Racer and the Jailbird

Wait, I don't say that's not a good movie. No, only it did not reach the point I expected, especially after the trailer watching. This is a melodrama, not a crime film; or may I say a melodrama with some crime accents. You have here one of the best armored truck heist sequences ever. I don't remember a better scene since LE PACHA, back in 1968. It is a must see. For the rest, it is a pure melodrama in the line of Arthur Hiller's LOVE STORY or BOOBY DEERFIELD ( still around car races !!!). This movie is too long for my taste, but performances are amazing, as the directing. A strange film, indeed. Interesting but not what I waited for. Many things unexplained, especially the ending.

The first hour was entertaining. The second wasn't. I already had some difficulties with plot choices in the first half, but the suspense was there to keep the plot moving and the chemistry between Gigi and Bibi was intriguing enough. In the second half I find some plot choices too ridiculous and it made me loose my interest in the way the characters handle them somewhat. The sense of time also becomes kind of weird. A lot of very dramatic events are packed into that last hour, but the intensity or heaviness of them doesn't seem to come across the way it should.

I loved Karatzanis' photography and the sound design as well.

This movie is definitelty worth the watch. I think it deserves it's rating on here at the time of this review (6.3).

Love story between a crime gang member (Matthias Schoenaerts) and a younger upper-class girl (Adèle Exarchopoulos) who happens to be a racing driver.

It's essentially a drama with a little action, with the enjoyment largely depending on how much you care about its leads, who have made name for themselves in mostly French (language) movies.

"Le Fidèle" essentially echoes the "Romeo and Juliet" story where the two star-crossed people are divided by background but try to overcome their differences in the name of love.

The story is too shallow and straightforward to make a lasting impression but the charm of its stars just might - although the girl can become a bit annoying with her tendency to hold her mouth open like she was a young. early 2000's Angelina Jolie.

The international English title highlights one of them being a racedriver - the girl, in fact. Estonian title, "Võidusõitja ja võllaroog", is a direct translation from that, with a nice old-fashined choice of words to make it stand out a bit more.

But the original title meaning "loyal" or "faithful" is much better because:

(a) it closely follows the plot and tone, whereas the new titles makes one think of old French action comedies starring Jean-Paul Belmondo or something,

and (b) driving is actually a minor and essentially unimportant part of the experience. There's not even a standout car chase which would make sense in a story about criminal and a race driver

Actually, there's not much to say about the whole thing, especially if one tries to avoid spoilers. The general tone is dark, the stars are handsome and good enough actors to make the most of the material.

They have enough chemistry between them to generate some suspense but not enough to make the movie truly worthwhile.

"Le Fidèle" was Belgium's bet to bag a best foreign language movie Oscar this year but didn't make it among the five finalists to get nominated.

Racer and the Jailbird is an absolutely infuriating film. It started off quite well, it's nicely shot and looks good, has good sound design, and the beginnings of a quite compelling plot. What's more the leads are brilliant, Adèle Exarchopoulos especially so (even when her character's arc begins to devolve). But of course, it doesn't last. Towards the end of the first chapter what had the potential to be quite an interesting plot point about Gigi's relationship with Bibi and robbery (maybe the cartoonish names should have been a warning) turns into just another "one last job"and things start steadily deteriorating. But the film still holds the potential to just be a simple fun melodrama, or maybe even to subvert cliche. But no, in what must have been a misguided attempt to do the latter, the film devolves into a gritty overwrought mess. It really is quite terrible.

This movie completely lacks cohesion and I'm in agreement with a couple of other reviewers here who have said it's a shambles. Roskam worked magic with the marvellous Matthias Schoenaerts (who tried his damndest to make this work) in Bullhead and The Drop, but frankly this just failed. It sprawled itself over three "acts", the first of which was quite exciting and showed promise but that's where it stopped. The two hours plus running time felt like five.