Le Deuxieme Souffle 2007

Alain Corneau a a facut filme politiste, noir, Police Python 357, Serie Noire, Choix Des Armes and Le Mome, Le cousin, considerat cel mai aproape de atmosfera si stilul lui Jean-Pierre Melville.
Imdb: Like his idol, he is very good in selecting the right locations and creating a mood of nightly jeopardy. The greatest difference is his lack of trust in the pictures which often results in unnecessary dialogues. But apart from that, Corneau was the only director who really managed to get close to Melville.


Le Deuxieme Souffle 2007 e film noir si cu gangsteri in culori vii si HD, nu un doar remake la versiunea Melville din 1966 (despre care am scris aici) ci o noua ecranizare a cartii lui Jose Giovanni din 1958.



Lumini, culori suprasaturate, rosu, galben spectral, de Yves Angelo; fabulos ca e pe digital, sunt curios cum s-ar fi vazut in cinema, pe dvd lumina si culorile sunt fabuloase


Influentele merg in alta parte, mai moderne, desi Corneau are 65 de ani:

Extrem de stilizat, operatic, cu omagii la taxi Driver (final shootout, filmat de sus), scenografia Thierry Flamand;

Toate shooting-urile in relanti, John Woo, cu impactul gloantelor pictural (desi Corneau zice de Peckinpah, montajul e diferit)

Brian de Palma, shootout final pe scara Scarface, ciuruit, si Carlito’s Way (pt second wind)

Muzica gen Morricone (Bruno Coulais), umple secventele




Mult prea multe dialoguri, doua secvente diferite-tortura lui Daniel Duval cu apa de catre oamenii lui Nahon si evadarea de la spital. La fel, lovitura e diferita, pe noapte, intr-un altfel de decor, un depozit. Sunt multe detalii diferite fata de Melville, mai multe dialoguri, dar filmul creste in partea a doua, fiind extreme de slow si situatiile identice la inceput (daca nu punem killerii din bar cu maitraliere si lungimea secventei/oglinzi ca-n Scarface).



Cadrul final, ambitios dar doar o excentricitate care a costat bani in plus (figuratie, costume). Oricum filmul a fost foarte scump (imdb zice 24 de milioane de euro) si nu a avut mare succes. Prea operatic, stilizat, lung *2 ore jumate*, comparatiile cu Melville nu sunt flatante si m-a pierdut total la inceput.

Distributia: Daniel Auteuil e Gustave 'Gu' Minda, Monica Bellucci a devenit blonda pentru Simona cunoscuta ca 'Manouche', Michel Blanc nu mi-a placut ca Blot, comisarul intelligent si sarcastic, Jacques Dutronc e Orloff, gentlemanul cu Bentley, cintaretul francez e cool, dar asa cum apare el ar fi fost bun si Johnny Hallyday in distributie (chair mai bun in Gus au Blot dar nu mai e starul care afost), Eric Cantona e Alban (in rolul vechi, Michel Constantin si nu m-am putut abtine sa-l revad pe Michel Constantin in locul fotbalistului), Daniel Duval e Venture Ricci iar Gilbert Melki fartele lui, Jo Ricci (la Melville marcel Bozuffi), un tinerel Nicolas Duvauchelle e arogantul shooter Antoine si Philippe Nahon e neplacutul comisar Fardiano.



Cea mai buna recenzie, Kurt Halfyard in Twitch, review de la Toronto (TIFF 07):
A remake of a Jean Pierre Melville’s classic noir and the second adaptation of a classic Swiss noir novel of the same name, Le Deuxième Souffle (The Second Breath) is an incredibly odd beast of a film. A film that is ambitious enough to attempt the revision of the entire noir visual language with a wildly vibrant colour palette. Filmed in stunning high-def digital and lit up and shadowed in a combination of gorgeous yellows, vibrant greens and deep reds. Imagine a noir looking somewhere between Dick Tracy, Suspiria and Collateral. Experimentation does not stop there as the action sequences in the film (appropriately doled out in a sparing fashion) are the French arthouse take on John Woo’s cinema of the early 1990s.



Ca lui Giovanni nu i-a placut ce i-a facut Melville din cartea din 1958, se stie,
iar versiunea Corneu nu functioneaza ca un remake, Auteuil in pielea lui Lino Ventura *plus mustata* , dar mie mi-a amintit de Robert De Niro in Once upon a Time in America, in secventele in care era batrin.
Dar mai e si Johnny To care va distruge Cercul rosu ?



DVD dublu de la TF1, cu un interviu cu Alain Corneau de o ora si jumatate, in care vorbeste despre Giovanni, despre influente si alegerile sale. Bun de ascultat, dar nu si de vazut, e un cadru fix cu Corneau. Making of, interviuri, trailer.



Corneau si Auteuil



3 out of five, 6/10

RIP Dale Wasserman

inca un scriitor si dramaturg, Dale Wasserman, la venerabila virsta de 94 de ani. El a scris piesa Zbor deasupra unui cuib de cuci, dupa romanul lui Ken Kesey si piesa Eu Don Quichote, pe cre s- bazat muzicalul si filmul Omul din la Mancha. S-a anuntat pe 29 decembrie dar a murit pe 21.

imdb/wenn:

Broadway playwright Dale Wasserman has died of congestive heart failure, aged 94.

Wasserman, who wrote 1960s Broadway hits One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Man of La Mancha, died on 21 December at his home in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Man of La Mancha, which opened off-Broadway in 1965, won the Tony Award for best musical two years later, after making its move to the famed New York theatre district.

And 1963 stage hit One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest saw a revival when the beloved show was brought back to Broadway in 2001.

The celebrated writer penned more than 75 scripts for the stage, television and film during his time, including 1958 flick The Vikings, starring Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas.

His 1955 script Elisha and the Long Knives, one of 30 small screen dramas he worked on, helped television series Matinee Theater win an Emmy Award.

Wasserman is survived by his wife of 24 years, Martha Nelly Wasserman.

RIP Harold Pinter & Haralamb Zinca

2 scriitori, cum nu se poate mai diferiti...

Writer Harold Pinter Dead At 78
26 December 2008 1:33 AM, PST

Harold Pinter, who wrote 32 stage plays, 22 screenplays, numerous TV plays and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, died on Wednesday after an eight-year battle with cancer He was 78. His screenplays included The Quiller Memorandum (1965), The Last Tycoon (1976), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Reunion (1989) and Sleuth (2007). Too frail to attend the Nobel Awards in 2005, he delivered his acceptance speech on video -- and used it to denounce America's invasion of Iraq, calling it "a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law." He went on to accuse the U.S. of supporting "every right-wing military dictatorship" and committing international crimes in the name of democracy. His obituary in today's (Friday) New York Times, written by theater critic Ben Brantley and the late Mel Gussow, runs a whopping 3,260 words.

si Haralamb Zinca, 85 de ani, pe numele sau real Hary Isac Zilberman, un John le Carré (combinat cu un Ludlum comunist) romanesc, unul din eroii mei in copilarie, cel mai celebru scriitor de romane politiste alaturi de Rodica Ojog Brasoveanu
Moartea vine pe banda de magnetofon (ecranizat ca Un om in loden), o Crima aproape perfecta, Mapa cenusie GR (da, Godzilla, Romania)

Topul lui Stephen King pe 2008

1. The Dark Knight – “The best superhero movie ever.”
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. WALL-E – “It certainly deserves to be nominated.”
4. Tropic Thunder
5. Funny Games – “A savage parody of the snuff-porn”
6. The Bank Job
7. Lakeview Terrace
8. The Ruins
9. Redbelt – “Not your father’s Karate Kid.”
10. Death Race
dixit King:

Let's start with a confession: I'm not trustworthy when it comes to movies. I'm two-minded about them. Take this year's Saw film. I sat there in my favorite seat — third row middle, so the screen towers above me — and my forebrain was thinking, Oh, man, this is the year's biggest pile of cinematic dog vomit. But the rest of my brain is thinking, I'm at the mooooovies! IS THIS GREAT OR WHAT?

So when I get flamed in the letters column, as I usually do after one of these lists, I know why. This is almost surely the only 10-best list you'll read that contains not one but two Jason Statham movies; it's that two-brains thing.

din Entertainment Weekly