'Låt den rätte komma in' dir. Tomas Alfredson
(Let the right one in)
(Let the right one in)
'The Visitor' dir. Thomas McCarthy.
What an enjoyable movie. It's no cinema blockbuster, but it's a great sofa show! Richard Jenkins plays his character perfectly, in fact the whole cast seem to have been perfectly cast. Haaz Sleiman is infectious and charismatic throughout, he is really likable and you really connect with him, and feel his plight. The film does evoke a lot of pity, but also a lot of joy and hope; you will find yourself smiling a lot.
It's a very pretty film, with some nicely shot scenes a definite weekend movie to cosy on the sofa too.
Review by bookhouse_parks 
Recently, the nominees for the best actor award at the Oscars are putting in top performances in average or poor films. I think Jenkins is great in the lead and fully deserved acknowledgement for his work.
The thing is, the film is also great.
Jenkins’ character is sad and insular and not ‘likable’ to begin with. But that’s the kind of character that I do like and want to know more about. He has depth and room to grow or change. The opening scene with the piano teacher really sets him up and the vibe for the rest of the film.
It’s a little off-beat and, dare I say it, quirky, but it was nice to have that aspect in a film that is dealing with the serious issue of immigration in the United States and how immigrants are handled and treated.
In a filmic sense, there are a couple of nice shots that stand out but generally it’s uncomplicated and lets the narrative guide the viewer.
I’d recommend it to anyone who doesn’t need to see something exploding on screen every thirty seconds. You don’t have to invest yourself in the immigration story if you don’t want to and can just enjoy the superb acting and journey that the protagonist takes.
Oh, and there are some bongoes.
Review by bookhouse_dude 
I'd heard so much about this film and it was all good. I'm a sucker for a good vengeance movie too.
Hard-hitting doesn't really cover it. It's very real and engaging and I found myself immersed in the film immediately. Maybe through the use of the hand-held point-of-view camera for the opening sequence.
But I didn't get past the opening sequence.
In fact, i think I managed to watch about four minutes.
Harrowing doesn't come close to it.
I was forced to turn it off it was so horrendous.
I will go back and watch it again. I will. Until then, please hash-tag #bookhousereview on twitter if you have any comments on this film.
I full review will be posted soon. I've booked in for five therapy sessions. I think that should be enough.
I’m not sure how much I can write about this.
The film is not good.
I like dark subject matter usually. A gay guy loses his lover in a fatal car accident and decides that he is going to kill himself. That kind of appeals to me; there could be a few layers to that. This film just felt a bit moany.
Colin Firth is great in it. That’s the reason I wanted to see it. An Oscar nomination in the Best Actor category for an actor who usually plays the stuttering English idiot - and not as well as Hugh Grant, I might add - I had to give it a go.
I’m not his biggest fan. Lots of women seem to like him for one scene where he swims in a white shirt through a pond and that’s about it - career defining. I thought he was great in Fever Pitch, in fact, he would have been my first choice to play Rob in High Fidelity over John Cusack at the time.
But then again, he makes films like Mamma Mia and St Trinian’s and Bridget Jones and Love Actually...
He is quite brilliant in A SIngle Man, though.
There is a melancholy that permeates everything. This is due, in large part, to the music which does infuse everything with a certain sadness, but it is Firth who shines. I was shocked at just how cool and suave he was. Somehow he was cold and calculated, yet endearing. You felt the pain of losing his partner, his ongoing loneliness, his despair for his lush friend Charley - played perfectly by Julianne Moore and her best British accent.
Even the guy from Skins was shockingly decent.
The film was aweful though. I wasn’t there to watch a great piece of filmmaking - it wasn’t Brokeback Mountain, which fits comfortably as a comparison - I was there for the hype.
Great performance by Colin Firth. But was it great because it was Colin Firth? Could another actor have played this role in his sleep? Is it just because it’s a break from his typecast that we applaud it? Maybe. But I think we should. Maybe he will prove to be a giant in dramatic acting. I see that he has signed up for a drama set in Palestine at the end of World War II. Sounds heavy. But , then again he has also just made the second St. Trinian’s film. Even Russell Brand didn’t bother second time round.
Nothing filmic of worth. Mr Firth does well to break free from that Mr Darcy mantle.
Not worth a second thought. Maybe not even a first viewing.
Rating: 
Thinking it's only right I should check what all the fuss is about, I caught The Hurt Locker on Box Office last night, in glorious HD...
I think I might need to watch this film again, I am not sure I saw the point of it, I get the feeling that the fuss is based more around the "of the times"-ness of it, and not much else. It is also filmed very artistically at points, and you think "woh, cool" quite a bit throughout at some of the shots created, so credit needs to be given there.
The film follows the development of three main characters, these are quite different personalities, and the film shows an insight to their different psyches, basically resulting in explaining that it takes a certain type of person to be in the army, didn't we know that already?
There have been countless films which show war as a shitty place, and a fair few that have told this story with excellent cinematography, isn't this the same old story with a different war?
The bomb diffusion scenes are mostly excellent, you really get the sense of tension, and you feel the fear and other emotions from all the main characters all the time. You also realise that should someone want, they could be killed all too easily, scary prospect, and really gives you the understanding as to why they are counting the days down on their rotation, well, some of them are. I think that these scenes are what a lot of the nominations are based on, and not the movie as a whole. It's not bad, it's good, but this is the Oscars, does good cut it? It shouldn't.
The rest of the film shows muddled interlinking stories mostly around the main character Will, these seem to lack focus, and not really deliver any conclusion, they feel like filler scenes. Jeremy Renner (Will), although good in this movie, and was stand out amongst the other cast, I just don't think that his Actor in a leading role nomination is justified... it wasn't that challenging of a role.
They did however manage to avoid what I call the "Old Glory affect"... which seems to be quite a feat!
Let me explain.
Quite often in American films will have a scene where they just proclaim their greatness... there could be a scene where everyone is getting shot up, and then the American comes cartwheeling through shooting through his legs and over his shoulder killing all the bad guys. Sometimes it's more subtle, sometimes... rarely... hmm, perhaps never.
The sniper scene comes close to this affect, but kinda gets away with it, although when shooting at the British, the enemy sniper seemed to be a crack shot, when shooting at the Americans, he seems to lose his knack, strange.
You have to watch it, something this big in the media press cannot be ignored on my say so, you have to get your own opinion on this one, but go into it with your eyes open. Maybe my vision has been affected by the high acclaim the film has already achieved, and I wanted to find it average... maybe I am the only one who watched this film with my eyes open?
The news, certainly in Britain tells the story of this film everyday, it's a hell hole out there, and these courageous men are true heroes, and deserve more than what they get. Most of them are working a thankless task, a task that all of their countrymen should be thankful and respectful for.
The Damned United. Dir. Tom Hooper.
"They love me for what I'm not... ...they hate me for what I am."
Taking over England's top football club Leeds United, previously successful manager Brian Clough's abrasive approach and his clear dislike of the players' dirty style of play make it certain there is going to be friction. Glimpses of his earlier career help explain both his hostility to previous manager Don Revie and how much he is missing right-hand man Peter Taylor who has loyally stayed with Brighton & Hove Albion.
"They love me for what I'm not... ...they hate me for what I am."
Taking over England's top football club Leeds United, previously successful manager Brian Clough's abrasive approach and his clear dislike of the players' dirty style of play make it certain there is going to be friction. Glimpses of his earlier career help explain both his hostility to previous manager Don Revie and how much he is missing right-hand man Peter Taylor who has loyally stayed with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Review by bookhouse_parks 
Clough... what a legend.
I hate everything about football, except playing it, and watching it occasionally, it brings out the most vile behaviour in humans, people, my friends... shame.
This man has to be admired and respected for what he has achieved, and how he achieved it. I think I would have liked football more in the 70's, when it was played by men with hairy chests and smoking problems! Not Models with genetically weak metatarsals.
The film does show however, even The Clough was subject to this football affect, his egotistical rivalry with Don Revie meant he was never going to get anywhere at Leeds, to be fair no manager was going to do anything straight after Revie. Clough came in guns blazing, slating Leeds and their previous victories and trophies under Revie, leading to himself being HATED by his players and the Leeds fans, he had to sit through several matches listening to ìThere's only one Don Revie!î, joy.
As Clough had taken Derby to top of Division 1, and what he achieved with Nottingham Forest afterwards, it shows he had the potential to do good things with Leeds, but that innate ability of football to bring out the worst in people that lead to his downfall. At Derby he got up the noses of the top brass whilst improving the teams line up, and achieving great things, whilst at Leeds he still upset the management and players, but only to achieve a ìone upî on Revie, he completely lost his perspective, and he does realize this.
