The first fame came to Eric Zonka with his debut picture ' Imaginary Life of Angels', published in 1998. The film received several prestigious awards and nominations, and also participated in the competitive program of the Cannes Film Festival. Success inspired Zonka and literally a year later he put another film in the genre of crime drama ' Little Thief' but this time fortune turned away from Zonka. In this regard, the filmmaker decided to temporarily retire from directing, engaged in other creative activities. And yet after a decade, Zonka returned to the usual chair ' Commander-in-Chief' for the filming of the dramatic thriller ' Julia' with Tilda Swinton in the title role. The general public ' Julia' little interested, but, nevertheless, the drama took part in the program of the Berlin Film Festival. And again, the Zonka disappears for almost ten years to return to the cinema with a new crime drama along with the thriller / detective ' Black Strip'.
The script was written based on the novel by Dror Mishani, and the adaptation was handled by debutant Lou de Fange Signole, taking adjustments from the director himself. And it is told in ' Black Strip' first about the policeman François Visconti (the embodiment of the image from Vincent Cassel). This is a tired old man who during working hours pulls his son out of criminal troubles. During this difficult period of Visconti’s life, along with his addiction to hot drinks, he gets a case related to the disappearance of a teenager. Visconti reluctantly begins to deal with it, but then his feet lead him as an obsession to the house where the teenager lived. He may be attracted to the missing person’s mother (Sandrine Kiberlain). And on the way of the investigation, a school teacher of a teenager, Yann Bellal (Romain Duris), who experiences a clearly unhealthy attraction to everything that is happening, is greatly hindered. Soon the teacher becomes the prime suspect. But the truth revealed by Visconti will be shocking and tragic. . .
And to understand the essence of the dramatic thriller ' Black Strip' it is probably best to walk through the main characters, while the central figure performed by Vincent Cassel will leave for a snack. And let's start with Sandrine Cyberlain. But the expanses of our country, this actress is almost unknown, but in her homeland she is in the cohort of the best representatives of the profession. How accurately can convey the image of Sandrine can be seen by the example of her heroine in 'Black Strip' Meanwhile, it seems that Eric Zonka demanded from her that the character was like oppressed, suffering and literally meek. A kind of doll without emotions, but with live eyes and occasionally open mouth. To be honest, the behavior of the heroine Kiberlain leaves an innumerable number of questions, the first of which is how can you behave in this way if you have a son missing? What's wrong? With such an empty look, jerky phrases, it is not clear at all what kind of image this is. More or less, something opens up in her in the final, but in any case she leaves some unpleasant residue due to her inactivity.
The most striking character in ' Black Strip' by Romain Duris. He seems obsessed with this story, he appears wherever he can. What drives this man? Why did he lose his peace in this case? Is it possible that he is trying to clean up the evidence and find out what the police know about the missing teenager? But the essence of Jan Bellal's behavior will lie quite in an unexpected plane. But in any case, his obsession goes beyond logic and normal human behavior. In addition, it is with the character of Duris will be associated with the most shocking and, to be honest, disgusting scene. Unfortunately, it is this scene that will leave the most vivid imprint after viewing 'Black Strip'. Admittedly, I would very much like something completely different to be associated with what I saw, for example, the course of the investigation, the play of actors, and not this abomination. And finally, it's time to say a few words about Vincent Cassel. A famous actor takes on numerous roles that do not always correlate with the level of his talent. Here, the tired, drunken hero of Kassel, to confess, reminds many others and turns out to be somehow stereotypical. And questions remain about his attraction to the missing teenager's mother. What did he want, what did he want, and what did he see in this relationship?
Here it turns out, as already mentioned, that a dramatic thriller with a shocking denouement ' Black Strip ' from Eric Zonka leaves some unpleasant sensation, some scenes are disgusting, as if peeped from animals living only by instincts. In addition, the questions remain immeasurable, but the answers in the picture can not be found. At the same time, ' Black Strip' can not be considered intellectual cinema. It’s more of an author’s thing, but Eric Zonka clearly never said what he wanted, releasing a dull, gray and rude spectacle. I would not recommend even the most ardent fans of the genre. Therefore, it is a pity for Cassel, Durice and Kiberlain - they are not to blame for such a dense movie.
