|
Framed with a visual style that keeps your own heart from beating along its regular pattern, Audiard's latest film plays out like a lot of mind over matter - or style over substance - for most of its 108 minutes, until finally, redeeming itself in a final half hour of pure intensity and psychological bruvara.
Romain Duris, in a stunningly electricity-riddled performance, plays Thomas, a street-tough mini-mobster in Paris, whose local claim to fame is how quickly - and how brutally - he can "evict" unwanted tenants, or "elicit" overdue rent money. Seemingly trapped inside a decaying world of blood money and inevitable death-at-a-young-age, Thomas peers a way out. Running into an old piano teacher, from before his mob days, Thomas is given the second-sighted opportunity of a life in the classical music world - a life that died long ago, with the death of his mother, a former concert pianist. The only problem is, will his current life let him off the hook before it's too late?
The tragedy of the film may be easily seen its coming, but nevertheless, Audiard's down & dirty camera style and Duris' down & dirtier performance, manage to keep us from our own regular heartbeat, long enough to become sucked in. [08/18/10]
|