Man, football's ability to create a religion out of a bunch of men kicking a pig skin around its completely ridiculous, and pathetic.
This is a great film though, you definitely have to watch it!
Review by bookhouse_dude 
Even if I hadn’t watched this film, I could have guessed that Michael Sheen would make a great Brian Clough. He was just like Tony Blair in The Queen and his vision of David Frost was nothing but accurate. In fact, I felt like he slipped into that a little in this role. He is a fine, versatile actor, certainly worthy of recognition for his performance in Frost/Nixon - he was equally as compelling as Frank Langella.
I remember Brian Clough as the Nottingham Forest manager, I knew nothing of this story. Sheen seemed to capture the essence of Clough, I even enjoyed Timothy Spall and I don’t usually feel like that; they certainly had a chemistry that you feel was accurate of the real-life relationship.
Other than Sheen, there’s not a huge amount you can say about this film. Was it well directed? It was adequate. Was the cinematography worth mentioning? Not really.
Was it enjoyable? Yes. In the same way that a TV movie on a Sunday afternoon is enjoyable. It’s a perfect DVD film. There is no reason to have seen this at the cinema, it would not add anything magical to the experience.
I felt the same about Slumdog Millionaire. An average film, at best. If I am sat on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon, full of chicken and roast potatoes, several beers already working their way into my blood stream, it would be a great movie to fall asleep to.
That’s exactly what The Damned United is.
The story is interesting if you don’t know it and it is a film to just sit and enjoy then forget. No need to ever watch it again or talk about anything other than Michael Sheen. I did love the line, 'I wouldn't say I'm the best manager in the country but I'm definitely in the top one,' though. . .
Sit.
Enjoy.
Forget.
review by bookhouse_baker 
First of all, I should make it clear from the onset that the movie was my choice so I guess I was rooting for it from the start. As a lifelong football fan I am very fond of Brian Clough for a number of reasons but was not aware of his time at Leeds Utd so was intrigued about this period of football history. Also, the fact that Michael Sheen was heading up a pretty illustrious cast of British acting talent meant that it was worth a waqtch to see if it could handle all the expectation as well.
Pleasingly, my verdict was that, for the most part, it delivered. From what I know of the main protaganists in this tale, they were represented faithfully and in a very entertaining manner. Michael Sheen did 'what he does' very well and I would hope that the Clough family were pleased with this protrayal of the enigma that was Brian Clough. He was ably supported by Timothy Spall and Jim Broadbent who are always enjoybale to watch, in fact it was nice to see JB playing something less likeable for a change. I thought the exchanges between most of the characters were extremely believable and the film as a whole struck just the right balance of informing and entertaining. The 'jumps' (I don't know the correct term I'm afraid) between the different periods of time worked really well, as did the pieces of genuine footage that were used throughout. The relationships between Cloughy and his various colleagues/family members were quite revealing in the main part and this story was portrayed in a very 'balanced' way giving an honest account of all sides of the story.
I really loved the tragic (in the true sense of the word) nature of his time at Leeds Utd. He went there with every chance of doing a fantastic job but he was always doomed to failure because of the very things that made him great. His self belief, enormous desire to succeed and infectious personality. At his best this made him an inspiring leader that achieved fantastic results with very limited resources and an undeniably charming man. At his worst it made him a hot-headed, petulant, narrow-minded, selfish person that shut out the people he needed the most (which he realised most of the time and admitted very rarely.)
It's a shame he never got to be England manager but I guess thats fits perfectly with how underappreciated he seems to have felt for most of his life. The FA clearly would not have tolerated his personality and put their concerns over this ahead of the success of our national side. What he achieved with Derby and then with Nottingham Forest were The most enlightening thing I took from the movie was his record as a player, it was phenomenal and his scoring stats are something most modern-day players would give their eye-teeth for.
Cinematically, this hasn't left the world any better or worse than it found it but for me that is of little consequence. Mr Clough may not have agreed with me because he obviously placed a lot of stock in doing beautiful things beautifully but I hope he would appreciate the way the story was told and the way the characters in his life were portrayed. There's no doubt he would have loved a film being made about him but there is even less doubt that he would have found fault with most of it because he didnt make it (outwardly anyway.)
In summary, I am glad this film was made and I am glad that Brian Clough graced the world with his presence even if it was for too short a time.
Mesrine. Dir. Jean Francois-Richet.
This is the two-part story of notorious French gangster Jacques Mesrine.
Review by bookhouse_parks 
Mesrine (meh-reen) was completely enjoyable, and I was happy to immerse myself in Paris (pah-rhee) from a bygone era.
The opening scene shows a young Mesrine played by Vincent Cassel in the army and he’s presented with an order to kill an innocent woman as part of a torture act in order to relinquish some information from the captive. Not willing to partake in the killing of an innocent, he shoots the captive in the chest, the lesser of the two evils… I guess? This scene sets Mesrine’s moral tone throughout the movie, he’s ‘honorable’, despite being l’ennemi public numero une! Vincent plays Mesrine in a suave, charming, lovable rogue style, but during one particular scene really demonstrated Mesrine’s dark side, and his portrayal of evil was amazing, Mesrine was undeniably one bad cat… this particular scene made me wince, and recoil from the TV, the joys of HD.
The emotive display did not peak at the violence, there are several intimate moments with his ladies and children, and some intricate scenes with his father, who loved him unconditionally, unfortunately Mesrine’s love for his father albeit it equal and opposite was tarnished with disgust, as he couldn’t understand how this man he admired so much growing up could have turned out so normal and average, outwardly he despised him, but you could tell the love ran deep. The insight into his relationship with his father was at least 50% of why he turned to crime, having no way out he later quotes "I refused to dream my life away", I think this is directly aimed at his father whom he loved and hated so much. This love is later validated in a scene where Mesrine visits his father’s death bed disguised as a Doctor when the whole of the Parisian Police was after him, displaying his moral outlook, and moral rules, and how he tried to live his life by them.
Filmed with that classic look found in most European cinema, the film did feel very French, yet the cinematography threw in the odd Hollywood setup to keep the pace up during certain scenes, car chases gun fights, etc. I was impressed with this; it was not overused and maintained a good balance throughout.
Cassel was in this film for 99% of the time, so it's hard to say he stole the film, more like mugged it... he was in it so much, and was so captivating that it can't fail for his performance to stand out, it was a great performance, and I hope his enigmatic performance will carry his work into the mainstream, where I’m sure he will be well received, and not just playing the standard French Cop that seems to be the common French role in Hollywood.
The film was made in two parts, and I think it could have been done in one 3 hour film, the second part seemed to be a bit samey, robbing banks, escaping jail, being funny and loved by all, robbing banks, etc, etc. You can see that Cassel underwent a physical transformation into the older Mesrine, which is something the critics love, I appreciate this, but come on… it’s his job, pay me the same money, and I’ll get fat too… ok, I'll get fatter. I'll probably have to work on my French too, although, it's pretty good, "Voulez Vous douchez avec le potage de jour?"
I thoroughly recommend the first part of this film, the second part, I’d imagine you could make do with some research on the web to find out how his life panned out, but if you’re going to watch the first part, you’ll get the second part for free, so why not watch them both!
Review by bookhouse_baker
Mesrine (meh-reen) was completely enjoyable, and I was happy to immerse myself in Paris (pah-rhee) from a bygone era.
The opening scene shows a young Mesrine played by Vincent Cassel in the army and he’s presented with an order to kill an innocent woman as part of a torture act in order to relinquish some information from the captive. Not willing to partake in the killing of an innocent, he shoots the captive in the chest, the lesser of the two evils… I guess? This scene sets Mesrine’s moral tone throughout the movie, he’s ‘honorable’, despite being l’ennemi public numero une! Vincent plays Mesrine in a suave, charming, lovable rogue style, but during one particular scene really demonstrated Mesrine’s dark side, and his portrayal of evil was amazing, Mesrine was undeniably one bad cat… this particular scene made me wince, and recoil from the TV, the joys of HD.
The emotive display did not peak at the violence, there are several intimate moments with his ladies and children, and some intricate scenes with his father, who loved him unconditionally, unfortunately Mesrine’s love for his father albeit it equal and opposite was tarnished with disgust, as he couldn’t understand how this man he admired so much growing up could have turned out so normal and average, outwardly he despised him, but you could tell the love ran deep. The insight into his relationship with his father was at least 50% of why he turned to crime, having no way out he later quotes "I refused to dream my life away", I think this is directly aimed at his father whom he loved and hated so much. This love is later validated in a scene where Mesrine visits his father’s death bed disguised as a Doctor when the whole of the Parisian Police was after him, displaying his moral outlook, and moral rules, and how he tried to live his life by them.
