Lacombe Lucien

Genre: wartime drama  

With: Pierre Blaise (Lucien Lacombe), Aurore Clément (France Horn), Holger Löwenadler (Albert Horn, France’s father), Stéphane Bouy (Jean-Bernard de Voisins), Loumi Iacobesco (Betty Beaulieu), René Bouloc (Stéphane Faure)

Director: Louis Malle

Release: 1974

Studio: Nouvelles Éditions de Films (NEF), Universal Pictures France (UPF), Vides Cinematografica et al.

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.7/10

We All Have To Choose Sides, Don’t We?

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Story-line: in June 1944, as the Nazis tighten their grip on Southern France, young Lucien tries to join the French Resistance and ends up working for the German police.  

Pluses: a cogent screenplay by Louis Malle and Patrick Modiano, splendid photography by Tonino Delli Colli (notably the exteriors), an evil set of characters, lovely costumes and period detail, impeccable acting and brilliant direction.

Minuses: none.

Comments: a movie about opportunities, those you take and those that slip away. Lucien, a boy desperate to be a man, is readily  attracted to the world of power, intrigue, women and guns offered by the Nazis although it puts him at odds with most of his countrymen. LACOMBE LUCIEN is even more tragic when you consider that lead actor Pierre Blaise (1955-1975) died soon after its release.

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Mystic River

Genre: crime drama 

With: Sean Penn (Jimmy Markum), Kevin Bacon (Sean Devine), Tim Robbins (Dave Boyle), Lawrence Fishburne (Whitey Powers), Laura Linney (Annabeth Markum) and Marcia Gay Harden (Celeste Boyle)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Release: 2003

Studio: Warner Brothers Pictures

Rating: R

MBiS score: 8.5/10

I’d Rather Be Sorry Than Safe

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Story-line: in Buckingham Flats, a suburb of Boston, three men who were childhood buddies in the 70s reunite twenty years later when one of them loses his daughter to a murderer.    

Pluses: rock-solid screenwriting by Brian Helgeland (based on a novel by Dennis Lehane), fine direction and music by Clint Eastwood, great acting all around, an efficient escalation of tension and an ingenious meshing of two crucial events late in the narrative.

Minuses: none.

Comments: as it patiently spins its tale, the screenplay sheds light on a small, closed in world where friendship, love, mistrust and horror coexist. The murder premise leads to a complicated police investigation that will keep you guessing with every twist and turn. MYSTIC RIVER, a classic thriller that raises important moral questions, stands as a crowning glory for Clint Eastwood. Keep in mind this neighbourhood rule… some people don’t talk to the police.

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