Diva

Title: Diva

Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix

Released: 1981

Starring: Frederic Andrei, Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, Roland Bertin, Richard Bohringer, Gerard Darmon, Chantal Deruaz, Jacques Fabbri, Patrick Floersheim, Thuy An Luu, Dominique Pinon, Dominique Besnehard

Plot: Jules (Andrei) is a postman obsessed with the opera singer Cynthia Hawkins (Fernandez) who refuses to allow her performances to be recorded, something Jules has secretly done while attending one of her performances. It’s also a recording which soon sees Jules on the run from Taiwanese gangsters who wish to claim the tape. Things only get worse when another tape containing the incriminating testimony which would expose a high ranking police officer as a racket boss is dropped into his postbag which a pair of dirty cops will do anything to get back.

Review: One of the first French films to break away from the realist trend which had dominated the 1970s, the film forming a new movement known as “Cinema du Look” which favoured style over substance and spectacle over narrative. While Beineix might have been the first to pioneer this new style of film making he would soon be joined by the likes of Leos Carax and Luc Besson who is probably the best known example with his early films such as “Subway” and “Nikita”. Unquestionably because of this style of film making it's an immersive viewing experience with as Beineix manages to not give us one film but two all wrapped up in one package as he gives us what is essentially a very satisfying art film, only to then throw in a crime flick as a tasty bonus. It’s a balance act that somehow he manages to pull off without ever sacrificing the effectiveness of one half or without the whole thing becoming overly confusing even if it does close in places especially when during the more artsy sequences.

The character of Jules while something of an oddball seeing how he’s the kind of guy who brings professional recording equipment to Hawkins concert, while only adding to already established obsession with the singer by stealing her dress after somehow managing to get backstage. He does eventually return the dress to Hawkins who despite initially being initially angry with him soon embarks on a romance of sorts with Jules. This of course being instead of the more logical choice which would have been to unleash a can of mace on him. No doubt this would have been the more realistic outcome of this situation, not that Beineix ever seems to be aiming for anything close to realism here of course.

Once he finds himself on the run from the various parties looking for the claim either of the two recordings in his possession and a situation which leads him to seek shelter with the bohemian artist Serge (Bohringer) and his cute French-Vietnamese muse Alba (Luu). This pair also have their own quirks with Serge spending most of his time either smoking in the bath of putting together huge jigsaw puzzles and generally not doing anything remotely artistic, all while his muse rollerskates around their open plan apartment. These kinds of scenes frequently appear over the course of the film, bringing with them little in terms of plot fulfilment yet their visual arresting nature makes them hard to besmirch.

Unquestionably the art direction of the film is superb with Beineix having an eye for detail, from the open plan apartments of Jules and Serge which resemble art installations more than actual homes. At the same time the smaller details such as the huge headphones the characters use, or Serge cutting onions while wearing a snorkel only heighten the experience, more so when Beineix never chooses to explain any of these moments nor draw attention to them by having characters comment on them.

The thriller aspects of the film revolving around the more incriminating of the two tapes are played fairly tight throughout with Beineix even managing to work in a fun chase sequence which sees Jules trying to escape the corrupt cops on his moped on a chase which not only takes him through the subway system of Paris, but onto a subway train as well. The whole scene seemingly being designed to constantly find ever more inventive places to take the chase as Jules rides down steps and through busy platforms while never once stepping of the bike.

Were the film does slip up slightly is with warehouse finale which despite having some tense moments, does become unintentionally comedic when bad guys are essentially being dispatched by turning the lights off and having them stumble into an elevator shaft. However when you consider some of the things that you have been willing to accept up to this point, it hardly seems like much of a stretch to accept this aswell.

True this film might not be for everyone but at the same time it’s not so out there that it’s inaccessible to those outside of the art house crowd as while its certainly surreal in places it’s never to the point where you’re unsure what exactly is supposed to be happening. Its colourful characters including Dominique Pinon as a dirty cop, who hates seemingly everything ensuring that, the film is anything but boring. At the same time for those who enjoyed the likes of Sofia Coppola “Lost In Translation” or more recently Spike Jonze “Her” which seemingly were modelled on the ideals of the “Cinema du Look” making this a more than fitting companion piece aswell as a fitting entry point into this fascinating era of French cinema.

