Treasure Island

A lake near Paris and the leisure park around it. What happened there over a summer was filmed: people getting into the pool, children trying to sneak in, young men fighting, lifeguards, people slipping into the woods to smoke unseen. Nobody is acting; what happened was shot. Guillaume Brac directs. The structure follows a season rather than a day; the narrative does not follow a person, it follows the place. The park itself is a small model of the divisions in France. There is a ticket at the gate, and those who pay and those who climb the wall are the film's two groups; who can go where is shown without ever being discussed. The sections with children and teenagers are the strongest. Brac does not intervene in the talk, and the conversations the young have among themselves settle at the centre. The images carry the aesthetic of a summer film: water, sun, long days, while the pressure of the suburb and the city stays present behind them. It runs about ninety minutes and never comments; there is no narration. Who it is for: viewers who like observational documentary and this strand of French cinema. Who it is not for: there is no plot, it repeats, and it will feel empty if watched expecting a story.