5 out of 10
A teenager is missing. Growing up, not yet feathered man. Urban jungles may carry many dangers, but we are talking about modern civilization. There is not much risk involved.
An experienced inspector takes on the case. He is able to work through a limited number of versions and not too large circle of suspects. What do you suspect? First, you need to see what happened to the guy. Teacher, sister, mother, father, few friends, neighbors. Communicating with each of them is a plunge into darkness, for for all their integrity, these people, on closer study, are not at all so flawless. Therefore, the solution is excessively ornate, multifaceted, and therefore truthful. It goes beyond the genre to the exposure of the middle class. This is an urban elegy.
However, the film pleases not only the twisted plot and semantic napalm. Among the undoubted advantages is the play of Vincent Cassel, who is in the center of a well-chosen acting composition. The exact details add to the realism. It is worth looking at a child trying to understand the actions of the father throwing food out the window. And the main character's name? What a name, Visconti. What is not a reference to some of the paintings of this master?
8 out of 10
Commissioner François Visconti looks nothing like a decent man: a swollen face of drunkards, a torn-up beard with a smoked mustache, teary eyes, an unkempt appearance and a loose-mouthed gait - neither give nor take - a clown digging into the scum of society, despising them and hating his duty to rummag through heaps of shit and abomination. He is a scoundrel and a scoundrel, an alcoholic who drinks from morning to evening and from evening to morning: at the office table and in the bar, at the wheel and during interrogation, a father to whom a glass of whiskey is more expensive than a son who is drawn down the street, he is a fading candle, casting nightmarish black shadows.
Having turned on the manic autopilot, he does not lag behind the annoying teacher who knows either too much or nothing at all, he digs and digs under it, not observing other sides, obsessed with coercive exposure, but not evidence. Instead of getting a statement, he resorts to pressure. He, like a loose detail, makes unpredictable rotations, spreading his hands with his colleagues or lying on top of a witness - a destroyed destroyer, lying in a illuminated bed with a pile of muscles of ancient marble.
Cassel, having accepted the challenge, was very successful in his role, achieving repulsive appearance and intolerable behavior, lack of sound thought and all virtues. They are not in it, as they are not around – at first this is only a guess, but the further into the forest (standing at the house of the missing boy), the less doubt remains: in this film there are no rightists, here everyone is guilty of something, especially after the ragged conversation of a drunken father and a confused son, left them to burn between two fires, justice and revenge, without the concept of love and responsibility, which comes from the actions of all other figures of this sluggish play.
Writer-manipulator, mother-intercessor, father-monument - all the scoundrels and scoundrels who will not be saved by either recognition or the last word, as nothing will help this picture to get rid of the demented disorder of Eric Zonk, who encloses the plot in the embrace of personal depression, drawing his self-portrait without a background and generally without a canvas, hanging it on the thin threads of acting, almost stinking from the efforts of Cassel, in a spectacular respect, turning watching the film into solving a boring puzzle.
Movie detectives! Fus! The action-packed Franco-Belgian detective worked quite professionally, and the cast is famous!
And the fact that ' the truth was worse than the lie' so this reproach to modern reality. What can we do about people learning to be happy? And now in Paris! One of them is police commissioner François Visconti.
Lonely, twitchy, unkempt, heavy drinker (even with suspects!), ' on knives' with only son, without friends or wife. One thing is good: he is an honest and experienced detective. He can completely, without regard to his own aspirations, immerse himself in the investigation of the case and the dark soul of the suspect. And to solve the case, he does not shy away from the many hours of routine surveillance.
And, of course, his intuition, excellent knowledge of human psychology allowed him to come out victorious not only in the capture of criminals, but also in his manifestation of true sympathy and nobility for a woman caught between the millstones of a tragic fate.
All about it to the viewer in colors told the actor Vincent Cassel - a favorite of the public and a star of French cinema!
The detective story is characterized by the complexity of the relationships of its defendants. How many vices, how many lies! Gray everyday life is entangled in unpredictable, terrible actions of relatives in families. On the screen there is not a single person enlightened by a kind smile or sympathy for his neighbor. Everywhere there is a gloomy wariness, distrust and mutual hostility.
