Meet the free, proud, independent people of Ukraine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNxLzFfR5w Nothing but reviews. In excess.
From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. June 2025: Countdown to: Top 10: Best horror comedy movies - Upcoming review: There's Still Tomorrow (2023)
Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value (2025)
Showing posts with label Gérard Depardieu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gérard Depardieu. Show all posts
Three good-humored stars in suits make up most of this fun-teasing poster for Francis Veber's The Closet
A boring accountant is about to get sacked, until his neighbor help him to 'become' a closeted homosexual, - naturally meaning that he then cannot get sacked!
The Closet is written and directed by Francis Veber (The Toy/Le Jouet (1976)). The title is a literal translation of the original French title.
It is a blend of a classical mix-up comedy and a sex comedy, which thank God already feels quite antiquated in its way of dealing with people being gay. Everyone behaves more or less hysterically when confronted with the (fake) news, and the story had definitely not gone down nicely if it wasn't for the lovely and very game cast:
Especially excellent is Daniel Auteuil (Happy End (2017)) and Gérard Depardieu (Thalasso (2019)) as the homophobic co-worker, who discovers a new side of himself.
Although the concept in The Closet is tongue-in-cheek heightened reality, the clever direction and performances succeed in making it screwball-like and a lot of fun.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 14.5 mil. $
Box office: 50.1 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.45 times its cost)
[The Closet was released 17 January (France, Belgium, Switzerland) and runs 84 minutes. Shooting took place in France, including in Paris. The film opened #30 to a 180k $ first weekend in 37 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #17 and in 145 theaters, grossing 6.6 mil. $ (13.2 % of the total gross). Its biggest market was France, where it was the year's 3rd highest-grossing home title, making around 25 mil. $ from approximately 5 mil. admissions. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Veber returned with Ruby & Quentin/Tais-Tou! (2003). Auteuil returned in Vajont - La Diga del Disonore (2001); Depardieu in Concorrenza Sleale (2001). The Closet is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Richard Parker the Bengal tiger looks at us in all his stunning beauty on the poster for Ang Lee's Life of Pi
Piscine Patel is telling the story of his life to a writer: Of how he got named after a Parisian swimming pool, which made him a victim of bullying in his school days in India. And of how his father's decision to sell their zoo and move all the animals to Canada led him on an terrible, - and amazing, - perilous journey.
Life of Pi is an adaptation of Spanish Yann Martel's (Self (1996)) same-titled 2001 novel by Oscar-nominated David Magee (Finding Neverland (2004)) and directed by Oscar-winning Taiwanese master filmmaker Ang Lee (The Ice Storm (1997)). The adventurous story lives on some great themes: Loss, survival, sacrifice, loneliness and not least belief in God. Life of Pi won me totally over the second time I saw it, as its unusual ending required that I saw it twice to really appreciate it. The film is in fact a complex near-parable. - Not your average 3D mega-movie! Suraj Sharma (Million Dollar Arm (2014)), (who reportedly won the part after auditions of 3,000 young men!), gives a strong, Oscar-worthy lead performance. Pi is a visual cornucopia of colors and wild nature-impressions from first frame to last. Life of Pi seems like a gift to humanity, an invitation to believe and to see the beauty and the wonders of God's creation everywhere around us. A truly inspiring masterpiece, not to be missed! And Lee's best film yet, in my opinion, although I have only seen 6 of his 12 features. He is now working on the eagerly anticipated war comedy Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016).
