Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

tony_le_stephanois I remember vividly watching the film in 1996. It had a recommendation (as it says on the poster): 'Just as gritty as Reservoir Dogs'. We were disappointed. This wasn't Reservoir Dogs at all!How wrong was I. Twenty years later there are a lot of documentary-like series about the lives of cops, for example Engranages. Well, L627 is EXACTLY as these TV series, but twenty years earlier. The cops from L627 and Engranages both work in the underbelly of Paris, where tourists won't come. We see the REAL lives of cops. Eating together, joking together, doing undercover operations together, shouting at each other, visiting squats. These are not the overly cool cops from other films, these are real people dealing with fears and tensions. The only thing from the series that is missing here, are judges and lawyers.The thing that stands out, is how all kinds of stories are intertwined, just like in real life (and just like in Engranages), without leading towards a 'bad guy' to catch, as crime flicks usually do. It's about an hopeless fight against the drugs trade, without the proper resources. Suddenly you realize how much improvisation and intelligence this job needs. A job in which you even have to negotiate with a school director about using a classroom for a lookout, you can't have a decent car and have to pay your own camera when you want to film something.No wonder it has been written by Tavernier together with a drug squad detective. With its two hours runtime L627 is almost as a mini TV series in itself. And just like Engranages and The Wire it boasts not only realism, but also terrific acting by a largely unknown cast. As in these series they have a wonderful chemistry together – for example when they are joking with each other. There's even one running joke… In the midst of all this is Lulu. He is only loosely the protagonist – as was Laure in Engranages (who has many similarities with the character of Marie in this film, by the way).It isn't a pretty film, it has not really a cinematic feeling you are used to. But it is ahead of its time as many films nowadays are aiming at documentary-like realism. Therefore it demands a lot of attention and concentration in the beginning and it might be difficult to get into. It is certainly NOT the kind of film teenagers would like to see, I can say from my own experience.

adrean-819-339098 This film was a relentless eye opener to a seedy world which we do not want to believe is true but unfortunately as in the case of Paris it has only gotten worse.What makes the film work? Well I think it works because of the broken up and choppy style between scenes. We do not move from scene 1 to 2 to 3 until eventually we come to a happy conclusion, instead we are moved here and there not ultimately leading us to a big bust or the worst bad guy, but simply the guys the police have to deal with on a daily basis. At least for me these small time crimes are reflective of real police work, we are not chasing some super intelligent sicko serial killer here, it's not CSI, Bones, or any of those silly shows.In a perfect world the police would have the resources and power to stop illegal acts, but the police force like any large government institution becomes bogged down and convoluted under it's own weight. Imagine writing off to the stationery department to get a stapler if you were a cop, this would invariably happen. And at least Tavernier can show us the unglorious truth in it's ridiculous splendour.There is also no black and white areas here. The police give junkies drugs for information. They use some tough methods with the criminals. They're methods are often made up on the spot and often things go horribly wrong.I cannot recommend this film enough. I picked it up on the off chance and I was not at all disappointed.

Bob Taylor TFO is running a series of Bertrand Tavernier's films; L. 627 is just another example of this man's bewildering versatility--costume epics, science fiction, exotic noir, gritty slice-of-life pictures. Here we have police procedure with a more despairing tone than Hollywood has ever given us. The light cynicism of the French Connection has become a cry of despair over police corruption and bureaucratic nonsense. The only problem: at 145 minutes, it's far too long, since there is no plot the viewer can hang on to, just a series of vignettes.The actors are great: Lara Guirao impresses as the HIV-positive hooker whom Lulu is attracted to, but can't have sex with. Philippe Torreton is his usual frightening self as Lulu's partner, while Jean-Paul Comart is the boss from hell: irresponsible (tear gas in the coin toilet), concerned only with filling quotas. Dodo leads the squad into a squalid room with two African women and a baby, the resulting foul-up has to be seen to be believed. Didier Bezace wise-cracks his way through the chaos, showing us some of his pain.

writers_reign It's unfortunate that at first glance the leading character Lulu (Didier Bezace) looks like someone wearing a Groucho Marx mask in order to rob a bank but once you realize that that's how Bezace actually LOOKS you can settle down to enjoy what is essentially a lightly fictionalized documentary chronicling the uphill struggle of a Parisian narcotics squad who can do little more than shovel sand against the tide. Tavernier recently spoke about the backlash against this film on its release at a Masterclass he gave in London during which he said that the very police who had condemned him in public later came to him in private and told him they had been coerced by their superiors into attacking the film whilst actually in watching it they felt as if they had done two hours of overtime. That is, of course, a fine testimony but it doesn't necessarily mean that the non-professional viewer will echo it. As it happens it IS a very entertaining and involving movie that shows just how frustrating police work can be in a modern society. Lacking a real storyline it builds its effects by portraying the routine, form-filling, small triumphs, large disappointments. Another great film from a great filmmaker.