Wholey-French-retro-Moley... Luc Besson goes underground.
What even is this? Is it a romance thriller? I think it's a romance thriller. It is beautiful, with lots of classic Luc Besson composition but in a slightly grittier world. It's set nearly 100% in the underground world of a French Subway station - both the commuter side and the underworld "homeless" side. Our main character might be "Le Roller"... a petty criminal who rollerskates from police capture regularly.
He's joined by the super-blonde... well... is he the "Safe exploder"? He mainly seems to go around blowing up safes, his name is Fred and he's played by a young Christopher Lambert. He's falling in love with a girl who's safe he's recently blown up. She might be falling in love with him, or maybe she just wants to get her papers back. I think there's a subplot here that she's actually been sex-trafficked and sold into marital slavery... to some kind of mafia-boss?
Most of the movie flits between the three main sort of groups... the cops trying to sort out their subway crime, Helena trying to get back her papers, and Le Roller and Fred doing whatever it is they're doing at any time. There's also a rogue florist, and Jean Reno playing the vaguely obsessive compulsive drummer.... Le Batteur. Don't expect many lines from him.
There's a subplot about setting up a band, heisting the train-ticket takings, and drinking whisky.
It's a mess, but a visually lovely and endearing mess. It's not a bad mess, it's just an intriguingly loose structured film. I'm not sure how it really ends.
J* gives it 3 stars.
PS. Subtitles.
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j* movie reviews 2020
HumorReviews are a wild art, and I write in a range of forms to try and entertain. Spoilery recounts? Hilarious reviews? Serious literary analysis? One female film reviewer who likes action and her thoughts on a range of films. Review collection for n...