Micmacs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: Micmacs

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Released: 2009
Staring: Dany Boon, André Dussollier, Omar Sy, Dominique Pinon, Julie Ferrier, Nicolas Marié, Marie-Julie Baup, Michel Crémadès, Yolande Moreau, Jean-Pierre Marielle

Plot: Bazil (Boon) a movie obsessed video store clerk has had nearly everything he hold dear to him taken away by weapons of war, his father having been killed by a landmine in Morocco when he was a boy and now as an adult he now finds himself with a stray bullet lodged in his skull and on the verge of instantaneous death. Things only get worse when he finds himself suddenly replaced at his job aswell as made homeless forcing him to walk the streets of Paris, where he is taken in by scavenger Slammer (Marielle) and his bands of fellow scavengers / misfits. Happy with his new life as a scavenger Bazil soon stumbles across a chance for revenge on the arms companies which not only made the mine which killed his father but also who made the bullet lodged in his skull and soon forms his plan for revenge with the help of his new friends.
 

 

Review:  For some reason it has taken me until now to watch this film which is something of a conundrum for myself considering how much of a fan of director Jeunet’s previous films, which like this film play out like surreal fairy tales with an adult twist, a style he has continued to establish with each film he has made, only twice breaking away from this style of direction for “Alien Resurrection” and “A Very Long Engagement” which didn’t exactly resonate for myself and was essentially key in my cautiousness in approaching this film, cautiousness which I can now say was unneeded as Jeunet here returns with a vengeance to his more recognised film making style. Perhaps because of his break from his more associated style, it might explain the frenzied energy of this film as he comes out swinging here, throwing all manner of strange characters and hijinks onto the screen, making the original French title “MicMacs à tire-larigot” which translates to “Non-stop shenanigans” only all the more fitting.  

Essentially a revenge movie via the way of “Mission Impossible”, somthing which in the hands of Jeunet takes on a very different style than what most directors would produce given this same brief, as the traditional gruff badass unleashing vengeance those who wronged him is nowhere in sight, which is almost a shame considering that Jamel Debbouze has originally been considered for the role of Bazil, only to leave after three week due to artistic and financial disagreements with Junet. Like  Ethen Hunt in “Mission Impossible” Bazil has his own team whose members all process a special skill, it would be hard to say that any of his groups skills are anything you would expect from this kind of team, as Bazil is joined in his quest for revenge by contortionist Elastic Girl (Ferrier), human cannonball Buster (Pinon), Sculptor Tiny Pete (Crémadès), Calculator (Baup) who can measure and calculate things with a glance and former convict and guillotine survivor Slammer, while the group are generally kept together by former ethnographer and cook Mama Chow (Moreau). Reading through this skill list they might not seem like the most qualified group for taking down a couple of arms dealers, but that only adds to the fun and beauty of this film as Jeunet’s seemingly unlimited creativity is unleashed as he continually manages to find new and more inventive ways to utilize these skills and often with chaotic results.

Shot in Jeunet’s usual distorted reality, he has once again created a world which while seemingly set in reality, still allows for random daydream sequences as shown by an orchestra randomly appearing behind Bazil, only to suddenly disappear as he snaps himself back to reality, while this setting enables Jeunet to use an incredible pallet of colors while ensuring that every scene is crammed with as much detail as possible which will no doubt have some of you reaching for pause button just to take in some of the smaller details, including the bizarre appearances of posters from the film appearing throughout. Still even this supposed version of reality is none the less strange with Bazil and the misfits who make up his team, making a home for themselves in a cave carved into a trash heap, living a life none to dissimilar to that of “The Wombles” as they make use of scrap that other folks leave behind with Tiny Pete especially making use of this scrap in his inventive sculptures which range from humanoid figurines such as his weight lifter to the more simple yet none the less visually arresting dancing dress.

Once more the humor here is decidedly reminisant of the comedies of the silent era, with the majority coming from gleefully over exaggerated performances, especially on the part of Boon who makes the most of his clownish physique and even more so with the continually inventive ways the group complete their goals, while there is something surprisingly satisfying about seeing the underdogs pulling the carpet from underneath the feet of the all-powerful big dogs. Meanwhile subject of the arms race and the devastation it causes is certainly a hot topic and once certainly broached in more serious films, the tone is kept light aswell as broad enough that you no doubt keep any serious contemplation of the larger issues till after the film.

