Category Archives: France

The Pack – Bloody Disgusting Selects

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I love horror movies that are different. I loved the first entries from the After Dark line but then they went downhill. The Ghost House imprint from Sam Raimi then picked up the ball but didn’t go far. Netflix just got a batch of films from the latest horror imprint, Bloody Disgusting Selects. The Pack is currently available on instant Netflix.

The Pack (La Meute, 2010)

“Charlotte picks up hitchhiker Max on a deserted road, and they drive to a nearby truck stop. When he doesn’t come back from a trip to the restroom, Charlotte eventually leaves. But her return visit to check on Max that night may prove fatal.”

“Why’s she throwing guys heads at us?”

Men are scum. Honestly that’s the message you can take away from this film. I wouldn’t go so far as to call the film sexist though as the few women are fairly hateful as well. Still our heroine is clearly suffering from an undescribed breakup when she picks up a hitchhiker because she’s afraid of some motorcycle thugs.

We are over halfway through the brief hour and twenty minute running time before we meet the titular pack. Until then it’s just your average run-of-the-mill hillbilly horror (but set in France) and is in fact fairly boring when it’s not busy being unpleasant. Note to horror directors: Unpleasant is not the same thing as scary.

The pack are interesting and would be great in a different film. Their design is nice and fairly unique and the makeup is quite well done. Unfortunately the third act hinges on not one, not two, but three moronic plot points. I normally avoid all spoilers but since they are all before the one hour mark, I consider them fair game – however skip the next two paragraphs if you want to be surprised at the stupidity.

If you drug someone’s drink, why would you not watch them drink it? If you shoot someone in the chest point blank with a shotgun and there isn’t so much as a drop of blood, why would you assume you killed them? And then put your back against their cage while you have the only keys in your pocket?

The third twist is more in the nature of a deus ex machina. There is only one spot in all of France where the pack is. Any guesses as to where our trio of bike-riding hooligans from the beginning of the film have chosen to hide-out?

Okay so to sum up the film has a few interesting ideas and some creative makeup and gore but is undone by tedium and stupidity.

People Watch: Matthias Schoenaerts has a small role here but would go on to headline the Oscar-nominated Bullhead.

Mutants – French Horror

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“With an unstoppable virus turning the populace into violent zombies, Sonia (Hélène de Fougerolles) and her husband, Marco (Francis Renaud), scramble for safety. When Marco becomes infected, Sonia stands by his side and desperately searches for a way to prevent his mutation. But as Marco slowly transforms into one of the mutants, Sonia begins to fear for her life — and for the future of their unborn child.”

“The first cases were declared in early summer. In a few months, the virus decimated the population.”

Okay I have to admit that I am a sucker for zombie films. It isn’t so much the zombies themselves that I love. I love siege films and I love apocalyptic scenarios and zombie films are almost always one or both of these, hence my love of zombie films (in spite of a ridiculous oversaturation in the market – at least they don’t sparkle in the  daylight and refuse to kill people).

As you can tell from the prologue above, this film begins after the apocalypse is well underway. A deserted mountain hospital in winter is the setting for much of the film. I love winter for horror movies. It is not only beautiful but easily conveys a sense of isolation and inherent danger.

The cast is pretty good. I don’t usually go into much detail on the casts of foreign films as I don’t follow non-English speaking actors. That said the woman playing Sonia, Helene de Fougerolles, is wonderful. She not only conveys toughness without being super-heroic but also professionalism as a paramedic, anguish at her choices and situation, fear and apprehension. This is necessary to the film as most of the running time is devoted to Sonia and Marco.

This is a very intimate zombie/infection film. Don’t go into this expecting a ravenous horde, bloodbaths, and a high body count. There is certainly gore but this is more of an introspective picture than an action horror. While most infected films use a lot of shorthand – “oh you’re infected – sucks to be you” *blam*, this one actually has a character actively trying to find a cure. Also these people are infected a la 28 Days Later and not true zombies. What do you do when the person you love goes insane? What if they are sometimes insane and sometimes lucid?

