Hey folks, Harry here with Art Snob... that's right, the guy that usually comes around reporting about the time the TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL kicks into gear... Well this time he's giving us a report on a screening that took place in Toronto of a film that Euro-AICN has been filling us in on for months now, but well.... He's seen it and wanted to chime, so here ya go....
Harry:
I'm in Toronto for a weekend getaway, and had a chance to take in a sneak preview of THE CRIMSON RIVER, a new thriller starring everyone's favorite French badass, Jean Reno. The Toronto exhibitors' usual game of playing musical chairs with the weekend schedule right up to the last possible moment left me two pictures short of what I thought I'd be able to take in on this trip. Seeing a picture starring Reno hyped in the newsprint ads as being along the lines of "SILENCE OF THE LAMBS meets SE7EN" certainly looked like the best choice to fill in this gap. And as it turned out, I was lucky to get in … the show was sold out more than 20 minutes before showtime. I had to use my secret technique for gaining admission in this situation (which, unfortunately, must remain a secret in order to remain efficacious … sorry!).
There are certainly some plot similarities to those earlier movies. Essentially, the movie is a murder mystery dealing with a series of particularly grizzly murders that have been turning up in a region of the French Alps, with the victims all having ties to a prestigious medical university located there. Reno's character gets called in from Paris to help the local police investigate, and he arrives with the tough-guy rep, endearing personality quirks, and complete freedom to pursue the case in his own way unhindered by bureaucratic concerns that such cinematic investigators regularly possess. Meanwhile, a local detective in a nearby town (Vincent Cassel) is investigating a desecration crime at a local cemetery, a job that fortunately happens to necessitate a photogenic Van Damme-style showdown with some stomp-worthy skinheads. Their paths eventually intertwine, and their coming together doesn't feel at all "forced." This is NOT one of those timeworn "mismatched partners" police dramas so common to American cinema.
But although the coming together doesn't feel forced, the same cannot be said for the final plot resolution. Despite much to admire -- especially in the way of production values -- the payoff just isn't there. There's plenty of good action (fights, car and foot chases, shootouts, etc.), the cinematography lovingly shows off the scenic mountain vistas, the acting is solid (Reno's ever the professional), and director Matthieu Kassovitz definitely shows that he can direct a film with a big budget look and feel. It's a pity that with all that it has going for it, the movie's ending feels like "let's get this thing over with … one more stunt and that's a wrap." There are still some major moral quandaries left to be worked out at the end, and they get glossed over completely.
Bottom line: The whole is less than the sum of the parts, and it's definitely not in the same league with the films it tries to compare itself to. If there's a film that it DOES compare to strongly (especially in terms of an unsatisfactory ending that glosses over a lot of cleanup work left to be done), it's THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL from the late 70's. If you're hungry for some solid action fare, can handle subtitles, and can be satisfied with a payoff at the level of --oh, let's say UNBREAKABLE's, for the sake of expediency -- it's worth checking out. But if you buy into the LAMBS/SE7EN hype, you're going to feel let down by the end.
Solid effort, near miss.
Art Snob
