Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

acebros-1 Disturbing story of the, I would say descent (though others might differ) of a middle-aged zhlub into an S-and-M-inflected homoerotic demimonde. Actors: Yanne is suitably opaque as his character Simon spirals further and further out of his accustomed orbit; the viewer is compelled to judge his interior changes by his actions -- which, after all, is what movies are all about, eh? Trintignant, perhaps the most intelligent actor of his generation, builds a complex and convincing character, and Kassovitz, perhaps the most intelligent actor of HIS generation, matches his thoroughness and his subtlety as Johnny, who really motivates the whole film -- it must have been a challenging and rewarding piece of work for all of them.So, totally believable. That said....Simon moves from, eh, the normal pleasures and frustrations of a banal middle age, into a kind of depravity, not a pretty picture imho. Audiard is assiduously non-judgmental, and Simon seems satisfied at the end, so, disturbing....

runamokprods While it doesn't all 'work', this is a more interesting partial failure than most people's complete successes. An oddball mix of thriller, character study and very quirky comedy. It follows two parallel stories that finally intersect.a) The unlikely, ultimately homo-erotic friendship between a small time con-man/drifter (Jean- Louis Trintignant), and the semi-retarded wanderer he meets on the road (Mathieu Kassovitz).and b) a man's mid-life crisis when a cop friend is shot and left brain dead, leading him to give up everything, work, marriage, to try and find meaning in his life by finding the killers. There are leaps of logic, but some very nice character moments as well. I liked it even better on 2nd viewing.

jotix100 Jacques Audiard, a man that had written for the cinema with some degree of success, decided to try his hand at directing with this production. For this event he decided to adapt a Teri White novel, "Triangle", rather than create the scenario himself, which is a strange choice for a man that contributed original material up to this point. The results are mixed. The film shows elements of crime, suspense and in a way, it is a road movie.We are given two narratives that interweave each other that in many aspects is more style than substance. The device serves to confuse the viewer. Nothing is clear until the end. How is Simon connected with Marx and Johnny, one wonders. Of course, it is revealed on the last minutes of the film. There are aspects of homosexuality in the relationship between Marx and Johnny, and it makes one wonder why Simon is so interested in finding out from a male hustler what goes on in his life.Jean Yanne's Simon is the most interesting character in the film. He is a welcome presence in whatever vehicle he decided to appear. On the other hand, Jean-Louis Trintignant does not fare as well with his pushy Marx. Mathieu Kassovitz is an annoying presence in the way he was asked to play Johnny. Bulle Ogier is only seen briefly.Gerald Sterin's dark photography is perfect for the dark atmosphere the director was trying to achieve. Alexandre Desplat's musical score works well within the context of the film.

writers_reign This was the first film by Jacques Audiard whose father Michel wrote more than 120 screenplays, mostly pedestrian though he did work, for instance on Les Tontons Flinguers. Jacques himself eased his way into directing via writing and won a minor writing credit on Toni Marshall's Venus Beaute though it's difficult to imagine exactly what he contributed given that the world of his four feature films - he followed this with Un heros tres discret, Sure mes levres and this years De battre mon couer s'est arrete - is light years away from that of Marshall. On balance it's not a world I care much about though usually there's at least something to admire - Manu Devos for example - in each one with the possible exception of the last. In this debut he got to work with Jean-Louis Trintignant and Jean Yanne and an elliptical plot that emerges like Kafka being proof-read by Faulkner. It takes a while but eventually we realize that Marx (Trintignant) is addicted to gambling but not, alas, to winning. To get out of the hole he reluctantly agrees to 'hit' someone but finds he can't do it so a younger man, Johnny (Matthieu Kassovitz) with learning difficulties, who has attached himself to Marx, volunteers to deputise, thus do people bond. Somewhere along the line Johnny wastes an undercover cop Mickey (Yvon Back) which disturbs Michey's friend Simon Hirsch (Jean Yanne) so much that he sets out on an individual crusade to track down the killers. Would that it were as simple as I've described it here but it seems that Audiard doesn't do straightforward we're fed information via an eye-dropper whilst incidentally exploring the world of homo-eroticism. Bulle Ogier, a major selling-point for me has a blink-and-you'll miss it cameo and that's about it. I'm glad I saw it but wouldn't necessarily go back for seconds.