For the established fans of Jeunet’s films they will no doubt appreciate this return to more familiar territory, while newcommers will find it more of a gentle introduction to his surreal worlds than the darker “Delicatessen” or “The City of Lost Children”, with it’s memorable characters and warm humor, it is hard not to be charmed once more his work

Water Lilies

A late contribution to the Queer Film Blogathon hosted by Garbo Laughs.

Title: Water Lilies

Director: Céline Sciamma

Released: 2007

Staring: Pauline Acquart, Louise Blachère, Adele Haenel, Warren Jacquin

Plot: Three young girls on a synchronised swimming team, are forced to deal with awakening sexuality and the pressure of virginity.

Review: It has been said that the earliest years of our lives, especially our teenage years are amongst the hardest and it’s this entry point into adulthood which Director Sciamma has chosen as her point of interest for her debut film.

The three young female leads at the centre of this film are each wildly different from the other with the main focus falling onto Marie (Acquart) who is both quiet and almost expressionless throughout, while also harbouring a secret love for the beautiful head of the swim team Floraine (Haenel) whom is almost Marie’s opposite as she projects an air of confidence, while fuelling rumours of her sexual experience in order to maintain her popularity. Marie’s sole support in this situation comes from her friend Anne (Blachère), who despite being the heavier girl on the team, doesn’t seemingly allow it to affect her while also being prone to impulsive behaviour, while obsessing over François (Jacquin) a member of the boys water volleyball team.

For most of the film, we follow Marie whose obsession with Floraine leads to an unusual friendship of sorts with Floraine relying on Marie for favors, which more often than not take the form of an alibi for Floraine's various liaisons with assorted guys, yet as she later reveals to Marie, these are purely non sexual meet ups due to her fear of bleeding via penetration and that her she only fuels her own sluttish reputation solely to maintain her position as the most wanted girl at school. Still despite being entrusted with such a powerful secret, Marie maintains a questionable level of obedience to Floraine’s various whims, which often see her sitting around car parks or outside clubs waiting for Floraine, but never once feeling the urge to revel Floraine’s secret to anyone, even though Floraine never seemingly shows the slightest sign of wanting to return Marie’s feelings for her.

As a result of Marie’s friendship with Floraine, her relationship with Anne soon begins to flounder, as Marie finds herself becoming increasingly frustrated with her impulsive friend, even though she is the sole person in which she is able to confide about her feelings for Floraine. Still despite her young age, there is never any questioning of these feelings, while Marie never identifies herself as being either straight or gay, with Sciamma focusing more on these blossoming feelings than trying to attach any form of label to her characters. Still sex on a whole is never portrayed as anything resembling enjoyable or sensual, but more a political tool to announce status amongst your peers, while Anne is left repulsed after loosing her virginity in a casual lay with Floraine’s boyfriend, who has long since grown bored of being regularly rejected and seeks out Anna for instant gratification, not that she particularly seems to mind, especially when she can use it as a power play against Floraine’s control over Marie. Meanwhile despite her quest to be with Floraine seemingly being on the path that Marie wants with Sciamma teasing out their relationship with a number of almost moments, Marie is ultimately reduced to becoming the tool of Floraine’s deflowering, in a loveless event which ultimately pushes them further apart than bringing them closer together.

Shot from solely the girls’ perspective with no focus being given to subplots outside the three girls, the film is also almost devoid of any adult characters, with the few who do appear often being authority figures such as the coach of the swim team who chastises girls for not shaving under their arms or the pervert male coaches. Still Sciamma shoots the film with a thoughtful pace and despite running to a brisk 85 minutes it still feels a lot longer because of this, especially as Sciamma waits until the final quarter to unleash a flood of emotions upon the audience, who have been able to stick with the teasingly drawn out relationships between the main characters, while keeping the cinematography simple throughout as she chooses instead to focus on her characters, rather than aiming for any kind of visual flair and instead shoots the film with an indie rawness. Infact the sole flashy shot we do get is a prolonged underwater shot of the girls performing their routine, no doubt believing the drama of the story should be enough to hold the audiences attention without having to resort to fancy camera tricks to keep their attention.

