BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

VividSimon Simply Perfect

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

seanxguy well, lets just say, from my very point of view as a gay man, this is such a phenomenal movie.its not really all about gay life to be fair, but the messages are equally distributed. in the sense, the center of the storyline is pretty balance. gay life, brotherhood, friendship, and family.i watched this film right after i watched the mostly unfabulous life of ethan green(which was like at 5 in the morning and i was freaking sleepy), well all i can say is Le Clan is nothing like mostly cliché American gay movies. it made me awake and just simply focused on the film. then, i went to sleep feeling so satisfied by staying up for watching the film.fantastic job!

yduric Some critics have said about this disaster of a film that it somehow echoes Claire Deni's 'Beau travail' or Fassbinder's 'Querelle' for what affects the way of filming male bodies/male colonies: I would rather say that Mr Morel attempts to plagiarize them and is very, very far from mastering the same art as them; I would even add that in some scenes, he even (unsucsessfully) tries to plagiarize Pasolini.Now, let's come to the plot: contrarily to his co-writer, Christophe Honoré, whose film 'Ma mère', no matter how unpleasant it may be to some people, knows exactly what it is about,'Le clan' is a huge mess that claims to explore the aspects of an all-male colony, and , as the director so kindly expresses it, the human male in its vulnerability, but fails at every level. First of all, almost all of his characters are formatted: same look, same shaved heads, same deliberately unclear sexual behaviour: it is as all of them have repressed homo-erotic fantasies, but at the same time display the most caricatural straight macho behaviour: take for instance, the scene when they're watching a pornographic film together, and in the adjacent room, there is a transvestite!!! (if they are so male, why not pay a female prostitute?) waiting to be f***** by all of them. Another example of total absurdity is when one of the brothers wants to avenge himself from drug dealers by provoking a hit-and-run car accident, and deliberately later crashes his car on a tree: another complete inconsistency; there are many others, such as for instance, the 3 brothers sleeping nude together with their father watching them with an appalled glance (are all young men supposed to be incestuous???!!!) Not to mention this bastard of youngest brother who uses the Arab boy (the only consistent character in the film) to make him lose his virginity and then dumps him for no apparent reason and continues to have sex with his flying instructor. And with all of this, are we supposed to have understanding/compassion for a bunch of degenerate characters? No, I do not buy it, and, being a male myself, I would NEVER IN MY LIFE identify myself with these repulsive boys, who no way, in my opinion, represent a coherent portrait of today's young men.

graham clarke Director Gael Morel debuted as a young actor in Andre Techine's excellent "Wild Reeds". In it he plays a teenage boy who develops an obsessive passion for a young Frenchman of North African descent, played by Stephane Rideau; Rideau being something of a prototype of the exotic, masculine male in question, (though in "Three Dancing Slaves" he has clearly outgrown the boyish stage.) In retrospect it's safe to guess that Techine cast him in such a role, having knowledge of Morel's own passion for the fore mentioned type. Morel films as a director are clearly dominated by this passion, overshadowing his treatment of the elements of story and character development which are somewhat lacking in his movies this far.Morel is true to himself is expressing his personal fascination with the specific male type in question. "Three Dancing Slaves" abounds in images of the actors in various states of dress and undress, filmed with great care and with a genuine love for the form. It's a very specific gay aesthetic, expertly executed and one that will resound with those who share Morel's particular tastes.Yet Morel aspires to more as a filmmaker and so he should. "Three Dancing Slaves" reveals moments of promise but ultimately falls short in most areas. His future as a movie director of merit will depend on his own development as an artist and his ability to bring his passion to the screen as an integral and balanced part of his work.Despite the inherent weakness of the the film, "Three Dancing Slaves" does at least mark Morel as a possible talent to watch.

Teflon_Boy Because a large majority of moviegoers expect to be simply 'entertained and made happy' by cinema it makes sense that this film would prove difficult for some audiences to digest. But I would urge anyone with a love of cinema to watch 'Le Clan' as it is a very honest portrayal of a working class family made up of characters that do not necessarily fit together in obvious ways. Though Le Clan is unbridled and overtly masculine, none of the characters are hyper-realised. Not every thought that is in their head is vocalised either and there are no forced (dare I say it, Spielberg-esquire) conclusions drawn at the end of the film. For this reason I'm sure it failed to satisfy certain viewers more used to neat resolutions in the films they watch but I have to say this is one of the reasons I loved it.The camera does indeed linger over the actors in seemingly quite exploitative ways, however I felt there was merit in this also. For example, Christophe remains clothed throughout the film except for one scene in which he is concealed by Marc and Olivier. Christophe is an open character who responds and reacts and is open enough not to require a reveal of his physique. However, Marc's abrupt and conflictingly passive aggressive nature requires that kind of adoration in order for the audience to witness the truth of him, his body and his physical beauty being more noticeable than the real him. With regards Olivier, he at first seems too young for anyone to be looking at him in that way but then he is revealed as having the body of a man, therefore demands that the audience treat him as such and as the film progresses the audience is able to.The scene where Marc is forced to kill his dog is heartbreaking as this is the one creature he loves unreservedly. Marc cannot say that of his friends, his father, his brothers or the prostitutes he visits. After this we watch him crumble eventually unable to even carry out the revenge plot he's made his goal throughout the film. Out of all the brothers Christophe represents what each of them perhaps has to look forward to, the process of being tamed, becoming a cog in the machine and taking ones place amongst the dead meat, whereas Olivier is sensitive and hard to define, both sexually and otherwise. The scene in the boathouse between Olivier and Hicham is interesting when you think of the fact that the actors had to do it for real but not so when thought of within context of the characters and their lives. While the song that bookends their relationship is so mournful and beautiful that you almost feel the foreboding fleetingness of their love as you view it.As an observer you feel as though the characters have gotten under your skin and by the end of the film whether watching as the impotent father or as the adoring Hicham you're not sure which one of the brothers out of Marc, Christophe or Olivier you care for most as neither is totally defined by what they do. I have to say I felt a strong connection to this film for reasons I can't quite pinpoint and that is why I recommend 'Le Clan'. It is a haunting and beautiful film that stays with you long after you have viewed it.