Unexpected denouement is shocking at the very end of the story.
Not quite an ordinary thriller looks with increased interest.
' Black Stripe' - Franco-Belgian detective, extremely unnoticed in Russian cinemas. What is he like?
It's hard to find the right epithet, but I'll try. The film is heavy, slow, bad (not in terms of quality). It is interesting, but very hard to watch. The oppressive atmosphere of criminal and dark Paris is felt throughout the picture. Why not? Yes, because as soon as the detectives get their teeth to cling to at least some threads, to draw by the ears at least some logic in the crime, in which, it would seem, there are no clues, as immediately there are facts that reduce all efforts and reasoning to nothing. A police officer is a difficult profession to say.
Especially when you're Commissioner François Visconti. He's a frankly unpleasant protagonist, as the creators conceived. He drinks a lot, raises a son-criminal, all the time he is psychotic, all the time pretending that he knows everything and about everyone, has a bad attraction to a woman, to be with whom he has no right. But as a police officer, Visconti is unmatched. He does his job honestly and does his best to solve the crime. Works day and night, tests all hypotheses. In conversation, he knows what to press. In general, the commissioner is not a cardboard, but a standing character.
If you finish reading the review from here, the question arises ' why are so many points removed?' Back to the word 'bad'. Often, viewers have the feeling that a huge part of the film was wasted - the situation does not change at all. In my view, some of the timekeeping, especially from the dialogues with the victim's teacher, can be discarded. The other problem is side characters. They simply do not respond adequately to the environment, factors. Plus unexplained things like drug dealing right downtown. For small things, for small things, and the viewer begins to irritate.
Actors. How good is Vincent Cassel! He just plays at the highest level! He even freaks out in his own way... Elegant. And highly plausible. The rest do not make sense - they are either children (I do not evaluate children, because I do not know how), or you have to play cardboard and / or unnecessary characters.
' Black Stripe' is a tough detective for once. Detective lovers and Cassel fans can go to the movies. I do not recommend the rest.
You greatly underestimate literature as a tool for understanding the world.
Remember how in 'Sex on Friendship' - '... at the end you put a cheerful melody so that you do not feel that you have wasted time' Title in the same vein - at the end you will say a couple of phrases so you can insert them into the review.
In my opinion, the film is great and is not worth a rating of 6. Just do not believe the description, remember Vincent Cassel as a thief-professional friends of Ocean or a hero-lover. Cassel was the only actor I knew when I went to the movie, and that would be the only reason I didn’t watch the movie. Worked out the role of certainly talented (however, it concerns everyone, watched with great pleasure the game of everyone, many moments caused a sincere smile and the desire to say - I believe!).
The image of GG resembles a dirty, lame, uncombed dog, which is free and has not lost its smell and smell. According to the plot, the commissioner investigates the case of the disappearance of a 16-year-old boy, along the way pulling out and ' raising his son. All. No shooting or blood.
Special thanks for the camera work (or directing), because the movement of the camera creates such obvious accents of attention that you do not have to look for something additional.
P.S. The film reminds 'Girl in the fog', but more dynamic and simple (in place of action), in my opinion.
10 out of 10
Everything in this intriguing film somehow masterfully gathered and very successfully developed by the undoubtedly talented French director and screenwriter Eric Zonc: drugs, pedophilia, homosexuality, alcoholism, use of office, fathers and children, loneliness, impotence, ordinary human stupidity. What else can be attributed to the problems of our turbulent modern life? We have not been surprised by all this for a long time, we are painfully familiar with all this, we are tired of it, because it has come into our everyday life as a matter of course, and we are terribly tired of resenting and fighting it. And here we kind of coolly follow the plot, with the corner of our eyes watching the everyday life of a lonely detective.
The film will not seem to you a new discovery, as its character, characters, even boring, but something he still holds. Perhaps more touched by the unspoiled, all-out, hardworking detective represented by the genius Vincent Cassel than the small pieces of the lives of all the characters. But all of a sudden you realize that you noticed them all, remembered them, gave some assessment. So the director hooked us up, hooked us into empathizing with his story without imposing his own judgments. And thank him for that. I will also note an interesting camera work, a wonderful cast, subtle humor, great light, stage production, sound, style, taste and tone of the narrative. I didn’t have enough in the film just a little bit of positivity, and so – well done!
