Hubert Charuel’s METEORS depicts a devoted friendship that plays out like a heart-rending doomed romance. Mika and Dan, played convincingly by Paul Kircher and Idir Azougli, dream of leaving their decaying small town while trying to overcome addiction and avoid jail sentences.
After introducing them in a comedic opening sequence, Charuel and his co-writer Claude Le Pape let drama take over, the kind about down-on-their-luck everyday people that the French are so good at. Nuclear waste treatment in this part of France is one of the themes explored in the film, but Meteors is first and foremost about how difficult or impossible it can be to help someone you care deeply about. Despite the bleakness of its themes, it is an accessible film with a strong emotional impact.
