I have only seen one other Jacques Audiard film and that was few years back and now a fading memory. Sur Mes Levres (Read my Lips) was a pleasant and refreshing take on a familiar storyline about and odd couple overcoming adversity. Since then Audiard has been sporadic with his offerings but that should not indicate a pausity of ambition.

Beginning as a prison drama but transcending those hackneyed elements it chronicles the genesis of a drug lord. Kid goes to jail, has no friends on the inside so has to do some bad shit to survive. But the survival is the deception in this case since Malek's motives are never fully understood until the end.

Tahar Rahim is getting many plaudits for his admittedly impressive performance as Malik El Djebena but the character's arc is so interesting that he could not fail but at least engender the audiences curiousity. There are solid turns in the supporting roles but no-one draws focus from Tahar and you sense that Audiard designed things that way. When he enters the prison he is naive and quick-tempered and obviously fodder for the more perverse and corrupt influences in the yard but he morphs through various guises under the tutelage and abuse of the Corsican boss Cesar until he resemble a more medicated and forward-thinking Tony Montana. You are left with the impression that in the 21st century in a country as diverse as France, an understanding of these divisions and an empathy towards more extreme views is what is required to coalesce the warring factions and exert some measure of control. These are the characterstics that Malek displays at the denouement and somehow he seems to be a more palatable crime figure as a consequence. When he kills it is part of a strategy and when questioned about allegiance he protests that he works for himself. This is highlighted in his haunting by Reyeb - the man he had to kill to be taken under the protection of Cesar. This unwilling killing is the driving force behind his disciplined approach to survival in the system. We get the feeling that Tahar hasnever fully recovered from being made to kill. This is what makes Une Prophete a very good film and Audiard a director to respect. Whatever Rahim does next he will be continually measured to this performance and if he can choose roles carefully then he will be an interesting presence in European cinema.

Howling Mad Mesrine

Vincent Cassel's contention that he waited several years for a script that was not "black and white" has resulted in this two pronged depiction of the - famous in Europe but not necessarily recognised elsewhere - Jacques Mesrine. Mesrine is in many ways a stereotypical gangster. We are shown him returning from National service as a clean fresh faced young man but that very night he is lured away to the Parisian night life by a friend of his, Paul, who is already ensconced in Gerard Depardieu's family of thieves. This seismic shift from familial normality avec mama and papa into the life of a career crimimal is never explained in any satisfactory manner. His parents are present throughout both films but aside from Mesrine's simultaneous love and pity for this father the relationships are perfunctory and predictable.
The major issue with these films is a far more pragmatic one; Each robbery that Mesrine commits - and he commits hundreds - are choreographed in exactly the same manner. They go into the bank with guns raised and lots of "bouche pas"ing. They exit and jump in a (usually) rickety unassuming jalopy and race off with the flics in pursuit exchanging gunfire like demented children on the sunny D. On more than four occasions this results in Mesrine and one of his many partners in crime slamming into another vehicle. Hardly anyone gets hit and the whole thing has a certain A Team quality to it. There are variations but basically this is what Mesrine does to help him (in film 2) earn his Public Enemy Number 1 tag. A thought arises at this juncture; Why are these action sequences so unimaginative and borderline farcical. There are two possibilities to consider - These are re-enactments of the actual crimes in a logistically accurate manner to give credibility to what is a fairly unbelievable account of one man's fortuitous rise to the criminal summit OR these are lazy action sequences from a director who has no real spark when it comes to this aspect of action film-making. A glance at the remake of Assault on Precinct 13 from a few years ago shows a dark, claustrophobic, by the numbers actioner with little flair so perhaps we should not be surprised that Richet's handling of Mesrine's story fails to be compelling when the action starts. Either Mesrine was not the criminal mastermind his kidnappings of high profile targets would suggest or the law enforcement of France through the 50's, 60's and 70's were not as opposed to his nefarious activities as we would expect.

Inglorious

Its called Inglorious Basterds and you have to wonder why. Tarantino's seventh attempt at immortality pretends to be something for everyone, from Godard's elegant whismy to Morricone's masterful soundscapes and his unquestionable devotion to Brian "Mission to Mars" De Palma's sub Hitchcockian set pieces. When this was first mooted with tentative casting being debated, the names mentioned were Michael Madsen, Adam Sandler, Steven Seagal and Mike Myers. Since Austin Powers is the only survivor from the original line-up you have to wonder just how much the original idea has been changed. It is evident that a Tarantino helmed wisecracking juggernaut replete with several A-listers would have been a no-brainer for the average cine-illiterate studio head. Of course this is all irrelevant in light of QT's unprecedented leverage comprising final cut and script integrity not to mention the free rein to rocket any deserving jobbing actor he deems interesting to stardom. Not to say that Christoph Waltz doesn't deserve such an opportunity since he is almost the only person in this with anything approaching an arc. We know so little of Shosanna played by Melanie Laurent (the main protaganist of the piece) that when the climax comes and the conflagration of nazi-killers and killer-nazis begins one little girls unrelenting wish for revenge seems lost in the preceding genre-mixing and b-movie chaos.