While a spot on in capturing the essence of teen angst, the film admittedly is not going to be for everyone, especially with the girl being portrayed as almost miniature adults, rather than the usual smart assed and talkative creations popular with American cinema or the expletive heavy and over sexed teens, currently being overused as the template in British cinema. Still even with such a thoughtful style it still remains a highly watchable film.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec

Title: The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec
Director: Luc Besson
Released: 2010
Staring: Louise Bourgoin, Mathiew Amalric, Gilles Lellouche, Jean-Paul Rouve, Jacky Nercessian, Philippe Nahon, Nicolas Giraud

Plot: Desperate to cure her near catatonic sister, intrepid authoress & adventurer Adèle Blanc-Sec (Bourgoin) returns from her latest expedition to locate a mummified doctor, for whom she is hoping that oddball Professor Espérandieu (Nercessian) will be able to use his unusual powers to bring the doctor back to life so he, in turn, can use his centuries-old skills on the unfortunate sister. However in Paris Espérandieu is already causing mayhem with his powers, having brought to life what was a safe museum egg but is now a very active pterodactyl. Paris 1911 may not be the healthiest place to be.



Review: Luc Besson is probably the first director whom I can say was my first director obsession, an obsession which began really when I was still in school with films like Leon, Atlantis, Nikita and The Big Blue all which fuelled this interest in his work, which only continued to grow with each of his films which I hunted down, while in many ways being largely responsible for my ongoing love of French cinema.

Still the problem with being a fan of Besson is that he’s a director who seemingly doesn’t like directing, especially when his total body of work totals 17 films as a director over the 31 years in which he has been active, which I know might not make him as work shy as some directors such as Terrence Malick, but is still frustrating as hell to his fans waiting on him to direct his next film, especially when he has such undeniable talent as a director which seemingly also stretches to writing and producing, seeing how he has busied himself between films by writing and producing the likes of “Taxi” and “District 13”, aswell as also keeping a healthy presence in Hollywood with the likes of “The Transporter” and “Kiss of The Dragon”.

Still it is always exciting to have a new Besson movie to watch and needless to say I was excited to see this newest offering, which is based on the popular French comic book series by Jacques Tardi but has seemingly yet to find the same popularity elsewhere, something which will hopfully change with the release of this film, which is based on the stories “Adèle and the Beast” and “Mummies on Parade”. Besson has openly admitted to be being a big fan of the series and as such is the perfect director, much like Guillermo Del Toro was to make “Hellboy”. Despite not being the most well known comic book characters, Adèle is an instantly likable creation and while she may seem like a mash up of “Amelie” and “Indiana Jones”, Adèle is actually a lot more to her character for not only is she a female adventurer, but also feisty and self assured, to the point were she refuses to resign herself to any of the traditional expectations of a lady in 1911 Paris, yet at the same time refuses to dress in any form of tom boy fashion as is traditionally expected from this kind of character, but rather looks every part the immaculately dressed well lady of class and dignity at all times, whether raiding tombs in Egypt or hunting down a rouge pterodactyl in Paris making here every bit the kind of heroine which Besson favours, especially with his films having a legacy of producing memorable and strong female characters and Adèle is no exception to this.

The driving force for Adèle though is the true heart of the story, for it is drawn from the guilt she feel for her sisters condition, who has been in a catatonic state, since a fiercely competitively game of tennis ended tragically thanks to a stray hat pin and ended up leaving her sister in her current condition, leading her on a series of adventures to try and find the cure, with her latest hope lying with the mummified doctor of Ramesses II and his mythical healing abilities. However it is also a guilt which she keeps a closely guarded secret and in many ways explains for her cold front which she put across in the public eye, especially when it comes to potential male suitors, unsurprisingly attracted to her ravishing good looks, which is an attribute that Bourgoin easily captures, much like her complete embodiment of the role as she is completely believable in the role and easily switches between the various forms Adèle takes over the film, from adventurer to socialite with Bourgoin effortlessly making each change, let alone the scenes which see her repeatedly trying to break Professor Espérandieu, via the use of a number of questionable disguises.

