06-11-2025, 11:48 PM
Considered by any to be one of the greatest French noir crime films ever, this has been in my queue for a long time - it’s cited as the inspiration for Travis Bickle to John Wick, a pivotal pioneering classic.
I dunno man. Sometimes I just don’t get French film. It’s moody, with some brilliant cinematography and composition, but it moves at such a glacial pace. Alain Delton plays Jef Costello, a handsome dapper hitman in a tailored trench and fedora. He methodically sets up alibis for a hit, then gets tracked down by the police who task a ridiculous number of cops to tail him in an absurd police procedural.
There’s ruminating existential philosophy and plenty of cigarettes with a grimy urban Parisian (?) streets. Perhaps this film has been referenced so much by its many successors that it dulls its shine for me. It is ponderously slow, so self absorbed in its own scenery that I checked my phone a lot to stay awake. There’s some great period decor - the cars and telephones are awesome. There’s lots of shots of the streets, the metro, and Jet’s sad apartment with his little pet bird (there’s some artsy metaphors to be made about the bird). I did like its atmosphere and 60s euro vibe. But ultimately I expected more.
Not overly D00M recommended unless you’re an artsy cinemaphile.
I dunno man. Sometimes I just don’t get French film. It’s moody, with some brilliant cinematography and composition, but it moves at such a glacial pace. Alain Delton plays Jef Costello, a handsome dapper hitman in a tailored trench and fedora. He methodically sets up alibis for a hit, then gets tracked down by the police who task a ridiculous number of cops to tail him in an absurd police procedural.
There’s ruminating existential philosophy and plenty of cigarettes with a grimy urban Parisian (?) streets. Perhaps this film has been referenced so much by its many successors that it dulls its shine for me. It is ponderously slow, so self absorbed in its own scenery that I checked my phone a lot to stay awake. There’s some great period decor - the cars and telephones are awesome. There’s lots of shots of the streets, the metro, and Jet’s sad apartment with his little pet bird (there’s some artsy metaphors to be made about the bird). I did like its atmosphere and 60s euro vibe. But ultimately I expected more.
Not overly D00M recommended unless you’re an artsy cinemaphile.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse