overall tone is that of unerring admiration for these madcap underdogs, cast and crew alike, even as our suspension of belief is stretched to its breaking point.

The fact that it’s directed by Oscar-winner Michel Hazanavicius from The Artist makes it less of a real-life underdog story, but that’s a minor quibble.

Final Cut opens Friday, July 14 in select theaters from Kino Lorber.


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