The rest of the cast are equally game with former Bond villain Amalric, unrecognisable under a mountain of heavy make up and prosthetic’s to play the films main villain Dieuleveult, while Lellouche is equally fun as the dim witted Inspector Caponi, whose attempts to have dinner are frequently interrupted by one of the films supernatural events, with the tone of the film generally being a fun one, with Besson much preferring to have fun with these characters than put any of them into any form of serious context, while a noticeable absence of tacked on romance is a refreshing choice, even though we still have hanger-on Andrej, who harbours a healthy affection for Adèle even if his feeling are unreciprocated.

Undeniably this is a very pretty film to look at much like the rest of Besson’s films, with the effort being put into the details with an especially heavy use of practical effects and sets, rather than a reliance on CGI, which is refreshing only used sporadically throughout and mainly for the more fantastical effects, which ultimately pays off, allowing the viewer to loose themselves in the fantasy, rather than being sharply knocked back into reality by the random appearances of cheap looking CGI effects.

Shot with blistering speed it’s a fun and action packed 107 minutes, with the lack of seriousness in the plot only making it all the more of an enjoyable ride, especially when Besson keeps managing to surprising the audience by some new fun avenue to explore or just from the simplest of moments such as Adèle’s cries of “In my Arms” every time she leaps into someone or celebrity big game hunter Justin de Saint-Hubert (Rouve) dressing up as a sheep to lure the rouge pterodactyl into his trap and it’s the kind of film which helps showcase to the doubters, many who have frowned on his more recent efforts, will find it very much a return to form for Besson. Unquestionably though this is one series I would love to see continued, as Adèle is far too much of a fun character to be restrained to just one movie, so hopefully Besson will continue the series and take us on another equally fun adventure.

Rubber

Title: Rubber
Director: Quentin Dupieux
Released: 2010
Staring: Stephen Spinella, Roxanne Mesquida, Jack Plotnick, Haley Ramm, Wings Hauser, Ethan Cohn, Charley Koontz, Tara O’Brien

Plot: Robert is a tyre whom having gained life rolls through the local desert town, while also at the same time possessing the power to make things randomly explode using the power of mindbullets (“That’s telekenisis Kyle!”….sorry couldn’t resist it).




Review: Right from the start Director Dupieux wastes little time in letting the audience know what sort of film they are going to be in for, as Lieutenant Chad (Spinella) not so much breaks the fourth wall, but kicks it down and grabs hold of the audience directly, to delivers a monologue on how certain aspects of films are just accepted without question, using the colour of ET’s skin and more bizarrely the bathroom habits of the cast of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974) as examples of this theroy and this of course is after he has climbed out of a trunk of a police car, which inturn has just driven through a seemingly random maze of wooden chairs. This monologue it would seem is Dupieux’s way of asking the audience to not question everything they are going to see, over the films relatively brief run time and instead to just roll with it, which honestly might be the best way to watch this film, especially when you consider just how ludicrous the plot is, let alone everything else which happens in the film.

“Rubber” in many ways is part music video and part experimental film, all contained in the shell of a B-movie plot. Still this hasn’t stopped it from becoming a highly talked about movie, even if most of the discussion has been in regard to the fact it’s a movie about a killer tyre who can make things explode on will, rather than anything regarding the rest of the plot and for the majority of folks I think they will find the trailer to be more than enough, with any attempts to watch the film no doubt proving a frustrating experience at best. Still for fans of the work of more surreal directors such as Michel Gondry and Greg Araki they still might find much to enjoy here, with this film easily in the same category of their most surreal works like “Science of Sleep” (2006) and “Nowhere” (1997), while at the same time recalling memories of Daft Punk’s “Electroma” (2007). This film like that providing an almost glorified music video for Mr. Oizo and Gaspard Augé (one half of French electro duo Justice), who here supply the majority of the soundtrack. Soundtrack wise towards the end it does become kind of samey but at the same time perfectly frames certain sequences in the film, as does the seemingly random inclusion of Blue Magic’s “Just don’t want to be lonely” which comes completely out of nowhere, but helps to break up the overly similar electro, which at time descents a little too far into shoe gaze territory.

