Paris Lockdown

[Guy Savage]

Ok so it's not noir, but this French crime film is well worth catching: Paris Lockdown.

[Night Editor]

Ok so it's not noir, but this French crime film is well worth catching: Paris Lockdown.

Well, I dunno. While I can see you and me liking it, some might find it tough-going.

From a Variety review...

"Very bad men do very bad things on a daily and/or nightly basis in "Crime Insiders," an extremely violent gangster pic awash in brutal guys, guns, dope, prostitutes, night clubs and foul language. Portrait of career criminals going about their menacing business is visceral without being interesting. Pic's major distinction is displaying far more murders than most Gallic fare (outside the horror genre). Venture got the rare 16-and-over rating in Gaul, while "Apocalypto" was approved for 12 and up. While almost certainly marketable offshore, soulless shoot-'em-up is a step backward for Frederic Schoendoerffer ("Secret Agents").

Although pic's high body-count is achieved mostly with large, noisy weapons on Paris streets, law enforcement types figure in only one scene. Nearly an hour in, when cops bust crime lord and racketeer Claude Corti (Philippe Caubere) -- whom we've seen apply a power drill to a man's knees and a knife to his eyeballs, in addition to ramming a large metal rod up an underling's rectum -- it's for possession of counterfeit vehicle registration forms.

Claude goes to prison and his associates have to decide whether to run things faithfully in his stead or try to take his place. Restless widescreen camera and lots of brooding closeups give a you-are-there feeling to the sordid proceedings.

Caubere, a legit dynamo last seen on screen in hits "My Father's Glory" and "My Mother's Castle" some 15 years ago, chews the scenery with textbook malice, injecting a micron of humor with his loving mistress, Beatrice (Beatrice Dalle).

A seemingly endless supply of nubile, compliant young women runs the gamut from pole dancers to prostitutes and from sluts to whores, with rapes and beatings so standard as to be banal."

Fair enough?

[Guy Savage]

I would hazard a guess that many posters here would appreciate this film. Yes there's action and a definite body count but the film is also a character study of criminals. While they collectively express the desire to keep the status quo, they are naturally contentious and paranoid--hence constant battles. The film shows the gangsters' creativity when it comes to their use of women for easy sex, but at the same time the plot emphasises the morally bankrupt home life of these gangsters. So while they run the hos who twirl around poles by night, they also have to keep the little woman at home happy. The contrast between their pleasure-seeking work lives and their miserable home lives is laughable, but it still rings of the truth.