Unfortunately the third act starts off stupidly. How did any of these people survive the apocalypse without the ability to barricade or for that matter even lock a door? That glaring error aside this is an enjoyable little horror film.

The Horde

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The Horde (2009) – Not rated but quite graphic in violence and language, drug use and minor nudity.

“When four corrupt policemen invade a gangster’s hideout near Paris to avenge the death of their colleague, they quickly find themselves outmanned, outgunned and trapped. That is, until a legion of vicious zombies swarms through the building. Now, the cops, the crooks and the undead are swept up in a bloody three-way rampage. Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher direct this gore-filled French thriller that stars Jo Prestia and Eriq Ebouaney.”

“You saw what they did to the Czech! They ate half his face off!”

For new and disturbing horror, lately the choices have been French or Scandinavian. Japanese horror was great when it first showed up but, as with anime, they didn’t really evolve and just kept cannibalizing their own movies. The French horror movies do require a bit of a strong stomach. They are often vicious and difficult to sit through. The Saw series has nothing on Martyrs for example.

The Horde is vicious enough to be edgy but not so much as to be unenjoyable. Martyrs and Audition are very strong horror films but I would never put them in the enjoyable category. As a side note – I do like how in French films, it is just assumed that the cops are corrupt.

The Horde is very fast paced, beginning with a cop discovering the body of one of their own in a landfill. It runs a scant 96 minutes including credits. By the time the credits have finished, four of the cops are on their way for some payback. The not terribly well thought vengeance plan goes poorly but just as the plan unravels, the zombie apocalypse starts.

The abandoned apartment block makes a great setting for a siege. The entire film is just the four cops trying to get into the building and then the cops and criminals trying to get out. In that respect it is a little reminiscent of John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13.

The acting is just fine for what is essentially an action movie with zombies. There are no particular standouts, good or bad although the racist veteran they encounter who still thinks he is in the war is a hoot and the female cop is incredibly tough.

Yes the zombie genre, much as I love it, is overdone. Still this film has very tough protagonists, cops and criminals trying to work together and failing, a horde of zombies, a machine gun, a cool two zombie, one criminal knife fight, and a good if somewhat obvious ending. Yes you will have to read subtitles but they aren’t difficult to follow.

The Red Balloon – Seeing Red week

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Not that I am angry but this is Seeing Red week. The Red Balloon is currently available on instant Netflix.

WATCH: The Red Balloon (Le Ballon Rouge – 1956) – NR – Not rated.

“A young Parisian boy (Pascal Lamorisse) finds a balloon — or does the balloon find him? Together, boy and balloon wander the streets of Montmartre and the adjacent neighborhoods, encountering adults and gangs of local kids as the balloon becomes the boys inseparable companion. Directed by Albert Lamorisse (who won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar), the fanciful 34-minute film also won a special BAFTA Award.”

Albert Lamorisse won the 1957 Best Writing – Best Original Screenplay Oscar for the Red Balloon. He beat out Julie, La Strada, The Bold and the Brave, and the Ladykillers. What is particularly unusual is that this film is only 34 minutes long and has precious little dialogue. This is the only short film to have won a non-short film Oscar.

The Red Balloon is also a test of how old you are. Other than this most recent viewing, I had not seen this movie in 30 years or more. I remember it being shown many times in school when I was a kid. 34 minutes is the perfect length – by the time you start the projector (another indicator of age – nowadays schools have computers and DVD players and prior to that VCRs, my school had actual film projectors) and play the film, you have just enough time to finish before the period ends.

As one would expect with a movie that has almost no dialogue, it is extremely visual. I enjoyed the film as a child but I did not find it especially memorable – all you had to do for me as a child was to have a monster in the film.

The architecture on display here is amazing as is the slice of Parisian life in the 1950s. Almost the entire film was made in the Belleville section of Paris. Montmartre, The Eiffel Tower, and the Seine can be glimpsed in various scenes.

Watching the film today I found it both thrilling and absolutely haunting.