While the range of Dupieux’s creation might seem limited, he still has managed to bring a lot of character to a seemingly personality devoid object, in much the same way that John Carpenter did with his beach ball alien in “Dark Star” (1974). In Dupieux’s hands the humble tyre, is capable of not only stalking Sheila (Mesquida) but also processing a childlike curiosity to his surroundings, as he discovers his new found abilities and this is all without the aid of any additional emotions as Dupieux thankfully avoids slapping Robert with a misguided voiceover.

While the film largely focuses on Robert as he goes about terrorising the residents of the desert motel, he has for some unexplained reason chosen to hang around, his every move is eagerly watched by a group of binocular welding onlookers whose observations are frequently in tune with the thoughts of the audience, before randomly suffering a severe bout of food poisoning for no real reason, but no doubt by that point you will have stopped questioning things happening in this film. Still this group frequently refer to what they are watching as being “The film” with one member even scolding another for daring to film what they are watching on his camcorder. Meanwhile Lieutenant Chad keeps a surreal edge on things, by frequently proclaiming to everyone that they are all part of a movie, even inviting a fellow police officer to shoot him at one point, which even more bizarrely proves completely un-fatal, not that Dupieux answers any of these questions, instead leaving it up to the audience to make some kind of sense of what they are watching, though it would seem even Dupieux didn’t know what he had created, especially when the ending comes so suddenly and sloppily, despite Dupieux still setting up for a sequel which I think is an idea best left unexplored.

Essentially this film would have worked best as a short and stretched out to feature length, is no doubt going to seriously test the patience of the more casual or less open minded movie goer and while there are some great moments in the film, from the tyre in the shower sequence and the black humour of the boy using road kill as extra topping on his fathers pizza, there is a lot to like about this film, as truly random and beautifully bizarre as it is, while certainly marking Dupieux out as a film maker to watch and while it might be heavily flawed in places and suffer from some serious repetition it’s still strangely watchable like only the best surreal classics of which it will no doubt be ranked alongside.

District 13: Ultimatum

Title: District 13: Ultimatum
Director:Patrick Alessandrin
Released:2009
Staring:Cyril Raffaelli, David Belle, Philippe Torreton, Daniel Duval, Elodie Yung, Pierre-Marie Mosconi

Rating:3.5 / 5

Plot:Set three years after the ending of the original film, Damien (Raffaelli) and Leito (Belle) are reunited after Damien is framed by Roland (Mosconi) a corrupt secret service agent who is hatching a plot to destroy District 13.

Review:Coming a full five years after the release of the original District 13 (2004), little has actually changed in regards to setup, with Raffaelli being on hand to provide the bone crunching kung fu moves and Belle once again being on Parkour duties as he finds ever increasing ways of defying gravity, which also makes it all the less surprising that we are given this sequel, to a film which despite having a lot of buzz on it’s initial release was quickly forgotten, but with the current interest in Parkour once again at a high, thanks again largely to it’s frequent use in other movies, including most memorably being used for the building site chase seen in “Casino Royale” (2006), so it unsurprising with this considered that Luc Besson would return to pen (aswell as produce) the sequel, who it seems has something of a secret love for the sport having also wrote “Yamakasi” (2001) before penning the original “District 13”.
Little has changed from the first film it would seem, with the wall which blocks district 13 off from the rest of Paris, still in place despite the government promising to knock it down at the end of the first film and this in itself is a good illustration for this film, as once again the plot is there only to really provide filler between the next fight scene or Parkour showcase depending on who the film happens to be following at that particular moment, which after all is what fans of the first film will be watching for anyway and in this respect it does not disappoint as both Raffaelli and Belle are fantastic at what they do and Besson still knows how to write action, as each action sequence still has an edge of excitement aswell as realism to them, especially with Belle’s main Parkour chase sequence which sees him leaping from the roofs of blocks of flats and generally treating the environment around him as his personal playground and generally making it look effortless.

This time round we are shown more of District 13 which now has gained more of a multicultural feel, with of course the main gangs all belonging to different ethnic groups, making it easier to distinguish between them, though the majority of characters belonging to these gangs are largely ignored until the finale when the gangs must learn to put their differences aside in order to save the district. It’s kind of shame really that none of these colourful characters are put to better use, much like the corrupt secret service agents, who despite receiving a strong introduction, quickly seem more like the baddie of the week on some cop show, than any real threat to our heroes, thanks largely to them being placed firmly in the background, only popping up occasionally to mutter a few words about their evil plot.
The pacing it has to be also said feels quite sloppy especially when you consider that the film is entering the final half hour and Damien and Leito are still running around the same police station that Damien was put into near the start of the film, possibly making it the longest prison break ever seen in an action film.

