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"The Other Side Of
Paris" |
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Directed by Pierre Morel
- Written by Luc Besson,
Larbi Naceri
Starring David Belle,
Cyril Raffaelli, Larbi
Naceri, Tony D'Amario
Distributed by Magnolia -
2006 - 85mins - Rated R |
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Richard Propes'
Review
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B- |
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Welcome to District B13. Welcome to the future. |
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The year is 2010. The
setting is Paris, France. The French government has cordoned off the
city's ghetto areas into districts, complete with police checkpoints,
barb-wire fences, and immense walls to keep the "undesirables" inside
the ghetto areas and to protect the more affluent French.
The worst of these ghetto areas is "B13," an area marked by such
extreme violence that the schools have been closed and even the police
station is preparing to close. The drug lord Taha (Larbi Naceri) is in
power here, backed by his enforcer, appropriately named K2 (Tony
D'Amario).
"District B13" is produced by Luc Besson, who has almost
single-handedly brought life to the action genre in France. In this
film, which he co-wrote with the aforementioned Naceri, Besson turns
over the directing chair to Pierre Morel, his long-time
cinematographer. This is Morel's first feature film, but he's clearly
learned well the fine art of action film-making by working beside
Besson.
To attempt to explain the plot of "District B13" would be pointless.
Plot is irrelevant here. "District B13" is almost solely devoted to
action, and the action in "District B13" is mesmerizing, largely due
to Morel's wise casting of two professional stuntmen.
David Belle, as the vigilante Leito, is charismatic, convincing and,
at times, downright funny as a man who was born inside B13 but who has
managed to eke out a fairly peaceful existence until the day he
attempts to double-cross Taha. This results in the kidnapping of his
sister, Lola (Dany Verissimo).
Outside B13, idealistic French cop Damien (Cyril Raffaelli) still
believes in democracy, justice and hope for everyone equally.
When a "clean bomb" falls into Taha's hands inside B13, it becomes up
to Cyril and Damien to break back into Taha's lair, find the bomb,
diffuse the bomb and save Paris.
All in a day's work, eh?
The joy of "District B13" lies in the remarkable casting of Belle and
Raffaelli. Both actors do all their stunts, usually without the
benefit of nets, cables and/or CGI gimmickry. The end result is "old
school" action with lots of physical action, chase scenes, judo and
Parkour, a French sport that Belle co-developed that can best be
described as "free running", a sport that involves jumping between
objects, buildings, cars, objects and in a wide variety of settings.
Belle is considered the master of the sport, and his mastery is
evident throughout the film.
The chase scenes, shot beautifully using a high-speed camera shooting
at 150 frames per second instead of the usual 24, are fantastically
choreographed and flawlessly carried out. Belle and Raffaelli have a
tremendous "buddy" chemistry, and a strong physical presence that
serves to enhance the action.
Naceri and Besson's script is relatively inconsequential, and the
dialogue early on is quite laughable. Yet, once Cyril and Damien are
paired together everything seems to gel perfectly. Fans of Besson's
"The Professional," however, may be bothered by the rather elementary
approach that "District B13" takes to spelling out what this all is
supposed to mean. It's as if Morel didn't quite trust that everyone
would actually "get it," so in the last few minutes of the film we get
several very direct, concise statements that serve to spell out "This
is what my film actually means."
Morel's film essentially borrows from other action films and stars,
including Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Van Damme and others. Yet, Morel's film
is moderately above the pack due to the film's stellar cinematography,
and all-around winning performances.
As Taha, Naceri is appropriately creepy without ever becoming a
caricature of himself. His performance reminds me of Ben Kingsley's
recent performance in this year's "Lucky Number Slevin," a performance
that combined total viciousness with a sort of "business as usual"
attitude. On the flip side, Tony D'Amario adds a touch of dark humor
to his otherwise intense, vengeful enforcer. Sadly, D'Amario died
shortly after completing this film after a long career of somewhat
similar roles.
Only the character of Lola is severely underdeveloped, Besson
seemingly content to have Verissimo portray her as a stereotypically
victimized woman (until the film's closing scenes).
At 85 minutes, "District B13" moves along swiftly and because the
action is center-stage it's relatively easy to forget about the film's
subtitles. Brief moments of plot exposition are followed quickly by
prolonged scenes of chasing, violence, planning and, the occasional
stress relieving chuckle. Morel handles all these aspects marvelously,
and the script's pacing is about the best seen in recent years for
this type of film.
To be sure, "District B13" is heavily flawed with its fundamental
script, predictable plot, lack of a storyline and early challenges
with dialogue. The film, however, succeeds where so many action films
fail...in the action. By returning to "true" action instead of CGI
gimmicks or fake stunts, Morel has crafted a film that is electrifying
to watch because the audience is aware that these actors are really,
truly performing these actions. These actions, in turn, are simply
awesome and, at times, rather unbelievable in nature.
A strong chemistry between the lead actors, excellent cinematography,
a solid score with an excellent soundtrack, pitch-perfect pacing and
fantastic fight choreography combine to elevate "District B13" into
one of this year's most exciting and entertaining action films.
Fans of Luc Besson and fans of the action genre would do well to put
"District B13" on their must-see list. |
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© Written by Richard Propes -
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