A fact-touched, but largely fictional, drug-trafficking thriller out of Marseilles (1975 - 1981), structurally neat as a pin, and unusually easy to follow. (And note how its French & International titles are combined on our poster to reflect a certain 1971 movie.* Writer/director Cédric Jimenez earning rather than coasting on the reference.) A mano-a-mano duel between the lawman and the dealer, with Jean Dujardin’s magistrate, just promoted from juvie drug crime to the big leagues, playing new sheriff in town to go after longtime drug boss Gilles Lellouche*, a man whose tentacles reach all; from murdering henchmen to judicial bench men and disco club investors, desk-jockey police dicks and political appointees. What he didn’t figure on was the obsessive/addictive personality and workaround legal tactics of Dujardin’s Judge, a man who puts everything aside (even family and his own survival) to bring down decades of backroom deals and delivery infrastructure. Jimnez is technically fully up to date in action-driven movement and editing, but he gets real period texture by shooting 35mm in a style that (presumably with help from cinematographer Laurent Tangy) mimics the color, tone and film stock of the late ‘70s. (Look for the old animated Gaumont logo, too. As much a throwback as the men's sideburns.) Not a great film or even a great story, but solid, pleasurable work.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *Naturellement, FRENCH CONNECTION/’71. (In France, they dropped the article.) https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2011/08/french-connection-1971.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Jimnez gives the leads a Michael Mann stare-off meeting midway along. A misstep, though you can see why he felt he had to.
No comments:
Post a Comment