Although it has a brief running time, it still feels as if it runs for too long and that it has to be said it largely down to such weak plotting, that by the time the finale rolls around, your more caught up in the martial arts action, than the actual purpose they are fighting for. It however for those tuning in for more displays of the talents of Belle and Raffaelli , they still might something to enjoy here, but at best it is strictly disposable entertainment.

Grapes of Death

Title: Grapes of Death
Director: Jean Rollin
Released: 1978

Staring: Marie-Georges Pascal, Felix Maten, Serge Marquand

Rating: 2 / 5

Plot: Elisabeth (Pascal) is on the train to see her boyfriend, when she is attacked by a man with a strange skin condition. Fleeing the train she finds herself stranded in a remote wine making village, where pesticides have caused the local villagers to go insane.

Review: So finally I’ve got round to watching a film by Jean Rollin, who is probably best known for his work in the horror genre, with this film being the first French gore film. He is also a director who has received numerous amounts of praise from both Jenn over at “The Cavalcade of Perversions” aswell as the “Vicar of VHS” which I saw as being more than enough to hunt out a bunch of his films, with the intention of making some sort of season out of it here on the blog, in much the same way as I did for Ozploitation Month. Sadly after sitting through this film I might be putting some space between this review and my next look at one of his films, as I found this film largely inaccessible, despite reading numerous comments from fan’s of his work who claim, that this is in-fact his most accessible film, which kind of doesn’t bode well for the other films of his I still have left to watch.

I should start really by clearing up the slightly misleading description which came, on the cover of my DVD version which describes this film as a “Erotic Zombie Classic” which are not really the words I would have used to describe it, seeing how the insane villagers are pretty much that insane with a slightly nasty looking skin infection and outside of the shambling horde they form, they share very little in common with what many would consider to be the traditional description of a zombie. As for erotic, outside of a few shots of naked women, there is nothing even remotely erotic to be found here.
“Grapes of Death” was a rare departure for Rollins, who is more usually associated with Vampire films and here appears to be throwing his hat in the ring, by giving his take on the Zombie genre, with the film baring a large amount of similarities especially in terms of atmosphere to George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead”, though were Romero used sporadic moments of explosive action, as he slowly cranks the tension, it is clear that Rollins intended to do the same here as well, though failing to achieve the same effect, as outside of a few moments such as Elizabeth’s meeting with the blind girl Lucy and their eventual discovery of the village, the majority of these moments fail to build any can of tension, for the viewer and only serve to increase the boredom of having to watch Elizabeth run around another set of empty fields.
The plot is pretty straightforward with Elizabeth running from scene to scene with only a seemly unaffected Bridget (Bridget Lahaie) appearing in the third act to break things up slightly, though no reason is ever given for how she has escaped being infected, nor why she is acting like some form of cultist?
Despite being largely devoid of gore, the few scenes which we do get are particularly graphic, including a beheading and a father attacking his infecting daughter with a pitchfork, but for those watching the film with any form of intrest, the majority of these effects come off more cheesy than scary, thanks mainly to poor execution. However the make up effects for the infected are particularly effective and on occasion, actually left me feeling kind of queasy, while wondering if these infected were any form of inspiration for the more OTT zombies seen in Rodriguez’s “Planet Terror” (2007)? While watching I also couldn’t help but think of “Resident Evil 4” especially in the terms of setting, as the isolated village is certainly a welcome change from the usual deserted city, which are all so familiar with the zombie genre and here it works well to provide some kind of tension, which is constantly being lost either through the painfully slow moving nature of the plot, or those bizarre occasional bursts of Synthesiser music, which pop up through out the film, only to end suddenly when a scene changes.

All in all this wasn’t a great first jaunt into the world of Jean Rollins and I hope that this is perhaps just not the film for me, much like Jean-Luc Godard’s “Weekend” (1967) which like a lot of Rollins work, has received a large amount of praise, the reasons for which I have never been able to decipher and it is really my hope that with further viewings that I might finally discover those reasons which have put him in such high regard.