herbiehancock

No 472 - Le Doulos Director - Jean Pierre Melville Before we begin it is important to talk about the title. The reason I think it is important is that it is the first thing that the film talks about. It should therefore be the first thing I talk about. To quote the pre -title disclaimer: In slang " doulos " refers to a hat, but in the private language of police and underworld it refers to a man "putting it on", a police informer. The film essentially covers a group of gangsters and 3 individual jobs they perform which are all interweaved (a jewel theft, a murder and a robbery). They get in increasing levels of trouble because within the group is a police informant, a snitch. What then follows is a quite painful hour and a bit of watching the main character, Faugel (who will never be as cool as the protagonists of Melville's later work Le Cercle Rouge ), get further and further into trouble and getting more and more pissed off with the informant. We are int...

No 298 - Le Cercle Rouge Director - Jean-Pierre Melville So, I've not posted for a little bit but I have a triple whammy of film posts to put up. Firstly a film I had tried to watch but had had to bail due to a chronic hangover. This was days, if not weeks, ago. I was then under the foolish belief that I wouldn't enjoy it. I was wrong. I don't enjoy HANGOVERS. The film follows two criminals and begins by explaining how they meet up and subsequently join forces for a massive jewelry heist. The first is Corey, fresh out of jail and hustled straight into a job by a corrupt cop. He is sort of the goody I guess. He is however incredibly cool. A very quiet and calculating figure. He seems meticulous with every movement he makes. And he has the most amazing late 60's moustache . Genuinely awesome. I like Corey. He definitely comes out of his as the most impressive figure. He proves you can wear a mac without looking like a creepy paedophile. Something is never achieved in...

No 196 - Amelie Director - Jean-Pierre Jeunet I have just been to France for a week. Which was lovely. Wherein I decided, rather than sitting indoors with a DVD player I should go to the pool. Reintroduce my self to Ping Pong . Sip fine red wines as I read American Gods . Visit Cognac and stare in disbelief at 200 year old bottles of booze which cost upwards of £1,500. So I did all these things and I returned to England. I sit in my Putney home feeling fully Francophillic with nothing worth drinking but a bottle of White wine. Therefore it seemed a butch and manly evening of plonk and Amelie was in order. Or to give it its full name (which is never used for some reason) The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain . Or... to give it its actual proper and real name Le fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain . Before I start talking about the film, I want to mention the oddness of the stock from which it emerged. By which I don't mean I'm going to get hideously geeky about negatives...