Cannes 2019 review: Les Misérables. The tragic story behind the death of Brandon Lee on the set of The Crow, LEGO Star Wars, Marvel and Harry Potter 2021 set details leak online. Indeed, raising it above the surface is the point. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/28/movies/les-miserables-review.html This is a seething mass of humanity with tricolours waving everywhere, boiling with joy. Chris (Alexis Manenti) is the most aggressive of the bunch, frequently hurling bigoted obscenities and threats against any man, woman, or child that doesn’t recognize his status as the law itself. Expanded from a César-nominated short film of the same name, “Les Misérables” has been stylishly and efficiently shaped from — per the film’s press notes — over 100 hours of rushes. Rather as with Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan from 2015, it’s a movie that builds to a confrontation that isn’t satisfying dramatically (although Dheepan was the Cannes Palme D’Or winner). Les Miserables is based on similar French riots from 2005, but watching the movie there’s an unshakable sensation that you can also turn on the news and watch the American version of this story. Damien Bonnard plays a sympathetic police officer, assigned to a new team, policing an intercity town in France. Last modified on Fri 4 Sep 2020 04.40 EDT. It’s clear that there are warring factions, children that are not getting the education they deserve subsequently getting sucked into bad habits, and a corrupt police system that chooses to use brute force and racism to remain feared, even if they view it as being respected. Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables is an explosive, engrossing debut. That’s a disappointing oversight, since Ly’s debut otherwise bristles auspiciously with life and wit at the fringes of an already frayed society; in collaboration with dynamic d.p. Les Miserables. A certain other “Les Misérables” also took Montfermeil as its setting, of course: Ly’s choice of title is a brash, audacious one, but its invocation of Victor Hugo’s 1862 opus is no empty gesture. With Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djebril Zonga, Issa Perica. Ruby Rose opens up about her Batwoman exit, The Gruesome Brilliance of 1980’s Italian Horror, Commando at 35: Revisiting the Arnold Schwarzenegger Action Classic, Movie Review – American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules (2020), First-look at Javicia Leslie as the new Batwoman revealed, Star Wars’ Kelly Marie Tran would consider Rose Tico return for Disney+ series. Watch a clip from the movie ‘Les Misérables.’ Review: ‘Les Misérables’ is compelling and terrifyingly real Damien Bonnard, from left, Alexis Manenti and Djebril Zonga in the movie “Les Misérables.” (Amazon Studios) The reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication of the content (including RSS feeds) without permission is strictly prohibited. It shows the cheering, screaming crowds on the streets of Paris last summer, when France had just beaten Croatia 4-2 in the World Cup. For all we know, Chris was once Stephane; a do-gooder that thought he could make a difference by appropriately wielding his authority and enacting civility wherever he could. The film’s ambient mood is initially very good: there is a terrific easy swing to the action as the cop car barrels through the streets, stopping periodically to bust someone’s balls, or for the cops to bust each other’s balls – and this is a very male world. It’s the last time you’ll hear the people sing in Ly’s film, which otherwise makes wholly grave references to Hugo’s work: “There are no bad plants or bad men; there are only bad cultivators,” runs a choice onscreen quote. 'Les Miserables': Film Review | Cannes 2019. This movie from first-time feature director Ladj Ly has one of the most striking and even glorious pre-credit sequences I can remember. When another kid’s drone camera captures the incident, the stakes, and ensuing chase, are intensified — along with the surging hum of Pink Noise’s effectively minimalist electro score. Perhaps, however, it could use a little more of its literary namesake’s vast, sociable sprawl. No single resident of Les Bosquets emerges as a character half so vivid and exposed as either good cop or bad cop; rather, the film winds up grouping them in a hurried, imprecise strokes. He still has his frustrating moments, but there is at least someone to morally latch onto as a beacon of potential good during what basically amounts to 95 minutes of police brutality, including an accidental shooting of a black child. Im Rahmen der Verleihung des César 2020 erhielt der Film insgesamt neun Nominierungen und vier Prämierungen, darunter als bester Film. Zudem war Les Misérables bei der Oscarverleihung 2020 in der Kategorie Bester Internationaler Filmnominiert. When the debatably named Anti-Crime Squad gets roped into one of these initially minor disputes, tensions on a hot, irritable day boil over to near-riot levels, culminating in a breath-suspending cops-versus-kids standoff that sees one boy hit in the eye by a police flashball. “C’est moi, la loi!” screams a bent cop midway through “Les Misérables.” If he’s trying to emulate the comic-book indomitability of Judge “I am the law” Dredd, his shrill, panicked delivery is a dead giveaway to the contrary. A cop from the provinces moves to Paris to join the Anti-Crime Brigade of Montfermeil, discovering an underworld where the tensions between the different groups mark the rhythm. Trump and Biden’s Chaotic Debate, News Corp is a network of leading companies in the worlds of diversified media, news, education, and information services. The title appears over introductory documentary footage of reveling masses in the wake of France’s 2018 World Cup victory, a more positive demonstration of the patriotic brio that powered the 19th-century tome. We are given far less internal access to the various oppressed groups under their crooked thumb, at least until another June Rebellion of sorts gathers pace. })(); © 2009-2020 Flickering Myth Limited. After all, Paris and all France are loved up by the World Cup. Directed by Ladj Ly. In the case of a real threat of violence, the officers have “less-lethal” Flash-Ball guns that can be fired terrifyingly and deafeningly into the air. Chris (played by Manenti, equal parts electrifying and repulsive) is a nakedly racist, short-fused bully, given to harassing or actively assaulting teenagers for sport. Les Misérables review – savvy cop procedural swerves into molotov mayhem . Movie titles, images, etc. Viewers may be inclined to disagree after spending some time in the cop car that literally drives Ly’s film through the concrete wilds of Les Bosquets, Montfermeil’s most notorious and crime-ridden social estate: It would take an especially generous judge of character to identify no bad men inside it. Exploring the worn-out housing projects of the director’s own home turf — the outlying Parisian commune of Montfermeil — with a keen eye and an antsy gait, it’s a furious work of social geography that satisfies slightly less as a character piece: In its ambitious attempt to dramatize the violent anxieties of men on both sides of the law, “Les Misérables” risks selling some victims a little short. Stéphane (Damien Bonnard) is a cop who has just joined the street crime unit’s day patrol, alongside Gwada (Djibril Zonga) and under the command of the notoriously cynical, reactionary and streetwise Chris (Alexis Manenti), who gives Stéphane’s debut a real Training Day feel. “Like Miss France, all I want is world peace,” says Chris, jauntily. Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★, Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. (function() { The police rely on Salah’s goodwill, or at any rate his impassive neutrality. But what begins as a fascinatingly tough cop procedural gets less interesting when the violence begins, and it becomes a solemnly ponderous issue movie on those familiar subjects of police brutality and community divisions. Two plainclothes cops, veteran members of a French street-crime unit, take a new addition to their team on... Get a 20% American Eagle coupon with your new AEO Connected credit card, Get 25% Macy's coupons with email and text sign up, Download the mobile App for free Nordstrom coupons, 20% off 1st in-app purchase over $65 with Forever 21 coupon code, South Korea’s Universal Basic Income Experiment to Boost the Economy, Election 2020: Pivotal Moments in a Turbulent Presidential Campaign, North Korea Unveils Giant New Missile at Military Parade, 'Would You Shut Up, Man?' Les Misérables, 2019. © Copyright 2020 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. Read Next: Tom Burke on Working With ‘Watchmen’ Creator Alan Moore in ‘The Show’ & Becoming Orson Welles in ‘Mank’, Lumiere Fest Honors the Dardenne Brothers’ Career of Uncompromising Realism, BFI London Film Festival Adjusts Lineup With Film Shortage, ‘Siempre, Luis’ Review: Portrait of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Dad Aims to Tell His Story, But Can’t Resist the Stage Lights, Margaret Nolan, ‘Goldfinger’ Model and Actress in ‘A Hard Day’s Night,’ Dies at 76, Jack White Nods to Eddie Van Halen, Slays 'SNL' Performance That Trades Wallen for Wailing, Why HBO’s ‘The Vow’ Doesn’t Capture Catherine Oxenberg’s Reunion With Daughter India, The Wanted Singer Tom Parker Reveals He Has Terminal Brain Tumor, Disney’s ‘Soul’ Decision Upsets European Cinemas, Tom Kennedy, TV Host of ‘You Don’t Say!’ and ‘Name That Tune,’ Dies at 93, In ‘The Undoing,’ Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant Anchor a Gilded, Toxic Murder Mystery: TV Review, ‘Saturday Night Live’: Maya Rudolph Joined by Jim Carrey as the Fly in Vice Presidential Debate Sketch, Noah Media Group, Federation Team On ‘Arsene Wenger: Invincible’ (EXCLUSIVE), J. Cole’s Dreamville Expands, Launches Content Studio With Key Hires (EXCLUSIVE), Disney Reorganizes Media and Entertainment Businesses in Bid to Ramp Up Direct-to-Consumer Strategy, ‘The Boys’ Boss Eric Kripke on the Season 2 Finale and What to Expect from Jensen Ackles in Season 3, Spike Lee on Chadwick Boseman, Donald Trump and How Black and Brown People Rescued New York, Marvel and DC Movies Will Flood Theaters in 2021 and 2022 — If They Can All Be Made in Time, Ellen DeGeneres Seeks $40 Million for Bali-Esque Montecito Compound, TAG Heuer’s Monaco Watch Now Comes With a Bracelet for the First Time in 20 Years, LeBron and Kobe Help Lakers Break Record for NBA Finals Merchandise Sales, These Are the Best Portable Wireless Speakers You Can Buy Right Now. Nevertheless, the actions of these hotheaded law enforcers are captured from another young child’s drone, which leads the three squadmates in hot pursuit to obtain the memory card and destroy all evidence of their heinous crimes. Scarlett Johansson in Rough Night: The Most Awkward Performance Ever? Film Review: ‘Les Misérables’ French docmaker Ladj Ly's promising narrative debut simmers with urgent anger over police brutality, but could use more civilian perspective. But much of the drama and humanity get blitzed by the molotov cocktails. A smaller-scale dramatic situation within this mesh of racial and ideological tensions might have worked better. Read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy / Cookie Disclaimer. His methods are not righteous, but if Les Miserables does one thing right, it’s portraying this as a terrible situation to be in from all angles. Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games, Directed by Ladj LyStarring Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djibril Zonga, Steve Tientcheu, Jeanne Balibar, Issa Perica, Al-Hassan Ly, Almamy Kanoute, Nizar Ben Fatma, Raymond Lopez, Luciano Lopez, Jaihson Lopez, Sana Joachaim, Lucas Omiri, and Rocco Lopez. The stakes are ostentatiously raised, the riot makes it looks like a war movie and it ends unconvincingly. It doesn’t help that the introduction to these numerous characters (most of what don’t matter and feel tremendously cut down somewhere in the editing room) is messy, preventing Les Miserables to establish what it’s actually about for nearly the entire first act (aside from a day in the lives of the officers patrolling this area). (Meanwhile, leave it to a gifted docmaker to find a genuinely eerie, narratively integral application for that most overused of currently trendy camera techniques: the serenely drifting drone shot.)