It is superbly thrilling as an allegory about the power of love and friendship, non-conformity and disillusionment, despair and imagination. On these levels alone I would wholeheartedly recommend this wonderful film.

It appears to have accomplished everything that writer/director/producer Albert Lamorisse could have hoped for and strangely much much more.

Now it is time for the much much more and the haunting part. The Red Balloon was made in 1956 and as noted presents a wonderful slice of Parisian life. In the late 60s, Belleville was “renovated”. By renovated, I mean that all the historic buildings were torn down and new ones put up.

Thus The Red Balloon is also a haunting reminder of a bygone era. I have to say that I think this is the best film I have seen this year. I cannot recommend it highly enough even if there are not any monsters in it.

For those with set top boxes, The Red Balloon is presented in a gorgeous high-definition transfer.

Nerd note: Yes in my school I was often the one operating the film projector. Barely a teen, I threaded the film, made sure no debris had gotten in the track, and spliced the film when we had an inevitable break. Today I cannot even take a picture with my cellphone. What happened?

People Watch: Pascal the boy is played by Pascal Lamorisse, son of the director Albert.

District 13 Ultimatum – Actionfest week

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This week I will be covering some of the films that I saw at Actionfest this past weekend. District 13 Ultimatum was one of those films.

WATCH: District 13 Ultimatum (2009) – Rated R for some violence, language and drug material.

“Set two years after the action in Pierre Morel and Luc Bessons District 13, this French-language sequel follows Capt. Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli) and Leito (David Belle) on their quest to clean up crime and corruption in the city. With the territory divided into five distinct neighborhoods created along ethnic lines, they have their work cut out for them. But they”ve also got a secret weapon: a will to defy the odds.”

Five years ago, Pierre Morel made the fabulous over-the-top futuristic action movie District B13. I highly recommended it and Pierre Morel went on to direct the marvelous Taken.

As you might guess, District 13 Ultimatum is the sequel to District B13. I have no idea why the B has been dropped. Patrick Alessandrin takes over direction from Pierre Morel.

Parkour masters and martial artists Cyril Raffaelli and David Belle reprise their roles as Captain Damien Tomaso and Leito respectively. They are filled with the same incredible energy as in District B13.

While the film is firmly centered on Cyril and David, some of the supporting gang members are interesting. Elodie Yung plays Tao, the most interesting of these. She is very charismatic and is obviously having a great deal of fun with her role.

Also fun are MC Jean Gab1 as Molko, James Deal as Karl Le Skin,and Laouni Mouhid as Ali-K.

This film is a lot of fun but is not nearly as polished as District B13. They have jettisoned some of the social commentary and what is left are paper targets like a giant company called Harriburton.

The action sequences are more prevalent though less reliant on Parkour. One Parkour sequence appears to just stop with no particular ending which was a little jarring.

Like a Bond film, this film is all about the action and it does deliver. I highly recommend watching the original District B13 which is currently available on instant Netflix. If you like that then I wholeheartedly recommend the sequel even though the original is the better film.

People Watch: Dany Verissimo appears again momentarily as Lola though I do not think they even gave her any lines.

La Femme Nikita – French Fried week

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There are quite a number of French films available on instant Netflix. We will be featuring some of them this week. La Femme Nikita is currently available on instant Netflix.

WATCH: La Femme Nikita (1990) – Rated R.

“Internationally acclaimed director Luc Besson delivers the action-packed story of Nikita (Anne Parillaud), a ruthless street junkie whose killer instincts could make her the perfect weapon, in this French film that was remade as Point of No Return in the U.S. Recruited against her will into a secret government organization, Nikita is broken and transformed into a sexy, sophisticated “lethal weapon.”"

“And suppose I refuse?” – “Aisle seven. number 30.”

First I have to say that it is quite bizarre that a film called “Nikita” in France would be called “La Femme Nikita” in English. Instead of using the same title, you add “The Woman” in front of it? Of course La Femme sounds so much cooler than The Woman.

