Play It Like Godard

The Sydney Film Festival also lets you see foreign films that may not get a cinema release. As I fan of the mockumentary format I was really looking forward to this one.
Many of you may not of heard of the child prodigy Jean-Christophe Kern (JC), he is a film making genius who has won many prestigious film making awards like the Cesar (the French Oscars) and the Palm D'Or at Canne by the time he was 17 years-old. This documentary follows JC for a few days as he deals with some problems in his life and trying to make his new film.
I've always found the mockumentary format an excellent way to create some great comedy. French writer/director Jonathan Zaccai uses it to great effect here. What I liked most about this film was that Jonathan is doing a really nice parody of the child prodigy documentary. Most of this style of film are about kids who can sing or play instruments brilliantly. We rarely get to see kids who are highly regarded film makers or even directors. JC behaves much like you would expect a film maker of his reputation to behave, with a great deal of arrogance. This provides the film with much of its humour. I found the story similar to that of the film/musical 'Nine' just without the music. That is not a bad thing but just interesting that film makers and the way they behave are much the same. The subject of JC's new film is also something that makes the film very funny. The only problem I have is that we do not see any of JC's work. I can understand in some ways why Zaccai has chosen not to show it, but I think it could have provided a few more laughs. Make sure you hang around for a very funny sequence over the end credits. 
Vincent Lacoste is excellent as the young film director. He has that nice nerdy quality that makes JC very charming. Elodie Hesme and Eric de Montalier are very good as JC's very understanding parents. They seem to accept his celebrity very well. Ella Waldmann is really delightful as JC's girlfriend. The rest of the cast look like they are having a great deal of fun and getting into the spirit of the film.
Most highly regarded film directors are older people who have had a long and distinguished career. So to take a young man who is considered a brilliant director at such a young age is an excellent premise for a film.