8 out of 10
Disappeared a teenager, Dani Arnault, a prosperous boy from a prosperous family. Commissioner François Visconti (Vincen Cassel), who leads the investigation, knows that such good boys do not disappear, and he has seen a lot for his long service in the police. And then the school teacher Denis Monsieur Bellel (Romain Duris) obsessively offers his help, but François constantly catches him lying. The investigation is stuck in a routine, checking the obvious versions: drugs, Islamists, a maniac operating in the nearby forest - all wrong.
Director Eric Zonka (Imaginary Life of Angels, 1988) made his new film in the genre of detective. But don’t expect any Sherlock Holmes adventures from him. ' Black Stripe' it’s a hyper-realistic neonoir that inherits the humanistic traditions of the French New Wave. He throws the viewer directly into the middle of the narrative, neglecting the conventions of plot construction: no backstory, no acquaintance with the characters. Almost documented, the camera captures what is happening here and now, clinging to the police commissioner, peering over his shoulder, tracking his gaze and filming what he is looking at, then filming himself from somewhere below, as if forgotten on a table or on the seat of a car. And around an uncomfortable and cold city with poorly lit streets, where dark silhouettes of dark personalities do their dark deeds, and only prostitutes stand closer to the lights, so that they are immediately noticed from a passing car. Even nature is dull and unfriendly. In the yard, it looks like spring, but everything is so gray and gloomy, as if it happens in late autumn.
Commissioner Visconti, an unkempt old man, infinitely tired, endlessly lonely, long since stopped shaving and washing his hair and almost completely drunk, but still clinging to his life and his investigations - out of habit, or out of a sense of duty. Or maybe because the sense of duty has long become a habit, and beyond it - emptiness. His wife left him, his son rolls down a slope and seems to openly hate his father. And he does not disdain to ask for a drink in the apartment of the interviewed witnesses.
Police work is far from romantic. The name ' Black stripe' somehow unobtrusively hints that there will be a lumen, and a white stripe in life will begin. It won't, don't wait. The soul is dark. And a police investigation is not about gathering evidence, or playing with the mind that notices subtle details, or questioning or even spying on a suspect. Although, of course, all this is in place, and it is surveillance that ultimately leads to solving the crime. But that's just the outside of the investigation. In fact, an investigation is a plunge into the darkness of someone else's soul, first to the ankle, then to the waist. And then with his head, as in a river, a black river, so in the original name of the film (Fleuve noir). And you can't swim out, you can't even take a breath of air, and you can't grab it. Wife, son, colleagues - who can endure this eternal muttering in someone else's dung.
School teacher of French Ian Bellel, obsessed with French literature and even writing a book, seems to have to carry reasonable, kind, eternal. Why does he reach for this darkness, excited from it to trembling in his hands, with a burning eye quoting Kafka and Camus? Is he crazy? Or has the darkness so corroded his soul that he can’t tell the difference at all? The writer is a reenactor, and Bellelle with passion and meticulousness reconstructs events, characters, characters, testing his conclusions on living people and not understanding why it almost frightens his wife to death.
The mother of the missing teenager, a beautiful blonde with a sunny name Solange (Sandrine Cyberlane) seems to be heartbroken. She is almost always in a stupor, from which only her daughter takes her out. Solange has to hold on. The husband is always at sea, and she has a sick teenage girl in her arms. About such now it is customary to talk ' children with special needs' François was almost drunk: ' And why didn't you put her in a psychiatric hospital?' Hold on, bluster something about the special school. I felt a kindred spirit. Children are what can keep the black river above the surface. François really cares what happens to his son, even though he claims otherwise. For a moment, he even believed that a ray of sunshine appeared in his life. No reason. The poster reads, “When the truth is worse than the lie.” The dealers almost gave a spoiler.