Filmed with that classic look found in most European cinema, the film did feel very French, yet the cinematography threw in the odd Hollywood setup to keep the pace up during certain scenes, car chases gun fights, etc. I was impressed with this; it was not overused and maintained a good balance throughout.
Cassel was in this film for 99% of the time, so it's hard to say he stole the film, more like mugged it... he was in it so much, and was so captivating that it can't fail for his performance to stand out, it was a great performance, and I hope his enigmatic performance will carry his work into the mainstream, where I’m sure he will be well received, and not just playing the standard French Cop that seems to be the common French role in Hollywood.
The film was made in two parts, and I think it could have been done in one 3 hour film, the second part seemed to be a bit samey, robbing banks, escaping jail, being funny and loved by all, robbing banks, etc, etc. You can see that Cassel underwent a physical transformation into the older Mesrine, which is something the critics love, I appreciate this, but come on… it’s his job, pay me the same money, and I’ll get fat too… ok, I'll get fatter. I'll probably have to work on my French too, although, it's pretty good, "Voulez Vous douchez avec le potage de jour?"
I thoroughly recommend the first part of this film, the second part, I’d imagine you could make do with some research on the web to find out how his life panned out, but if you’re going to watch the first part, you’ll get the second part for free, so why not watch them both!
Review by bookhouse_baker
Let's get right down to it, I loved Mesrine!
I am big Vincent Cassel fan, Irreversible & L'appartement are two of my favourite films and he manages to move seamlessly from commercial to more interesting stuff with consumate ease.
That coupled with the fact that it was based on a real person, and that person was Jacques Mesrine who I now know was a notorious, enigmatic and undeniably charismatic French criminal. Who doesn't love Ganster movies for goodness sakes and this was about a REAL gangster! I was surprised (more out of ignorance to be honest) by how commercial this film was, large parts of it reminded me very favourably of Goodfellas. I was expecting it to be a bit more 'French' i.e lots of brooding, sparse dialogue and little action but nevertheless gripping.
The fact that it didn't glamorise crime and showed the life of a criminal in such an honest way really reminded me of Mean Streets. Amongst the bank jobs and press notoriety were plenty of crappy jobs, horrifying periods in Prison and the up's and downs that life throws at most of us. In particular, the examination of his relationships, most notably with his partners, children and parents were brilliantly handled and despite some disagreement amongst the 'Bookhousers' about certain scenes (when Mesrine places a gun in his wife's mouth for instance) being out of character we all felt that these relationships were portrayed in a fantastic way. This is a warts-and-all portrayal of a troubled man who loved and hated with equal intensity and through his unfaltering commitment to what he believed was right unfortunately made some very bad choices. Predictably this meant he suffered for large parts of his life and caused great suffering to those around him but rightly or wrongly I feel sure he would do it all again.
I guess what I took away from this movie was how much our lives can shaped by traumatic events and how War can bring out the worst in people in ways that we still do not fully understand. Also, the parents are always to blame!
This film is littered with stand-out performances from Gerard Depardieu, Giles Dellouche & Cecille de France to name a few and one of the most pleasing aspects of the film was that GD seems to have finally grown in to his nose. Also, if she'll have me I would marry Elena Anaya in a heartbeat!
Joking aside, I think this was a fantastic film that really does have something for everyone and would implore anyone that reads this review to get a copy asap.
Review by bookhouse_dave 
Mesrine was the film chosen for us this time. It is presented in two parts and charts the rise and fall of the French professional criminal Jacques Mesrine. It is based on a real person and real events, which can be a double-edged sword for me sometimes. I dislike bio-pics like Ali mainly because the time, effort and money invested into such a film seems pointless when there is plenty of footage and documentaries about the real thing that grabs me far more forcibly. In this case I knew next to nothing about the source material so figured everything would be fine!
Vincent Cassel plays Mesrine and is quite brilliant. If you follow film at all you’ll probably have heard plenty of talk about his performance already, all I can say is believe the hype in this case. I read someone describe it as career defining, which I only disagree with because I think VC will out-do this performance. The film spans a fair amount of time and the evolution of the character is great to watch. The supporting cast are all great
Due to the film being billed as some kind of gangster flic I was expecting it to be quite different, what you actually get is a portrayal of the smalltime crook far more than anything like the Godfather or even Goodfellas as his time as anything typically “gangster” was quite brief in this film, once I got my head around that I was ok with it though.