Cost: 120 mil. $ Box office: 609 mil. $ = Big hit [Pi had a long development, dating back to 2003, and both M. Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuarón and Jean-Pierre Jeunet were attached to direct at different stages. (Shyamalan left to direct Lady in the Water (2006) instead, a big mistake on his part.) Shooting took months in 2011 in India, Taiwan, (including 2½ months in the world's largest self-generating wave-tank there), and Canada. Lee shot scenes with Tobey Maguire as the writer but scrapped them and reshot with a less familiar face in the role, (Rafe Spall.) The majority of the incredible visual effects for the film were created by Oscar-winning Rhythm & Hues Studios, who went bankrupt in February 2013, sparking protests by enraged VFX people outside the Oscar ceremony that did not tolerate mention of the industry debacle. Audiences braved Hurricane Sandy that put large parts of New York and the East coast under water and went to see Pi, a film without major stars, but marketed as the next Avatar (2009), giving it a 30.5 mil. $ North-American first, extended Thanksgiving weekend. It grossed 124.7 mil. $ in North America (20.5 % of the total gross.) Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China (90.8 mil. $/14.9 %) and the UK (45.4 mil. $/7.5 %). It was #1 for 3 weeks in China, Australia and Chile and the biggest Hollywood hit of the year in India. It was nominated for 11 Oscars, winning 4, making it the top-winning movie of the year: Best Director, Cinematography, Score and Visual Effects. It made many a Top 10 list of the year, including Roger Ebert's #2 movie of the year, behind Argo (2012). Life of Pi is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Life of Pi? Do you agree that it's Lee's best film yet?
Following are reviews of the two-part movie Mesrine, known individually as Killer Instinct and Public Enemy No. 1 a.k.a. Public Enemy No. 1 part 1 and part 2.
This is the true story of French gangster Jacques Mesrine's life from his time in the Foreign Legion in the Algerian War in 1959 up until his violent death in 1979.
Part I: Mesrine: Killer Instinct/Mesrine: L'Instinct de Mort
♥♥♥♥
Vincent Cassel is the persuasive front man for Jean-François Richet'sMesrine double feature
Jacques Mesrine is shown as a cynical killer from the first scene from his time in the Algerian War, perhaps the last of the decolonization wars. Later on back in France, Mesrine eagerly blames his parents and especially his father while ditching an honest job offer to be a murderous criminal for local gangster boss Guido (a convincing Gerard Deperdieu (United Passions (2014))). Estranging his wife through violence, escaping to Canada, kidnapping and getting arrested in the US are some of the later plot points, before Mesrine and his partner are put in a high-security penitentiary.
The third act revolves around the escape from this facility, and an unfortunate, following incident that causes Mesrine and partner to conclude that it's now either 'escape or die', as the first movie ends. Both films are written by Abdel Raouf Dafri (A Prophet/Un Prophète (2009)), the first one based on Jacques Mesrin's autobiography L'Instinct de Mort. Though I approached this unusual, huge, French gangster epic with some hesitance, I was lured in fairly quickly by the performances of Depardieu and especially Vincent Cassel (Ocean's Twelve (2004)), whose performance as the title lead in the two films is constant, incredibly intense and equally ruthless, a portrayal of a megalomaniacal, charismatic, brute macho psychopath. Cassel is what really kept me engaged. The production by Thomas Langmann (The Artist (2011)) is impeccable technically; from period costumes to cars, localities, colors, the snappy editing and especially Robert Gantz' (White Collar (2012-13)) photography, which is done with skill, vision and an abundance of energy and time, it seems. Gantz comes from American TV (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and many later shows) and a few films, (Mindhunters (2004) and Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)), and he certainly knows how to shoot action and suspense scenes. The effective score is by Marco Beltrami (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)) and Marcus Trumpp (Die Hard 4.0 (2007)). It is clear that director Jean-François Richet (Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)) has decided it desirable to get as much of Mesrine's incredible criminal life in the films as possible, thereby stacking his pancake-tower sometimes a bit too high, and perhaps losing some opportunities for closer looks at single incidents. But overall, L'Instint de Mort is a very exciting film and a refreshing and bold mega-production that proves that Europe (here actuality France, Italy and Canada in a co-production) is not falling behind Hollywood in quality. Both films start out with a text (almost a disclaimer of sorts) basically saying that what you'll see is true, but just don't take anything for granted. This seems to me a smart and understandable way to introduce and approach a project like the Mesrine films. The title L'Instinct de Mort is not explained before the second film, where it is revealed that Mesrine writes a book of some of his crimes (and supposedly made up ones) with the same title.
Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1/Mesrine: L'ennemi public n°1
♥♥♥
Vincent Cassel reportedly gained 20 kilos to play Mesrine - and it doesn't go unnoticed
The second movie starts by showing us where and how Mesrine is finally killed in 1979. We then regress some 7 years back to see him caught again in France and tried, writing a book to gain popularity, and again he manages to escape, this time from the courtroom. As more and more robberies and escapes follow, the French police and prison guards look increasingly incompetent and idiotic, and the film loses pace. It is unclear why we witness so much repetition, and also what Mesrine actually needs to do so many heists for. We never see him spend some of all the money, and any aim with the escapades seem elusive at best. Until he is caught again. He then spends 5 years in jail and reunites with his daughter in one of the few downright bad scenes in the films: The young actress sheepishly smiles and tries her best in the interview with her mass-murdering, neglectful father. Where was the director, one wonders. With a new partner, the quiet, cautious Besse (Matheiu Amalric (The Blue Room/La Chambre Bleue (2014))), Mesrine again escapes, but their paths veer, as Besse wants to be rich in quiet, while Mesrine now sees it as his mission to get all high-security jails closed by murdering judges, kidnapping billionaires and using bazookas. A plotline with a kidnapped billionaire fizzes out without any real conclusion as to what is done with him. Besse and Mesrine have an amusing escape in a trunk in the countryside before splitting up. Mesrine then becomes closer aligned with a radical left wing terrorist, and he murders a reporter he doesn't like.
The ending is, unfortunately, terribly drawn out and completely lacking in suspense or thematic weight, as we already know how Mesrine will be killed, and the mise-en-scene lets us know way in advance that now is the time. Unfortunately, the second film is not at level with the first one. Scenes are dramatically lost, and the long, pointless ending is a shame. The film is also longer than the first one, passing 2 hours, without any good reason for it. In fact, the reason that the two films never score higher is to some degree that the format of slicing one story up in two films is usually not advantageous, and certainly isn't here: Mesrine should definitely have been one approximately 2 and a half hour long film. It is dramatically unsatisfying not to have an ending to the first film, and the development in the second is thin, mostly just covering more and more crimes and escapes. Nevertheless, both films are incredibly well-produced and a joy for anyone with a sense of craftsmanship. None of the action or big scenes are restricted from being done in real life and instead plotted in as CGI. It is first rate production-wise, and Cassel gives perhaps his career's best performance as villainous Mesrine.
Cost: 50 mil.$ Box office: Reportedly 46.3 mil. $ = Huge flop (returned 0.92 times its cost) [Mesrine Part I premiered 11 September (Toronto International Film Festival, Ontario) and Part II 22 October (Tokyo International Film Festival) and the films run 113 and 133 minutes, respectively. The film was made as a cooperation of 17 companies and support bodies. Shooting took place in Spain, Algeria, France, including Paris, in Utah and Québec, Canada, from May 2007 - January 2008. The first part opened #37 to a 152k $ first weekend in 28 theaters in North America, where it spread to 34 theaters but didn't achieve a higher ranking and grossed 551k $. The second film opened #45 to a 74k $ first weekend in 31 theaters and grossed 275 in North America. Numbers are underreported for especially the second film. The first film was biggest in main production country France with 18.1 mil. $ and Russia with 2.5 mil. $. The film won 3/10 César award nominations. Richet returned with One Wild Moment/Un Moment d'Égarement (2015). Cassel returned with a voice performance in Lascars (2009) and physically in Adrift/À Deriva (2009). Mesrine Part I is certified fresh at 81 % with a 7.37/10 critical average and Mesrine Part II is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.25/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1?