Second “Crayone” does not translate as “May I write it?” Although I do like that “chewing gum” is apparently colloquial enough to be used in the French as well. Also “See you later” (in English) is translated as “See You later”.

Both La Femme Nikita and the American remake Point of No Return are currently available on instant Netflix.

Nikita here is a completely unrepentant drugged-out murderous thug and that is before her transformation into an elite assassin. Nikita is played by the wonderful Anne Parillaud. In Point of No Return, she is renamed Maggie and played by Bridget Fonda.

Tcheky Karyo plays Bob, the handler. He does a convincing job of playing a consummate professional who is also in love with Nikita. He conveys a sense of heartbreak that he must always maintain a professional relationship with her. The scene where he gets a kiss is very good. His role is capably played by Gabriel Byrne in Point of No Return.

Nikita is also trained by Amande (played by famous French actress Jeanne Moreau). In Point of No Return, Anne Bancroft plays Amanda adding a touch of class to that version. As you can see both versions have good actors.

Luc Besson does a very good job of directing La Femme Nikita . He goes more for substance than style. There are several scenes that pack a real punch but most are in the last act so I will not spoil them.

There is more emotional depth and complexity in the French version (not surprisingly). The American version also tones down the beginning to make Nikita/Maggie more appealing – it actually just makes her less believable. I did think the setpieces were actually better in the American version.

I recommend watching La Femme Nikita. It is the better of the two films. If you cannot stand reading subtitles or just have a yen for Bridget Fonda/Gabriel Byrne/Anne Bancroft then watch Point of No Return.

Canada later made a series of La Femme Nikita with Peta Wilson in the starring role. I have not seen it but it is available on DVD through Netflix.

People Watch: Jean Reno has a brief but very memorable role as Victor Nettoyeur (the Cleaner). This role is played by Harvey Keitel in Point of No Return.

District B13 – French Fried week

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There are quite a number of French films available on instant Netflix. We will be featuring some of them this week. District B13 is currently available on instant Netflix.

WATCH: District B13 (2004) – Rated R for strong violence, some drug content and language.

“Produced and co-written by acclaimed filmmaker Luc Besson, this stylized action thriller is set in Paris 2010, where the government has fenced off the ghettos in the city, the most dangerous of which is District B13. Teaming up to infiltrate the lawless sector, an elite-unit cop and a reformed vigilante put their lives on the line in a gutsy attempt to retrieve a stolen nuke and thwart a terrorist attack by the most powerful gang in the city.”

Kudos has to be given to Pierre Morel. His directorial debut here is a quintessential action movie.

The movie begins with a riff on the classic John Carpenter film, Escape from New York. Instead of criminals being walled off in New York, we have “troublesome” suburbs of Paris walled off.

While I normally give almost all the props of a film to the director, the two leads here are nothing short of amazing. You might think from that statement that I am referring to the acting but that is not it.

David Belle plays Leito, one of our two heroes. David has a superb claim to fame – he is the founder of the sport called Parkour. Parkour (PK – The Art of Moving) “is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within ones path by adapting movement to the environment” (wiki).

Watching him in action is utterly astounding. His inventive use of objects and his ability to squeeze into very tight spaces quickly is breathtaking. Although it is not martial arts per se, the closest thing I remember to it was the first time I saw Bruce Lee fighting in Enter the Dragon or the first time I saw the inventive combination of gymnastics and martial arts by Jackie Chan in Rumble in the Bronx.

Cyril Raffaelli plays Captain Damien Tomaso, our other hero. Not only is he also a traceur (practitioner of Parkour) and friend of David Belle but he is also a martial artist and is the fight co-ordinator for District B13.

Parkour was popularized two years later in the film Casino Royale. This features an excellent sequence involving traceur Sebastien Foucan. Parkour is also used in Live Free or Die Hard and music videos from Madonna (Jump), Janet Jackson (Feedback), and My Chemical Romance (Whip It!) (not to mention an episode of House :P ).

