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The Second Act Reviews
...[The Second Act] is a hilarious satire that blends formal virtuosity, playful repetition, and the extraordinary work of the leading quartet into a reflection on the survival of cinema...[Full review in Spanish]
...The Second Act would have been a much more incisive and interesting short than the resulting film... [Full review in Spanish]
Dupieux thus dares, without bitterness and avoiding any hint of a professorial tone, to discuss much of what his profession represents, and even cinema itself in general. [Full review in Spanish]
Dupieux moves between reality and fiction, or rather, between fiction and fiction, with a comedic tone that mixes the crude and the crazy with a verbal intensity that is anything but simple. [Full review in Spanish]
It's an avalanche of metatextual jokes, and many of them work very well. [Full review in Spanish]
[The Second Act] reaffirms its director as the writer of a film without concessions, embracing risk and creative freedom. [Full review in Spanish]
For better or worse, this silly, surprising absurdist comedy is classic Quentin Dupieux.
Dupieux knocks this conceit about and has some real fun with it. Since Seydoux, Lindon, Garrel, and Quenard are fixtures on French screens, Dupieux's sense of mischief leads him to riff on their celebrity.
This ferocious, dichotomous masquerade is never boring.
Dupieux remains his usual self in the effort, going sneaky, silly, and dark with the picture, and for those who possess the patience, there’s an enjoyably weird viewing experience to be had.
The Second Act is one massive metatextual film that’s never fully clear when it is the fake movie, and when the movie on the making of the movie kicks into gear, only to reveal that it’s also part of the movie, and so on and so forth.
The Second Act is a peculiar movie that unfolds like a delightful absurdist comedy, capable of making the audience laugh, as long as they don't expect a traditional ending. [Full review in Spanish]
Dupieux is characteristically abrupt, absurd, eccentric, indulges in ingenuities, is playful with gags and anarchic with the material on hand.
The Second Act is a lovely, droll, slight 82-minute meta-film that reflects upon art, society, and love, all within the context of taking the piss out of film production and A.I. in the best possible way.
It leaves us with an overwhelming sensation of “that’s it?” And then it does the damnedest thing: It never lets us go. Weeks later, The Second Act haunts me, and I can’t quite articulate why.
The line between truth and fiction becomes deliciously blurred.
There’s plenty of talent both behind and in front of the camera, but the result is somewhat disappointing.
The mature work of a former electronic musician who never stops wondering about the fate of images. [Full review in Spanish]
Nothing more than a funny collection of jokes. [Full review in Spanish]
The Second Act ends up completely volatilizing the very notions of reality and fiction. [Full review in Spanish]