Despite the fact that in ' Black Strip' starred French film stars Romain Duris, Elodie Boucher and Sandrine Cyberlane, this film is wholly owned by Vincent Cassel. There is no point in saying how diverse and diverse the talent of this actor is. He is no stranger to playing villains, or disgusting personalities like Commissioner François Visconti. The 52-year-old handsome man here is completely transformed, as if he does not play. He's unrecognizable here - perhaps the best compliment to any actor. Initially, Gerard Depardieu planned for this role. Cassel replaced him at the last minute due to his illness. It seems that this role was originally written for Kassel.
The film is heavy, devoid of any decorations or action. There are a lot of references to sex in the absence of sexuality. There is a homosexual scene, and traditional sex is more like rape. The plot can not be called fascinating, however, it is addictive, thanks primarily to the great acting work, and not only Vincent Cassel. Romain Duris and Sandrine Kiberlan, whom we know better from comedies, give out strong dramatic roles. The first half of the film seems too long and the finale moves too fast. The denouement itself looks psychologically unfounded, as if in an effort to reduce the overgrown timekeeping cut a little more than necessary. Operator Paolo Carner is responsible for the atmosphere of noir, very gloomy, cold and pressing on the psyche. Approximately the same effect is supported by music, unobtrusively weaving into the usual noises of the city or or police office.
7 out of 10
"Black Stripe" - a tense French detective is ready to please all fans of complex mysteries and mysteries, because the true truth will be fully revealed only at the very end of the story. The director of the picture Eric Zonka is known for the fact that he shoots films exclusively according to his scripts, so to some extent we observe the author’s format of telling a story. Among the famous projects are such paintings as Julia, Little Thief and Imaginary Life of Angels. Of course, the director of stars from the sky is not enough, but his films are watched, and they occupy a certain niche in world cinema. "Black Stripe" is an action-packed detective, although a specific hint of a thriller is still there, but, unfortunately, the film lacks an inflating atmosphere and total immersion in the events, because the screen action at all desire does not cause much delight.
In the plot of an unpleasant look, a police detective takes on the case of the disappearance of a teenager who left the house early in the morning and never returned. A local teacher is under suspicion, who, for all his strangeness, causes very ambiguous impressions. The detective has to get to the truth and find evidence of guilt, but he is constantly hampered by problems with alcohol, with his own son, who is associated with street drug trafficking, and inappropriate attraction to the mother of the missing child.
At first glance, the plot story is very simple and understandable to any experienced viewer, but here I want to warn everyone that in this case it is necessary to pay close attention to minor details, which in the end will lead the main character to the solution. And all would be nothing, but here the main character in the film is absolutely devoid of attractiveness. The author initially offers the viewer to plunge into the world of an unpleasant-looking detective who constantly drinks, does not care for himself and walks in the same clothes. But at the same time, despite the shaped ugliness, he meticulously performs the task. As a professional, he is a great police officer, but as a person, he pushes anyone away from himself. He has no friends, no friends, no dating. With his ex-wife, he constantly argues, hates his own son and periodically clings to everyone at work, from partners to bosses.
What do not say, but a special merit in the antipathy of such a character belongs to the beautiful play of the talented actor Vincent Cassel, who did the impossible, turning himself into a pathetic and inconspicuous creature. As for the other actors, here it is definitely worth mentioning Romain Duris (“Breathe in the mist”), who played the role of a strange teacher who will definitely amaze many, because such a eccentric in the framework of history still need to be searched for.
As for the production, everything is quite simple here, but at the same time the gloomy environment of everything that happens causes a certain depression in the viewer, since none of the characters radiates neither happiness nor good, and love is so generally associated with some associations of mental disorders.
In any case, the picture looks curious, but not everyone will like it, so I recommend home film detectives to trust their instincts and make the right choice.
Behind a simple at first glance plot - the disappearance of a teenager, the author paints a colorful picture of the world order of French society today. The realities of the new time at the feet of the attentive viewer. Family and marriage issues are on the agenda. Ethical norms, losing their boundaries in the sprawl, we are familiar with. Harmful addiction to alcohol without separating where and when, who and why. The drug trade on lively boulevards has become almost the norm. Park forest zones as a shelter to hide from the eyes of the inhabitants of the vicious tendencies of minorities of tolerant society. Passion without division into human and animal began to manifest in persons.
Like a worn, worn-out jacket, the time-old character of Vincent Cassel. He is here almost a king and god, he is the creator of unfolding action, he is the main part of screen time. An honest servant, like a loyal dog tied to his master, who has reached the heights of the police field. Not just an inspector, but a commissioner with a separate room. With a secretary to help. Grey in whiskey and beard with his experience, bags under the eyes of repayment for effort. Thinning tone echo of the departed youth, hinged mobility memory of the past. Experience he does not occupy, he ' the dog ate' in his business, but his time is running out, the signals of being are clearer and clearer. Strained by thought and squinted eyes surviving from the mind of the elder, raking in a pile of details of comparisons, the viewer explained. Thrown into the wilderness of fornication and clearly, there are no values in parsing, separating, taming the message of lust. And a stimulant to nourish consciousness day by day. At the same time, he is what is called a workaholic. Burning business, does not share the rest from Buden. And he does not separate himself from that.
Who did he remind you of? Film ' Combat ' 1995. The battle between Robert de Niro and Al Pacino. Lieutenant Vincent Hanna ' Confess ' hoping to keep within the law:
My life is a dangerous zone. I have an adopted daughter. Her real father is a bastard. I have a wife, but I don't think we understand each other. She's my third. Because all my life I've caught people like you. That's my life.
He's guarding the law. His credo is always. Family for duty. She's just not here.
A string of people sifting through a sieve of value judgments. People pass - witnesses, suspects, colleagues, random persons drawn into the orbit of drift of a lonely wanderer, the guardian of the law. His wife has long been abandoned, and here is a chance meeting with his son. Where? At school? Visiting her favorite child? No way. In the police station, in the interrogation cell. This is the beginning of the storyline of the picture, the starting point of the locomotive in our reflections on the prepared plot.
. . He judges people according to the law.
Not knowing that his son is a thief.
The personal is woven into the public and it is necessary to draw conclusions from what is happening. But is there time? Do you want to change anything? Isn't it too late? And the exit by making a decision in the outline of the picture. He's the leitmotif, the call all the way through - dealing with the unhappy? Healing society? Protecting him? What about you? Did he create a full-fledged nest? Fold him? Is it warm? Cozy, comfortable? Monsieur-monsieur.
The drama flows into a criminal detective during a deep dive.
What's wrong with that? Where did the child from the family report missing? He's only 16. The commissioner has a son of the same age. Escaped? Kidnapped? Victim of violence? All the detective experience in unravelling the case, all the tricks and tricks. Motives in the construction of versions and verification by suspicious peering into the eyes of interlocutors.
The ending is not clear until the end. The thread of the narrative captivates the obviousness of the solution, but the design does not seem whole, full-fledged. Evidence, circumstantial evidence is only a shadow, not a sentence.
So what happened? Who's guilty? Where's the teenager? The answer is only at the very end of the tape. A dull look of the servant of justice by thinking about himself and the deed to which he gave years of life.
7 out of 10
Imagine being told some slurred and rather tedious story, pausing on every word. Imagine that everyone involved in this story is not particularly smart, including the narrator. Now imagine that the end of the story will be amazingly delusional and dull at the same time.
The author and performer of his own scripts, Mr. Zonka, is a cunning man. As a cook disguises stale meat with spices, Zonka used a number of tricks designed to pass this film off as a serious drama. To do this, the director made Vincent Cassel an investigator who looks like a skewed quasimode. For greater drama, the investigator must have a personal tragedy, a freak son, alcoholism and congenital rudeness. It seemed to me that the demand for such characters ended immediately after House. Only Cassel is never funny.
With the plot, Zonka also decided to lie: why do we need logical chains, riddles and detective investigations? Heroes are just not very smart and liars. In this scenario, the viewer can sniff out any denouement: we just say that the whole film was lying, and now here’s the truth. The truth itself is just as crazy, however, but we must somehow finish the story.
For the raid of the author’s kin, everyone must be nervous, unhappy, disappointed and angry. You should talk like in Latin American TV series, long and painfully squeezing out words, while a drunken psychotic policeman runs from hero to hero, listening to another goof.
At the exit, we have not only an uninteresting idea and a boring story, but also a false-dramatic film made in the style of the so-called “European”. From such a frank fake becomes even more insulting for the time spent.
You're warned.
