WORLD CINEMA- LA HAINE



This is a French black-and-white film directed by Mathieu Kassovitz(also the director of Gothika and Babylon A.D)
It is about three teenagers living in the banlieues of Paris and all the stigma and bleakness that it entails.

The title derives from a line spoken by one of them, Hubert: "La haine attire la haine!"-"hatred breeds hatred."
It has Vincent Cassell in one of his earliest roles playing the hot-headed gangster-wannabe Vinz. His main goal throughout the film is to kill a cop to gain respect (as you do).




Acting as his foil is Hubert (played fantastically by little-known actor Hubert Koundé), an Afro-French boxer friend who contemplates all the hate he sees around them with a wisdom beyond his years. He represents the more level-headed of the three friends. Finally, primarily to add a little comic-relief is Sayid (Said Taghmaoui)the middle-ground to the Vinz-and-Hubert dynamic.




Over the course of a day, the trio get caught up in a veritable urban adventure. From stealing cars and dealing with skinheads in Paris to coping with near-absolute poverty and the outside view of those living in the banlieus, mostly made-up of immigrant families. The latter is the focal point of the film, and the drivng point for all the characters that eventually brngs them into conflict with each other.

Without spoiling [more] things for you, this is a gem of a film, with Cassel particularly giving an electrifying performance.

Buy it, rent it, borrow it or steal it, because I guarantee you will love this film.

*****

If you don't recognise this guy, you've either never had a television, access to a library, a book-shop of any kind or a childhood(well, a redeemable one at any rate). Yes it is Tintin and his faithful companion snowy and they are due to get a silver-screen re-make helmed by Spielberg himself. The film also has a host of british talent such as Jamie bell(playing our man Tintin in all his quiff-sporting glory),Andy Serkis(Captain Haddock, bit bemused by this choice to be fair), and Simon Pegg and Nick Frost to play the hapless Thompson twins(another head-scratcher alright, but I have faith) also Daniel Craig as Red Rackham.
That probably gives you a clue as to which story from the Tintin compendium they've chosen to make into a movie. Yes it is indeed Secret of the Unicorn.
Another thing to note is that it will be all in motion capture(much like Beowulf) as opposed to live-action or 2d animation. Not sure where I stand on this, gonna have to wait on the day the trailers come out to make a final decision on whether it's a good idea or not it could go disastrously wrong.



This image(left) is a shot of them actually doing the motion-capture, so it all looks professional enough(hopefully it's more Lord of the Rings than Tron kinda effects though, plus that Snowy doll they're using looks a bit freaky)

All in all, although I'm always hedgy around re-makes(see my Scream post) it has the right ingredients for a summer blockbuster and will no doubt rake in a few coppers on opening night with enough interest to warrant the sequel(there has to be a sequel!) but I'm praying to my Atheist-god that He (Spielberg) won't destroy the Tintin franchise like he did Indiana Jones and include aliens for the hell of it. So take my advice Sir Spielberg: Keep it grounded and there'll be no problems!(or I will destroy you)