Movie thoughts and fiction updates.
Stanley Kubrick saw two crime films and decided to never try and make another one in the genre again because, he said, they were the two best crime films one could make. The second best was Jacques Becker's Touchez pas au Grisbi. The first best was Bob le Flambeur by Jean-Pierre Melville. I last wrote about a foreign… Continue reading Jean-Pierre Melville – A Retrospective
Jean-Pierre Melville, ne Grumbach, was one of the most influential French filmmakers that the overall cinematic culture seems to have largely forgotten. He and his approach to filmmaking in the underworld is alive and well for certain filmmakers like John Woo and Quentin Tarantino, but much like the references Tarantino puts into his movies, no… Continue reading Jean-Pierre Melville: The Definitive Ranking
#13 in my ranking of Jean-Pierre Melville's filmography. Save for one sequence, this feels like an imitation of Jean-Pierre Melville's style instead of his own work. The style feels out of place with the story, and it makes me wonder if Melville cut down the film heavily before release. The story and character elements, when… Continue reading Un Flic
#7 in my ranking of Jean-Pierre Melville's filmography. This is pure genre style done through the Melville lens, and it's fun. It's not his best work, but it's the more refined version of Le Deuxieme Souffle. It's a steady build up through escapes and an extended heist with just enough character to build up for… Continue reading Le Cercle Rouge
#1 in my ranking of Jean-Pierre Melville's filmography. This is the most perfect combination of Melville's cool, dispassionate style and subject matter. He works well in the gangster/crime genres, but taking this sort of subdued, quiet approach to telling a story works extremely well when combined with the complete and total sense of danger felt… Continue reading Army of Shadows
David Vining, Author 