RARA-AVIS: 3 recent noir movies

From: Dave Zeltserman ( dz@hardluckstories.com)
Date: 24 Feb 2008


Over the last few days I've seen 3 recent noir movies than ranged from good to excellent.

"Memory of a Killer"--this was the one I was most looking forward to seeing, and it was somewhat disappointing. The hook for it is a hitman with Alzheimer's. I almost turned this off several times during the first half--overly cynical hardboiled dialogue that bordered on inane, and not much interesting as far as the story. The second half the movie picks up and becomes worth watching, although hitman's Alzheimer's doesn't play much of a role in the story other than the frequent look of consternation on Jean Declair's face (who was good, but much better in "Character").

13 Tzameti--this was excellent. The basic plot--a young guy desperate for money jumps at an opportunity for riches by stealing an invitation for a secret gathering. While I expected something sinister + deadly at the gathering, I didn't expect anything as horrific as what was waiting for him. The sense of dread created in this movie was palpable. Highly recommend it.

In Bruges--very good noirish hit man movie with fine performances by both Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleason, and some terrific dialogue. Farrell's performance at first seems overmannered, but once you understand what's going on it's really pitch perfect.

In 2 of these movies characters made comments about how they hate Belgium. A question for the European members of the groups--is their some sort of animosity brewing among other European countries these days against Belgium?

--Dave Z.



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 24 Feb 2008 EST