In the early years of sound, French auteurs were greatly influenced by Hollywood fare. In the 60’s they went their own way with the New Wave (yuck), which influenced many American film-makers (double yuck). Now it seems the pendulum is swinging back again. Luc Besson may have started it as far back as 1990 with
La Femme Nikita, and continued in ‘94 with
Leon: The Professional, flicks that featured slam bang action. Guillaume Canet contributed to the trend with
Tell No One (2006), based on the novel by Harlan Coben. Last night I watched another in this line,
The Prey (2011), courtesy of Netflix. It is an amalgam of familiar themes and elements: a prison escapee, a tough as nails, highly intelligent female detective; a kidnapped beautiful little girl; a serial killer; chases; stunts that defy credulity; brilliant color; beautiful landscapes. In a Special Features interview, director Eric Valette, with whose work I was previously unfamiliar, said he told the screenwriters he wanted action every 20 minutes. The finished product has many flaws, but it is highly entertaining in a visceral way. The suspension of belief is required, as is the case with so many movies this side of the Atlantic. I lapped up the entire hour and forty-two minutes. Only the faces of two of the minor players were familiar: Sergi Lopez from the great
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and the gorgeous Caterina Murino, who appeared in
Casino Royale (2006) and one of my favorite PBS detective mini-series,
Zen (2001), which, to my chagrin, filmed only four episodes. The cast plays it straight and intense. I regard
The Prey as a popcorn movie -- sheer entertainment. The dubbing is fine, only a few oddities in dialogue, which doesn't really matter in such a film. It can be watched with subtitles as well. On a scale of five, 3.75. The 13 contributors who have rated it at IMDb forge to a consensus of 6.7 of ten. Here’s a pic of the lovely Alice Taglioni, who played the detective:
I wasn’t surprised when I went out for my morning walk and saw a thin layer of snow on cars and grass surfaces. It's been that kind of year weather-wise. I encountered two people scraping their windshields. They didn’t look pleased. I didn't look forward to setting up shop in the cold and almost turned back when I saw a crew in my usual nook, installing windows on the still empty ground floor apartments flooded by Hurricane Sandy. Instead I set up across the street, in the sunshine, which made the windy conditions tolerable. My thanks to Alan, who bought a thriller, and to the elderly gentleman who purchased five books in Russian. He is going on a cruise of the Bahamas Thursday. I had only two Russian books left, but that was immediately remedied by my next door neighbor, Simon, who gave me two boxes full of classics: Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Zola, etc.
Spasibo, sir. I don't know if they will be as popular as the previous batch of modern novels, and their condition is only fair to good, but the endeavor feels a lot less futile whenever I have wares to offer the dominant group of the neighborhood.
Vic's 4th Novel:
http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh Vic's 3rd Novel:
http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3 Vic's Website:
http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/ Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle):
http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb Vic's 2nd Novel:
http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6 Vic's 1st Novel:
http://tiny.cc/94t5h Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle:
http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3 Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle:
http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp Vic’s Short Story on Kindle:
http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
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