Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Red-Barracuda In this drama a man finds himself split between his violent life as an enforcer for his loan shark father and his desire to be a concert pianist.This French film is somewhat unusual in its combining of disparate genres. What could otherwise be a fairly typical crime narrative about a violent individual at a turning point in his life is given an extra dimension when he decides to take advanced piano lessons from a Chinese woman who speaks little to no French. This improbable turn of events takes the story down a less familiar path. Aside from his criminal and musical activities, the central character also makes time to engage in an illicit affair with the wife of his closest business associate and finds himself in the midst of a dangerous situation in dealing with no-nonsense Russian gangsters who his father is trying to take a debt off. All these differing dynamics result in an entertaining and varied film. Romain Duris is very good in the lead role and carries the dramatics mostly given that he is in every scene. All-in-all, I found this one to be a very satisfying and quite diverse drama which managed to combine a variety of ideas very well.

Sindre Kaspersen French screenwriter and director Jacques Audiard's fourth feature film which he co-wrote with French author and screenwriter Tonino Benacquista, is a remake of American filmmaker James Toback's narrative feature "Fingers" from 1978. It premiered In competition at the 55th Berlin International Film Festival in 2005, was shot on location in Paris, France and is a French production which was produced by producer Pascal Chaucheteux. It tells the story about a 28-year-old man named Thomas Seyr who works as a kind of real estate broker in Paris, France for his gangster father named Robert whom is getting remarried to a model named Christine. Whilst spending most of his time with his friend Fabrice who is depending on him as an alibi to cover up for is numerous affairs and becoming infatuated with his friend's wife, Thomas decides to revive a talent he stopped practicing ten years ago. Following his mother's footsteps and distancing himself from his father's lifestyle, Thomas starts taking piano lessons with a pianist named Miao Lin.Distinctly and precisely directed by French filmmaker Jacques Audiard, this finely tuned fictional tale which is narrated mostly from the protagonist's point of view, draws an intimate and profound portrayal of a relationship between a French man and a Vietnamese woman who's communication is somewhat limited by their differing languages. While notable for it's naturalistic and atmospheric milieu depictions, sterling cinematography by French cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine and use of music, this character-driven and narrative-driven psychological drama depicts a consistently involving and multifaceted study of character where the main character's inner struggle and mastering of his emotions interrelates with the narrative's continuity and contains a great score by French film composer Alexandre Desplat.This romantic, humorous and dramatic story about a young man who is driven by his passion for women and a constant duality within him, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, abrupt editing, incisive depiction of interpersonal relations, the versatile acting performance by French actor Romain Duris, the efficiently understated acting performance by Vietnamese-born French actress Lin Dan Pham and the fine acting performance by French actor Niels Arestrup. A poetic, heartfelt and memorable thriller-drama which gained, among other awards, the award for Best Film Not in the English Language at the 59th BAFTA AWARDS in 2005.

random_avenger Not all remakes are made in Hollywood; the industry works the other way round too. I haven't seen James Toback's 1978 film Fingers, but its French remake by Jacques Audiard surely works admirably. Tom (Romain Duris) is a shady young real estate broker who doesn't shy away from using violence to make sure his clients don't forget to pay their rents and other expenses. One day he meets the agent of his deceased concert pianist mother and is invited to an audition, as he has some musical talent himself. To prepare for the audition he takes lessons from a Chinese female pianist Miao Lin (Linh Dan Pham) and despite the language barrier, a wordless understanding develops between them. Combining the tough criminal career and the patience required for practicing music is difficult for Tom though, especially due to his unreliable father Robert (Niels Arestrup) who Tom often has to save from serious trouble involving dangerous criminals.Tom's restless wavering between the two careers is fascinating to follow, thanks to Duris' fidgeting performance full of danger and thinly buried anger. Even though he maintains a tough appearance, it is obvious that the audition means a lot to him, evoking memories from his mother even though we never get to see her on the screen. Niels Arestrup also captures the miserable aura surrounding the father and could have easily stolen the show from a less intense lead actor. Besides the acting, the overall directorial style is in tune with the story and masters both hectic urban scenes and the calmer moments at the piano in Miao Lin's apartment. The shocking but touching ending doesn't provide a simple conclusion to Tom's confusion, but suggests that he has learned that he cannot flee making the decision forever. All in all, the dramatically titled film succeeds in delivering a riveting experience and belongs among the better French film of recent years.

Framescourer With the huge success of his A Prophet as last year became this, it's worth a detour through Jacques Audiard's back catalogue. The cryptically titled The Beat My Heart Skipped concerns come of the same themes that made A Prophet a tense - and epic - cinematic tale. Romain Duris is a temperamental young wheeler-dealer in Parisian real estate, fluent, if not happy with the murky aspects of his trade. Serendipity produces a remarkable plot diversion: offered an audition by a former piano teacher, he begins lessons with a Chinese girl who speaks no French, and finds the process emancipates him from the tawdriness of his day-to-day.Naturally the drama builds as the civilising effect of his extracurricular pursuit and that very job come into conflict. I liked the way in which Audiard managed this though. I also liked the way in which he dealt with the pianism within the film. This is a notoriously tricky area, introducing music or sport, events which have their own inherent drama. The non-Francophone teacher is a brilliant conceit in this respect - since we do not understand the Chinese (non subtitles) the drama moves from dialogue about the piano to the physicality of the exchanges between the characters.Of course, so much more revolves about this - like El Djebena, much of the drama comes from expecting Thomas to drop one of the many balls he's juggling - women, providing alibis for adulterous friends, the fractious relationship with his passée-thug father. A nice selection of supporting roles, from the wonderful Niels Arestrup as said dead-beat papa to the echt Parisian beauty Aure Atika as Aline maintain the verisimilitude easily enough. This is Duris' picture though. He performs with such a convincing equivocation that there is no second- guessing the script and we feel sympathy even in his foolhardiness and violence. A very good, if (also characteristically) rather pessimistic film. 7/10