I expect Parkour to become an action movie staple, perhaps even a cliche, in the same way that martial arts entered almost every action film after the 70s. While entertaining, it does beg the question, has every police detective/private investigator/etc. received substantial martial arts training?

The story by Luc Besson and Bibi Naceri is fun (I really liked how the villain inspired his minions to come up with an idea) and works quite well but is really just reasoning for the epic action setpieces. The futuristic setting lets them make social commentary while being entertaining.

Sadly there are a few action movie inanities. The villains chain the girl up right next to the rocket which makes zero sense.

I wholeheartedly endorse District B13. It is subtitled but that certainly will not prevent you from enjoying the action. Although it is true that you might miss some subtitles while marveling at the Parkour.

Cyril Raffaelli and David Belle reteam for District 13 – Ultimatum to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on April 27th so stick it in your Netflix queue if you enjoyed District B13. Unfortunately it is not directed by Pierre Morel so I will have to wait and see how good it is.

People Watch: While you may not yet recognize his name, director Pierre Morel was also responsible for the marvelous revenge thriller, Taken.

Man Bites Dog – French Fried week

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There are quite a number of French films available on instant Netflix. We will be featuring some of them this week. Man Bites Dog is currently available on instant Netflix.

WATCH: Man Bites Dog (It Happened in Your Neighborhood – 1992) – UR – This movie is unrated but the theatrical version earned a rare NC-17 for strong graphic violence.

“A satirical look at how the media affects and promotes violence in modern society. Spoofing reality television, a fascinated documentary crew follows a charismatic yet unrepentant serial killer on his murder sprees. The crew attempts to objectively document the horror, but as the violence escalates, they ultimately get sucked into participating. Man Bites Dog won the International Critics Prize at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.”

“I try to start the month off with a postman.”

“I once buried two Arabs in a wall over there…facing Mecca of course.”

Here is a movie that proves that you do not need a big budget to make a good movie. This movie is shot in black and white, has no stars, no special effects, no score and essentially no action. In spite of this it is very enjoyable.

It is basically exactly what the synopsis describes: a film crew following a serial killer around documenting his thoughts and exploits. The best moment in the film is when they encounter another camera crew.

I do have to warn you that the humor in this film is very dark and twisted. As if being a serial killer was not bad enough, our protagonist, Ben, is also a racist and a rapist. It is odd that while I find the killings humorous, the rape scene made me very uncomfortable. Perhaps there are some things that play better for European audiences.

There is even some meta-humor in the film. At several points it is mentioned that the documentary crew does not have enough money to complete the film. In reality, it took over a year to complete the film because the real crew ran out of money several times.

I do have to admit that I found out after the fact that this film is a bit of a cheat. It is in French but is actually a Belgian film.

The acting is just fine in the film. Everyone is very natural except for Ben (Benoit Poelvoorde). Ben displays not only some charisma but that sense that everyone is a character in his play. He discounts anything others say or do and apart from his cheerfulness and whimsy (which are fun), plays the role of sociopath quite well.

I recommend this film but you have to appreciate a dark sense of humor, not mind black and white films, and not mind reading subtitles.

People Watch: The mother, grandmother, and grandfather of Ben (Benoit Poelvoorde) are played by, you guessed it, his mother, grandmother and grandfather.


The Crimson Rivers – French Fried week

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There are quite a number of French films available on instant Netflix. We will be featuring some of them this week. The Crimson Rivers is currently available on instant Netflix.

WATCH: The Crimson Rivers (2000) – Rated R for adult content, brief nudity, graphic language and graphic violence.

“A pair of French investigators working on seemingly unconnected cases — a grisly ritual killing in an insular university town and a graveyard desecration that occurred 150 miles away — join forces when their clues ultimately dovetail. Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel play the mismatched sleuths whose paths converge, and the icy French Alps serve as the eerie backdrop for this atmospheric thriller from director Mathieu Kassovitz.”

“You are here for the desecration. Follow me.”

Mathieu Kassovitz had Jean-Christophe Grange adapt his (Grange) own novel for the screen. It is a very interesting whydunit set in a mountainous region of France.