There are plenty of really well done scenes, the final scene and the prison-break is as tense as anything I’ve seen all year (or last year!) and the attention to detail with regard to period minutia is pretty impressive. It’s often an overlooked achievement, making a main road in a film look like it’s from the 70’s for example, there’s a school of though that just because we can remember when those kind of cars were on the road or people wore those kind of clothes that somehow it’s less impressive than recreating a street from the 20’s! There’s a scene with his daughter in the 2nd part of the film where they talk through some prison glass and it’s a cracker, very subtle but sums up the spirit of the film for me. There was more humour than I was expecting too, the visit to America in particular gave me quite a chuckle.
I enjoyed Mesrine and liked the meatiness that the two film format provided, it may well be the case that the story could’ve been compressed into one 3 hour film but what was offered was all of a suitably high (and typically French!) quality that the length meant more of a good thing for me. There were flaws to the film but makers of films of this scale should be commended for not underestimating their audiences.
Review by bookhouse_dude 
Mesrine was my choice. I picked it for Vincent Cassell. I've seen him in enough French films to understand and appreciate his pedigree as one of Europe's best actors. (I also remember him in that horrendous Russian bride thing with Nicole Kidman. What was that called? Oh yeah, Birthday Girl. Horrible. Just horrible.)
I heard this was one of those tour de force performances though so figured it had to be seen.
It's epic.
The film is epic, the performance is epic, the story is epic.
The film is split into two parts but I'm not sure how necessary that was. The first half is phenomenal. It charts the life of Jacques Mesrine from his military beginnings and his early career as a small-time gangster.
I loved the seediness of this first part. He's not a major criminal, there's nothing as grandiose as a Godfather wedding. It reminded me of Mean Streets. These guys were low-level criminals, robbing people's houses for fur and jewellery. It's the dirty side of criminality but it was slightly more polished that Mean Streets. You feel the grime in that film but Mesrine was a little cleaner in style if not in content. It was almost slick and, dare I say it, French.
That's not a bad thing.
For me French cinema is the best. I love it. I'm a sucker for the 'Frenchness' of it all. They know how to make films. I've never heard of a French blockbuster. . . . .
Cassell handles his character of Mesrine with such sensitivity in the the first part. You empathise with him at the start and understand why he turns to crime. You like him even though he does some heinous things. Cassell oozes the charisma needed for the audience to connect to Mesrine, his screen presence is immense. He fills that screen and is present for almost every frame.
I did love this film in its entirety. The Cassell performance makes it, of course, but I'm undecided whether it is the tour de force performance so many critics have labelled it with.
Yes, it is very involved. He ages throughout, his body changing shape, his face altering expression but it's not that great.
For an American actor, this would be the performance of a lifetime. I think with so many American actors there is a certain sense of lacking vulnerability. Like they always have to be the tough guy. (Of course there are actors that defy this theory, Gene Hackman, Ed Norton, to name a couple.) For a European actor, this is easier. Vulnerability in abundance. I mean, how ugly can Will Smith look? Even if he's fat. Would Harrison Ford appear on screen naked, hosed down with a cold hold, looking pathetic, or would he puff out his chest and sing the national anthem?
So, yes, Cassell is amazing. It is an immense performance for an actor, just not for him. It's not a better performance that Roman Duris in The Beat That My Heart Skipped, which has to be the best performance I've seen by any actor in decades. But I think that Cassell has this in him.
All of this aside. It's a biopic that doesn't feel like a biopic. You don't feel like Cassell is just doing an impression of someone all the way through. There is some editing to do in the second part and you could have stitched them together into one neat 3 hour film but I liked the epic-ness of it. I don't mind sitting through some bank robbery and Heat-style street shoot-outs while I'm waiting for more dialogue-led scenes. (I did find the sequence with the reporter in the second part quite graphic and jarring but it should be shown if it's true.)
The female characters are superb. I would like to have seen more of Ludivine Sagnier but each of his three love interests managed to strengthen Mesrine as a character and enhance Cassell's performance.
I haven't seen a better French film than this for a while and I could watch it again, both parts back-to-back, right now. It's polished French grit, subtly stylised with faultless performances from everyone including the almost unrecognisable Gerard Depardieu.
In short. Watch it. For the substance, for the style, for Cassell. It's not what you'd probably expect from something billed as a 'gangster' movie, and that's reason enough.
Almost a classic.
Rating:
