Hors la Loi

2010 Director Rachid Bouchareb

This film is the stand alone sequel to Bouchareb’s 2006 film “Days of Glory” and is the second in a loosely planned trilogy. The film starts in 1925 and ends in the early 1960’s and deals with lives of three Algerian brothers living in France during the Algerian war for independence. This war was a messy bit of business involving guerilla warfare, torture, and terrorism against civilians and the film immediately sparked controversy when it was released.

The three brothers couldn’t be more different. One joins the military, one turns to pimping as a way to make himself some money, and the other, after being released from jail where he was being held on ridiculous charges, immediately rises to the ranks of a major player in the Algerian revolution. Throughout it all though, even when things are at their most difficult, they stick by one another. As the brother’s lives grow and change they struggle to take care of their aging mother and to keep the lines of communication open on their strained relationships with one another. As the Algerian resistance movement intensifies each one of them must decide how great a role they will play in the movement and their decisions ultimately affect not only their own individual lives, but they way they viewed by their brothers as well.

Hors la Loi is a film that’s strong in all the right places. The acting is wonderful, the script is well written and the pacing works, the visuals are stunning, and the ending, although expected, is still somewhat of a shocker. It does run a tad on the long side however. Interesting for its historical representation of the Algerian war, but perhaps more so for its message of brotherly love, Hors la Loi is a film that’s well worth the effort to seek out.

The Edukators

2004 Director Hans Weingartner

This film is full of surprises not least the ending. It will keep you guessing as to the outcome all the way. This is one of a very few films where it is well worth waiting to the very end of the credits.

Three Berlin idealistic wannabe revolutionaries embark upon a series of burglaries where instead of theft they rearrange the victim's furniture and belongings and leave behind warnings to create unease. Things go badly awry when an owner returns unexpectedly.

Reminiscent of Goddard's La Chinoise, youthful idealism collides with the starker realities of revolution. The long conversations with their victim, when they discover that he was part of the 1960s revolutionary movement in Germany, is delightfully insightful of the change in perspective over time. I am sure this film will become a cult classic.

Point Blank

2010 Director Fred Cavayé

This is fast paced, adrenalin packed ride through the streets of Paris. It continues the Hitchcockian theme that Cavayé started in his debut film "Anything for her". Take an ordinary man place him in extraordinary circumstances and let him loose.

A male nurse unwittingly saves the life of a dangerous criminal only to find his heavily pregnant wife kidnapped to ensure the criminal's escape. A roller coaster ride of twists and turns, subterfuge and misdirection follow that will keep you riveted to the very end.

Superb acting and very intelligent directing make this a must see. Cavayé is definitely a name to watch out for. His work is simple and focused, packing a tremendous story into a only 80 minutes with such precision that you have to pay full attention, not that you'll have much chance to become distracted.

The Secret in their Eyes

2009 Director Juan José Campanella

This is a film that sets a very high bar in story telling. Mixing humour and suspense tastefully around what is ostensibly a love story wrapped around a monstrous event.

When a retired criminal prosecutor decides to try his hand at writing a novel he finds himself inextricably drawn into the harrowing events of an unsolved crime. Re-investigating the brutal rape and murder of a beautiful woman he discovers devastated lives, corrupt government officials and a lost love. But as he delves deeper he finds himself at the dark heart of society where mysteries lurk in shadows and danger waits around every corner.

Strewn with ingenious twists and turns, this stunning, edge of your seat thriller is a cinematic tour de force of nail biting suspense and white knuckle excitement that will not disappoint. All the loose ends are neatly tied up in a wonderful finale.

Trafic

1971 Director Jacques Tati

This was Jacques Tati’s last foray in to the chaotic world of his hapless alter ego Hulot and also his penultimate film.

The bumbling Monsieur Hulot, outfitted as always with tan raincoat, beaten brown hat, and umbrella, takes to Paris’ highways and byways. For this, his final outing, Hulot is employed as a car company’s head designer, and accompanies his camper, fitted out with absurd gadgetry, to a trade show in Amsterdam. Naturally, the road is paved with modern-age mishaps.

After the financial disaster of Playtime, Tati embarked on this project undeterred, returning to his finer observational filming. This late-career delight is a masterful demonstration of the comic genius’ expert timing and side splitting visual gags, and a bemused last look at technology run amok.

The Last Battle

1983 Director Luc Besson

This is Luc Bessons debut film. Set in a post apocalyptic world it charts the progress of one mans struggle to survive.