The outdoor cinematography here is gorgeous. The nature shots are spectacular including long shots of a superb rockface waterfall and helicopter tracking shots of glaciers high atop the mountains. The scene where Pierre and Fanny are climbing down into an ice crevasse is breathtaking.

Almost as fascinating to look at are some superb shots of architecture particularly some elegant stone work.

The English translation of this film is very troublesome. There are whole sections of dialogue that are clearly not translated at all. It is as if the transcriptionist was deciding which bits were important to read and which were extraneous detail.

Jean Reno is always excellent in my opinion. Heck I even enjoyed him in the American Godzilla remake (even though the film was not good). Vincent Cassel is a bundle of energy as the other cop, Max. Nadia Fares is the glaciologist Fanny Fereira.

With the exception of the subtitle issue, this film is very similar in nature to The Da Vinci Code.

I enjoyed the film and do give it a watch recommendation but with reservations. The translation is very frustrating – I imagine that if you understand French this is much more enjoyable.

If you really enjoy this film then stick Crimson Rivers 2: Angels of the Apocalypse in your DVD queue.

People Watch: Look for director Mathieu Kassovitz in a cameo as a hooded killer attacking Pierre.

The Wages of Fear – French Fried week

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There are quite a number of French films available on instant Netflix. We will be featuring some of them this week. The Wages of Fear is currently available on instant Netflix.

WATCH: The Wages of Fear (1953) – NR – Not rated.

“An oil company enlists four destitute drifters — Mario (Yves Montand), Luigi (Folco Lulli), Bimba (Peter Van Eyck) and Jo (Charles Vanel) — for a dangerous mission transporting volatile explosives across Central Americas treacherous terrain. Packed with nerve-racking tension that never lets up, director Henri-Georges Clouzots gritty masterpiece took home the Grand Prize at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.”

“Yes Mr. Bradley, because those do not have any union, nor any families. And if they blow up, nobody will come around bothering me for any contribution.

“Wherever there is oil, there are Americans.”

“Put all the blame on the victims, they are done for , they cant feel it.”

“Even when they guillotine you, they dress you up first.”

Henri-Georges Clouzot made a wonderful film here. He creates quite an atmosphere of boredom amid squalor. The despair is evident in the characters but could have used a bit more atmosphere. To my mind there is only one character in the whole film that is likable (Luigi) and he is third lead.

It is funny to see a film that is such an indictment of American oil companies made more than a year before Michael Moore was even born. Of course that meant that it was subject to censorship so the important framework scenes were cut for U.S. release.

I have always wanted to see this film. I really love the American remake, Sorcerer (1977), starring Roy Scheider. It was made by William Friedkin 24 years after The Wages of Fear.

The Wages of Fear is in black and white with subtitles (for much of the film), both of which may put you off the film. For those of you that are cineastes, this is a wonderful high-definition transfer from the Criterion Collection.

While The Wages of Fear is well-filmed and ground-breaking in many respects, there are a few niggling flaws that detract from the film. The first is that many of the driving scenes feature that projected background so prevalent until the 70s. This does hurt the suspension of disbelief somewhat. The other is that the female lead is far too attractive for the setting. It is very jarring to see her amid the squalor.

If you watch one of these films then I recommend getting the Sorcerer DVD (even though it is an ugly full frame transfer). William Friedkin fixes a number of the issues plaguing The Wages of Fear. The atmosphere of Sorcerer is dread and squalor where for The Wages of Fear, it is boredom and squalor. Sorcerer uses real jungle locations where The Wages of Fear is filmed not always convincingly in France. The somewhat whimsical ending of The Wages of Fear is transformed into something more subtle for Sorcerer.

Just a note: Bendaho does not really translate as louse. Some of the other words have interesting translations as well.

If you have not seen Sorcerer then I highly recommend this tense film. It is a classic piece of cinema for its time and though it was later surpassed by the remake, it is still quite good.

People Watch: Vera Clouzot, wife of Henri-Georges, appears as Linda.