Lupin

[Drunk Monk]

5 eps each under an hour on Netflix. We're 2 eps deep. 

Set in Paris, Omar Sy plays a master thief who plans to rob the Louvre. But there's more. A lot more. I won't spoil the first big twist (but I saw it coming). It's face paced and stylish, absurdly illogical at points like so many heist stories, but it has this mission impossible spy vibe that's fun and I like the protag. 

We swapped to watch it in the original French with subtitles. That just feels better for Paris. Already spotted many places we visited, not just the Louvre. 

The guiding theme is Arsene Lupin, the Gentleman thief, a French book series from 1905. Sy's character uses the Lupin books as a guideline for his own shenanigans. I don't know anything about these books, but perhaps that adds depth to the tales. 

No sword fights yet. Won't make a recommendation until we finish it, and we likely will as we're engaged thus far.

[Greg]

I saw the trailer for this on Netflix. Looked interesting. tQ and I will probably watch an episode

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Isn't this from the anime series?

[Drunk Monk]

Not quite. Both this new Netflix Lupin and that Lupin anime/manga franchise draw from the Arsene Lupin, the Gentleman thief book series 9I only know because PPFY brought it up and I got curious enough to search the web). 

Has anyone read those? I was completely unfamiliar with them. The web also tells me there was a 2004 movie version of the original books. Apparently there were a few - like 2 dozen depending upon how you count them. 

[Drunk Monk]

Dammit.

Ep 5 ends in a cliffhanger. It's not just 5 ep. There are 5 more eps. And it was just getting good.

Netflix has not announced when the next 5 will be released.

Don't do it. Wait for it.

And if you do do it, do it in French.

[thatguy]

And if you do do it, do it in French.

c'est ça q'elle a dit

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

And if you do do it, do it in French.

c'est ça q'elle a dit

--tg

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Wha’? You mean the *flower* lupin?

[Drunk Monk]

Arsene Lupin (2004)
This is actually a French film I watched on Amazon Prime. It's based on the root character and stars Kristen Scott Thomas and Eva Green, who are both fluent in French. It's an actioner, a creation story for Lupin, starting from his childhood and moving rapidly to him becoming a master gentleman thief. 

It's absurd, so fast paced that it gets muddled and confusing. We enjoyed it. Apparently there's one room they always let you film in the Louvre, the one with the statue of Diana in the middle. There's a DaVinci code like mystery to find a royal treasure using clues in crucifixes and Thomas plays this centenarian witch. 

The saving grace is that there's a lot of Savate. The disappointment is that Savate training takes place in a gorgeous Salle d'Armes (walls of swords and armor) and one dude even dons fencing garb for some single stick but no sword fight. Recommended for DOOM francophiles.

[thatguy]

In the lighthouse scene, my first thought was “Ah, a double cross!” And I didn’t even realize I was making a pun!

Re: the series -

— god damn cliff hanger!

Did you know:

https://www.marketplace.org/2021/01/25/l...es-frenzy/

“The streaming platform, in its earnings report last week, said the drama is set to rack up 70 million views in its first month. That would smash records previously set by this season’s fellow newcomers “Bridgerton” and “The Queen’s Gambit” by almost 10 million views.“

—tg

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Arsene had good fights and the current goddess, Eva Green (who is French) and a past goddess Kristin Scott Thomas. I’d call it a win, but it runs long and can’t decide if it is a gentleman thief movie, a Dan Brown thing, or Raiders of the Lost Ark. @ goddesses, though, so really a total win.

[Drunk Monk]

Agreed. It tries to do too much, be too many things, and that makes it long. 

The Savate looked authentic, but I don't really know Savate that well. It just has a lot of very extended kicks. There were some good action sequences. 

And the goddesses were divine, especially to hear them speak French. Because you know..

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

June 11

[Drunk Monk]

P2e1: picks up right where it left off, but to be honest, we couldn’t remember all the details about where it left off. And who leaves a vintage shotgun with shells just lying about in an abandoned mansion?

It seems like every episode has one major thing that happens to drive us to the next episode and the rest of the episode is just screwing around until that thing happens.

 This is true for p2e1, although there may be two major things.

P2e2: Lupin is back on its game. We figured the ploy as it went down (it’s fairly obvs). I’m appreciating it more after reading the book and writing that Den piece. There’s Easter eggs I’m seeing now, like 813 and Ganimard, which I had the foresight (luck) to mention in my article.

Still satisfying, mostly for the French.