Having built a glider out of spare parts our hero sets off to find a better area to live. Here he encounters a fierce opponent, played by a very young Jean Reno. Having come off the worse for his first encounter he is taken in by a doctor. All is not what it seems as the good doctor has his own agenda.

Shot in black and white with no dialogue at all, this film is a curious cross between David Lynch's Eraserhead and Jacques Tati's Les Vacances to M. Hulot. This is a very good example of an accomplished director cutting his teeth and feeling his way. Unfortunately the low budget shows at times but if you can forgive some fairly obvious anachronisms then this is definitely worth a watch.

If you have already seen Subway then you will recognise quite a few scenes and their composition, as well as Jean Boise, who played the doctor.

The Girl who kicked the Hornets' Nest

2009 Director Daniel Alfredson

The "Millennium Trilogy" winds to a close with this installment.

The punky protagonist Lisbeth Salander fights to prove that she's innocent of committing multiple murders. As she lies in intensive care, the corrupt officials in high office attempt to take advantage of her incapacitated state by accusing her of murder. She is taken under the wing of a protective doctor, who keeps the Police at bay for as long as he can. But fiercely independent Lisbeth isn't about to play the scapegoat, and the more her accusers work to ruin her life, the harder she and her loyal friend Mikael Blomkvist must push back to prove them wrong.

Unfortunately this film does not pick up on the slow pace of the 2nd installment. Noomi Rapace holds this otherwise flimsey and overlong composition together well. Whenever she is off screen the story seems to elongate verging on tedium. I am very surprised that Michael Nyqvis' role is not elevated to the gritty fast paced character of the first film. Both "Played with Fire" and "Kicked the Hornet's Nest" could have been combined into one fast paced film instead of 2 drawn out ones.

One to see in order to complete the set but only for the dedicated.

The Beekeeper

1986 Director Theo Angelopoulos

A ponderously paced but poignant story about an ageing beekeeper, who follows the pollen trail around a drearily grey Greece that is far from the picture-postcard vision usually seen on screen.

The film starts with  the marriage of a peasant girl to a military man. Spyro, the father, is at odds with his family for reasons that are never explained. With the departure of his girl, the family fragments and he leaves with his bees to a series of pollen areas in Greece. This is part of an annual migration of Beekeepers, although their numbers are dwindling. Along the way a dysfunctional girl foist herself on his good nature, which becomes increasingly tried. Eventually a bond forms that can only lead to one outcome.

This film is about the bleakness of despair in a hopeless world where all options have long since passed. Theo Angelopoulos' camera work is exemplary and his composition work would develop itself to perfection in the Trilogy series. Although transitions were at times a little jarring this shows a visionary director honing his skills. The film is slow with long static and tracking shots. It employs quite a bit of "action out of frame" to give the viewer a voyeuristic impression. One to watch when in a sombre reflective mood.

Mon Oncle

1958 Director Jacques Tati

This is Tati's second Hulot film contrasting the emerging ultra-modern wave of the late 50's with the more sedate and shambolic life he is used to.

This time, the story finds Hulot on a constant collision with the physical world. Visiting his sister and brother-in-law in their ultra-progressive household full of noisy gadgets and futuristic decor, Hulot inevitably has dust-ups with modernity, each one exceptionally funny. Taking a page from Buster Keaton’s playbook, Tati also employs his trademark techniques with sound and production design to achieve the indefinable, comic genius of his films: the rhythmic clacking of footsteps, the cartoon-panel distance of his camera frame from the heart of the action.

This is a wonderfully gentle satire on modern development that Tati was to take to a darker stage in his next film Playtime. This is marked a departure from his previous more gentle looks at rural attitudes. Tati is one of the cinema’s great treasures, and this movie is unforgettable.

Une femme est une femme

1961 Director Jean-Luc Godard

This is Jean-Luc Godard's deceptively sardonic tribute to the Hollywood musical comedy.

An exotic dancer decides that it is time for her to have a child. When her lover refuses to commit to the decision, she turns her romantic attention to his best friend. This being a Godard film, the straightforward story serves as a framework for improvisation and stylistic experimentation, allowing for odd interludes and unexpected images.

Like Alphville, this romp away from dense intellectualism that characterise the later Godard works this film fails on a number of levels. As a pure satire of the dross that was being churned out by Hollywood it is overlong; as a homage to the same machine it is banal. The musical score is jarring and the acting is hammed and stilted. It's quite painful to watch and requires real perseverance to see through to the predictably disappointing end. One to avoid unless as a cure for insomnia.