GamerTab
That was an excellent one.
Cooktopi
The acting in this movie is really good.
Justina
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
zetes
I was wary of this one. It seemed a lot like this trend in recent world cinema that I don't like, where the camera observes unemployed losers who do little besides screw, smoke, and ride around on mopeds not looking for jobs. These films rarely provide any interesting insights, or even interesting characters. So the subject matter had me prejudiced against this movie from the start. Fortunately, Dumont does have some insight into these people. I wouldn't say it's a lot of insight, nor would I say that the film has much new to say. However, the characters come off as real people. A couple of minor complaints: I thought that the lead actress, Marjorie Cottreel, was far too beautiful to fit in with the rest of this picture. And the hardcore sex scenes were entirely unnecessary. And I didn't need to see Mom's vagina, either.
silverauk
The north of France close to the Belgian border is a region contrasting with Belgium Flanders because the towns all seem to be inhabitated. You explore in the film by the camera of Bruno Dumont the non-experience of living in such a town where a love-affair with the only girl of the vicinity can develop into manslaughter when she is with somebody else. The drama of the movie is that youngsters in that region have no possibility to enjoy life because everything, the houses, the family, the people is so dull and there is no work. So they become red-necks on their motorcycle and terrorize by noise the people. The silence in this movie becomes significant because it means that the boys are confronted with their emptiness and their tedium. This gives them dangerous thoughts. This movie must end with something terrible and indeed everything is pointing in the direction of hate and jealousy.
sexualhealer
Drama about racial tensions in a small French town, with the central plot revolving around a 22 year old epilepsy sufferer called Freddy. The film explores the monotonous nature of life in the town using a group of guys, including Freddy and the venting of their anger on an Arab boy whom Freddy believes to be a sexual rival. The film also explores the boredom of Freddy by showing how tedious and monotonous his life is, his only respite being found in the sex he has with his girlfriend and the seemingly endless rides into the countryside that he has on his moped.None of the film is as interesting as it might sound and has little merit other than the scene towards the end of the film where Freddy is lying in the grass after escaping from prison, which though beautiful could not begin to redeem this boring, monotonous and quite self indulgent film. The sex scenes are appallingly shot and unromantic in the extreme but I dare say a necessary addition to the film, showing the lack of communication and love between Freddy and his girlfriend Marie. Then there's the long shots of Freddy and his friends riding their mopeds through the French countryside, which are very boring and too frequent.Scenes of interest in the film are the aforementioned one at the end of the film, and the one where Freddy and the gang visit a friend in hospital who is dying of AIDS. This scene is quite well observed and the only one where there is anywhere near good acting.My main quarrel with this film is that there is little character developement and little emphasis on the racism aspect of the storyline which according to the box cover is what the film is all about. A film that has been called 'important' by certain reviewers should at least stay true to its themes and and have some sort of message which this film clearly does not.Overall, I didn't completely dislike this film - in some places I found it touching and perhaps moving, but it isn't worthy of the full marks it has been given in some reviews. The acting is sub-standard and the script is atrocious - or maybe that's just the translation, and the film is very jumpy.All in all a fair attempt from first time director 'Bruno Dumont', which catches the mood of each scene exceptionally well, but unless you have the opportunity to see this film for free, it really isn't worth bothering with. If you want to see a truly great French film - try 'Amelie'.2/5
Koenschoen
Bruno Dumonts "La Vie de Jésus" is one of the best movies I saw that year. It's a very gripping tale of a group of bored, at first glance no-good youngsters, who end up in a lot of trouble because of their racism. To me, without being a patriot, this isn't really a French, but a Belgian movie. The setting (French Flanders), but also the themes it deals with, the environment (no foreigner can fully grasp the horror of all those old people sitting on their chairs in the doorstep, waiting for something to happen, staring at the occasional passer-by). But whatever country it is made in, it is a strong story, filmed in a raw way, which very much fits the rawness of the characters in the movie. If you take under notice that all the actors were amateurs, yet they manage to make lots of so-called pros look like the real amateurs, you have to give the director credit for that.
