debarshithecinemaniac

The charismatic criminal Dobermann (Vincent Cassel), who got his first gun when he was christened, leads a gang of brutal robbers with his deaf girlfriend Nat (Monica Bellucci). After a complex bank robbery, they are being hunted by the Paris police. The hunt is led by the sadistic cop Christini (Tchéky Karyo), who only has one goal: to catch Dobermann.  The cast is dominated by French superstars Cassel and Monica Bellucci (they married in 1999), playing the antihero and his ultra-loyal partner in crime, and they both manage to create a niche amidst the film’s visual excesses. But the film clearly belongs to Karyo as the deranged cop on Dobermann’s tail, an irredeemable psycho who’s prepared to break every rule – legal and moral – to bring his nemesis to book.  Dobermann not only set debut director Jan Kounen on the road to cinematic glory, it also helped to create an aggressive upsurge in ultra-commercial European cinema. This is 100 minutes of non-stop comic-book violence, a traditional cops and robbers scenario in which the police are no better than the crooks. All the thought behind this film was put into the style, and in that regard the film succeeds admirably for this is an incredibly stylish film made on a relatively small budget, the film was made for about 33 million Francs which is equivalent to about 5 million Euro’s. The directing was extremely fast paced and kinetic, full of stylish movements, rapid zooms to close ups and fast editing. The film consists of basically two sequences: a supposedly “genius” bank heist and a violent confrontation at a nightclub frequented by cross dressers.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (French: Le scaphandre et le papillon) is a 2007 biographical drama film based on Jean-Dominique Bauby’s memoir of the same name. The film is based on a real man, and the book he somehow succeeded in writing although he could blink only his left eye. The man was Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), who was the editor of Elle, the French fashion magazine, when he had his paralyzing stroke.  A speech therapist (Marie-Josee Croze) suggests a mode of communication: They will arrange the alphabet in the order of most frequently used letters, and he will choose a letter by blinking. She passes the baton to Claude (Anne Consigny), who takes the dictation for his memoir. She makes the letters into sentences and paragraphs in a variety of different settings once Bauby is able to be moved around in a wheelchair.  The positive attitude of these women gives the patient the courage and confidence he needs to write his memoir. He also welcomes Laurent (Isaach de Bakole), a friend who reads books to him. He fondly remembers his last meeting with his forgetful father (Max Von Sydow), who loves him dearly. Later in a phone call, his dad breaks down when he realizes that he will never hear his son’s voice again. One of the most dramatic moments in the film occurs near the beginning when the first therapist thought Jean-Do communicates is that he wants to die.

Feeling rejected and angry, the therapist storms out of the room but apologizes and comes back shortly to resume the treatment. We do not actually see Jean-Do until about a third of the way through the film but we can hear his thoughts which are in turn angry, funny, and bitterly cynical. Much of the film vividly explores the editor’s imagination and the camera takes us on some wild rides that include images of Nijinsky, Empress Eugénie, Marlon Brando, and Jean-Do in his imagination skiing and surfing. Some of the most emotional moments occur when he greets his young children at the beach for the first time after his stroke, a telephone “conversation” with his 92-year old father (Max Von Sydow).  Mathieu Amalric has played the character of Jean with so authentication that it is hard to believe and separate his self from the real character. The most wonderful part that remains with you after the movie is the sense of humour with which Jean sees this world. He remains light hearted at times and thinks hilarious comments even in the most painful state of his being. I would also like to mention the two supporting characters who render Jean’s words on paper. Those roles are beautifully portrayed by two well known Canadian and French actresses – Marie Josee Croze (former writer) and Anne Consigny (latter writer) respectively. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a film of enormous power that shakes us and enables us to get in touch with the miracle of each moment.

The Connection (French: La French) is a 2014 French-Belgian action crime thriller film directed by Cédric Jimenez and produced by Alain Goldman. The film was inspired by the events of the French Connection in the 1970s, starring Jean Dujardin as police magistrate Pierre Michel and Gilles Lellouche as “Tany” Zampa, a drug gang ringleader.  An energetic young magistrate Pierre Michel is given a tough job on the ins and outs of an out-of-control drug trade. Pierre’s wildly ambitious mission is to take on the French Connection, a highly organized operation that controls the city’s underground heroin act and is controlled by the notorious —and reputedly untouchable— Gaetan Zampa.  Michele is portrayed as a driven, obsessed man – it is implied that he had some gambling problems in the past – who seems to be actually trying to catch the ‘bad guys’. During the entirety of the film his determination is being shown as close to obsession as possible without too much cliché. Dujardin and Lellouche’s characters are more alike than they are different, with both being devoted family men and ultra-faithful husbands, and both having a close group of associates they treat like family.
Dujardin plays a full-on good guy, with his magistrate, Pierre Michel, being shown as one of the most incorruptible guys in France. It’s nice to see Dujardin play such virtuous part, which he does well. Lellouche’s Zampa is not your typical villain, in that he’s shown to have a compassionate streak, and is so anti-drug in his own life that when he discovers an associate of his is a drug-addict, he forces him to do a massive trail to try and teach him a potentially deadly lesson. Cédric Jimenez grew up himself in Marseille in the 1970s and says that the story of the Judge has run through his veins his whole life. He chose to shoot the whole film with a hand held camera, which gives the film it’s intimate and raw feeling. The opening scene showed a landscape filled with historical buildings, palm trees, straight roads and the sea that reflected blue from the sky. The vibrating and aggressive sound from the motorbike gave the picture a dramatic sound. To carry on, the visualisation had some glimpse shots, fast forwarding and an expression in chiaroscuro. The film looked like a production from the 1970s. Laurent Tangy as the cinematographer expressed the contrast between light and shade. There is some action here and there, but it’s neither flashy, nor heroic.