Maré Negra

Vincent Cassel was good in this film. He's convincing as a slimeball, wacked out cop trying to solve a disappearance.

It was a thriller with lots of twists & turns. I didn't always find the plot particularly convincing. Some stretches of the imagination are necessary.

A bleak and dramatic French who dunnit movie, worth watching because of the great actors starring in it.

The story: A French who dunnit story about the sudden disappearance of a schoolboy. What happened to him and is someone in his surroundings responsible for his disappearance?

The good: Excellent French actors. One of the best one could find in French cinema these days.

The bad: A few parts of this story arent very credible and seem a bit far fetched. That's a shame, because this movie is meant to be a drama, and when I think that the story is kinda unbelievable (at moments) then I cant get (really) excited by the story or moved by the characters any more. Could have been better, but still worth watching.

As a very angry alcoholic police inspector with a troubled teenage son, who finds himself investigating the disappearance of another teenage boy, Vincent Cassel is terrifically good in Erick Zonca's first-class policier "Black Tide". The material may not be particularly original but the handling is splendid. In this case, the devil's in the detail; this is a brilliantly written, directed and acted film. You might say it's even old-fashioned and what's wrong with that when it's coupled with this degree of intelligence, (it's even got a couple of nice twists). For once, a thriller well worth seeking out.

I had recorded this movie without much expectation (not really my kind of stuff) and it stayed half a year "on the plank" before I eventually watched it. It blew my mind. I loved everything about it. The actors - every one of them: outstanding performances. Yann the creepy neighbour: wowowow. Sandrine Kinberlain: absolutely great. Vincent Cassel: breathtaking. So far I actually disliked him as an actor (preferred his father very much), but in Fleuve Noir, he is astonishingly perfect. I give it a 10, because there is nothing in the film that I would like done otherwise. In my eyes, it is just right. Every bit of it. The acting is right, the filming is right, the story telling is right, the dialogues are right, the sound recording is right. About the latter: you hear Cassel's heavy breathing, it's as if you were him. It helps appearance and motion to make you intimatedly feel his constant state of inebriation. Almost unbearable.

As a psychological mystery I think that it was a good movie. The acting is excellent especially that of Romain Duris whom I know from totally different roles. The only think that turned me off (done on purpose I guess but still...) was the greasy hair of the "commandant". It is gross to watch and not even realistic because even if he does not wash his hair everyday, he does wash it once in a while. I guess this was done to reflect his depressive state but still for me it was difficult to watch. Definitely recommend the movie to anyone who is in the mood for a slow, dark and good mystery.