Five Star Film

I'm still renting all my DVDs from Tesco to feed the Home Cinema. Haven't counted how many DVDs I have now but as I'm on the 3 discs at a time tariff I must have over 400 or so all safely ripped and burned :-) Anyway, I thought I'd write a quick review of a very good film I watched yesterday courtesy of the service.

I've been a fan of French Cinema for a long time now and I've rented a fair view in the past 18 months. There's something about French Cinema that Hollywood can only dream of reproducing. The style, the writing, the acting the backdrops when they get it right the results are generally fantastic, enter 36 (Quai des Orfevres)Starring French acting royalty in Gerard Depardieu and Daniel Auteuil as competing Police Officers in Paris' equivalent of Scotland Yard this film gripped me from start to end. I always watch foreign films in the original language with English sub-titles which can be irritating for some but I refuse to insult my ears with overdubbed dialogue.

In the underbelly of the Parisian criminal world, the Police are frustrated by a gang committing a series of violent robberies. Leo Vrinks and Denis Klein are two cops seeking promotion and the imminent departure of the Chief sets the scene for them to compete for the vacant throne. Their competition between them becomes increasingly ruthless and blurs the usual lines of morality until there seems no difference between the police and the criminals they chase. Vrinks, meeting with a source, becomes involved with a murder. Klein seizes the opportunity to up the ante and arranges for the arrest of Vrinks but when he goes further and viciously involves Vrinks' wife, Camille, revenge is inevitable.

As the casting would suggest this is a high class thriller. Lots of smoking moody hard men, sexy women (are all French actresses gorgeous?) superb performances, genuine edge of your seat moments and all underlined with that certain French style. I'll be watching the film again, soon, a sure sign that it's possibly entered my Top 10. Anyway it's five stars from me.

Imagine my dismay when I read that Hollywood is remaking the film with Robert DeNiro and George Clooney *sigh* it'll not be patch on this original (though 36 has been described as a French version of Heat). I still shudder at the excellent original version of Taxi sullied by the crap remake from Hollywood (Queen Latifah WTF?). Leave good films alone, you'll not make them any better.

Category:

• Film
• DVD