Not so 16-year old resident Youri , who dreams of following in his namesake’s orbit. Youri’s mother has taken up with a new boyfriend and left her son to fend for himself. But he’s happy on his own, looking through a telescope at the moon — and seeing what his friends Diana and Houssam are up to. With their help, Youri tries to bring the crumbling dinosaur up to code. They rewire faulty elevators and replace burned-out lights, scavenging for materials from junkman Gérard .
In this dilapidated world, Youri and his friends find joy just by riding a bike. But Youri has higher ambitions. With Gagarine’s sky-high elevator shafts already suggesting a massive spaceship, the teenager improbably begins to build his own craft. But can he really take off? The first half of “Gagarine” plays like a neorealist drama, and Victor Seguin’s gorgeous cinematography swoops around the broken property with a bird’s-eye view, gracefully following Youri and his crew as they struggle with their quixotic task. The same camerawork that captures residents’ gritty lives prepares the viewer for the magic realism of its final act. But there’s just as much enchantment in what for most people would be a dreary setting.
While the directors give “Gagarine” a perfectly realized sense of place, its ensemble cast gives it the feeling of real life. In his first film role, Bathily was an unlikely choice; the part of Youri would seem to require a nerdy, 98-pound weakling, staring passively at the stars. But Bathily is made of stronger stuff. Athletic yet sensitive, he effectively conveys both youthful alienation and a determined, DIY competence.
On one level, “Gagarine” is a story about dreams of a better life. At the same time, its spirited hero poignantly demonstrates a seemingly trite but time-tested truism: Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.At Landmark’s E Street Cinema. Contains strong language. In French with subtitles. 97 minutes.
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