Originally planning to travel down and see a 35MM screening of The Warriors (1979-also reviewed) at The Electric Cinema (the oldest cinema in the UK) in Birmingham, I found that the local train station was shut for maintenance.
Getting home,I decided to cheer myself up, by digging into the mountain of French film DVD's waiting to be watched, and got ready to meet the cop.
View on the film:
Refused by the Minister of Culture Edmond Michelet from being approved for release unless 8 minutes of cuts were made, (thankfully a uncut version was released outside of France) co-writer (with Claude Veillot and Sandro Continenza) / directing auteur Yves Boisset & Au pan coupe (1967-also reviewed) cinematographer Jean-Marc Ripert rush in with Rover on a brutal atmosphere loaded with an incredible, abrasive urgency which points towards the oncoming wave of Italian Crime/ Poliziotteschi films, in Boisset firing scatter-gun whip-pans between Rover and Favenin,which land on cold,long take wide-shots, where the infliction of deadly violence, is gazed at with an icy stillness.
Running down the back streets holding jagged hand-held camera moves with Rover, Boisset drains colour completely out of the real locations, creating a brilliant, brittle texture which holds firm, even when fading red bullet wounds jab the screen,which Boisset scans with distorted tracking shots which take Rover and the dirty cops to the murky backwoods.
Ripped from the pages of a novel by Lucky Joe (1964-also reviewed) writer Pierre Lesou, the screenplay by Continenza/Veillot and Boisset fire at close-range magnificent dialogue that burns with an unflinching Film Noir pessimism towards every layer of the police force being made of corrupt killers who tear up any questions about the methods.
The writers superbly make the only difference between cop Favenin (played with a de-humanizing android gaze by Michel Bouquet) wanting revenge for the death of his partner,and Rover (played with a unshakable drive for vengeance by Gianni Garko) wanting revenge against a crime gang who killed his pal, Is that the only one who is granted legal permission to commit murder,is the cop.
Getting home,I decided to cheer myself up, by digging into the mountain of French film DVD's waiting to be watched, and got ready to meet the cop.
View on the film:
Refused by the Minister of Culture Edmond Michelet from being approved for release unless 8 minutes of cuts were made, (thankfully a uncut version was released outside of France) co-writer (with Claude Veillot and Sandro Continenza) / directing auteur Yves Boisset & Au pan coupe (1967-also reviewed) cinematographer Jean-Marc Ripert rush in with Rover on a brutal atmosphere loaded with an incredible, abrasive urgency which points towards the oncoming wave of Italian Crime/ Poliziotteschi films, in Boisset firing scatter-gun whip-pans between Rover and Favenin,which land on cold,long take wide-shots, where the infliction of deadly violence, is gazed at with an icy stillness.
Running down the back streets holding jagged hand-held camera moves with Rover, Boisset drains colour completely out of the real locations, creating a brilliant, brittle texture which holds firm, even when fading red bullet wounds jab the screen,which Boisset scans with distorted tracking shots which take Rover and the dirty cops to the murky backwoods.
Ripped from the pages of a novel by Lucky Joe (1964-also reviewed) writer Pierre Lesou, the screenplay by Continenza/Veillot and Boisset fire at close-range magnificent dialogue that burns with an unflinching Film Noir pessimism towards every layer of the police force being made of corrupt killers who tear up any questions about the methods.
The writers superbly make the only difference between cop Favenin (played with a de-humanizing android gaze by Michel Bouquet) wanting revenge for the death of his partner,and Rover (played with a unshakable drive for vengeance by Gianni Garko) wanting revenge against a crime gang who killed his pal, Is that the only one who is granted legal permission to commit murder,is the cop.