45 Comments

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   Ryan Adams says:
   Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 11:40am

   Uncle Vanya posted a terrific review of Un prophète from Toronto a couple of nights ago, so with his permission, I’ll replay his impressions here:

   Of the three films I saw today, the one I saw at the Elgin theater, was clearly light years, as far as craft, ahead of the other two (which I may write about later). But for now…

   If James Joyce were to write a sequel to one of his most famous books, it could be titled “Portrait of a Juvenile Delinquent as a Young Man”, and director Jacques Audiard (”Read My Lips”, “The Beat That My Heart Skipped”) would be it’s cinematic creator. The unwavering clash between loss of innocence, institutionalized violence, and religious quaintness is just a drop in the bucket of themes unleashed in Audiard’s new film, “Un Prophete (A Prophet)”. Focusing on a newly incarcerated 19 year old (parentless and illiterate) of Arab decendant, in a maximum security, french prison, we meet Malik, a young man who has been in confinement, in some form, most of his life. Initially he is wary, frightened and indecisive. In one instance, when asked if he eats pork he answers no, and then says yes so fast that one gets the sense that he doesn’t even know himself. Religion is just a by-product of his Arabness: in reality, he is just trying to survive, and the longer he outlasts and educates himself in regards to the mine-field he is in, the more efficient a criminal he becomes, so much so that as time passes, others around him wonder if his instincts are not indeed prophetic.

   Tahar Rahim plays Malik El Djebena, the youth in question, with such a ferrety and sinuous persona that visions of Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman in their earlier films come to mind. Exiting a year where the Best Actor pool seems to be rather empty, Rahim would be more than a worthy contestant for this honor. In fact, he would be a contender. In a labyrinthine plot involving Italian mobsters, Egyptian drug-dealers, and the french syndicate, our neophyte petty criminal is first coerced to participate in a horrific murder, then recruited to be the errand boy to a slippery fellow prisoner, Ceasr Luciani (Niels Arestrup in a remarkable, and full-bodied performance of increasing weariness and resignation). Eventually, due to good behaviour (he hides his malversations well), Djebena is allowed day passes outside of prison where he carrys out the increasingly dangerous orders of Luciani, who sees a budding accomplice in the making. In one scene, involving a contract killing, our anti-hero, after escaping death, exclaims to his complicitous comrade that the blood on his body is “not my blood!”, with epiphanous glee. Over time he seems to be untouchable, perhaps even guided by an invisible hand.

   In fact, Djebena’s evolution from novice to superior criminal craftsman would be questionable were it not for the screenplay by Audiard and Thomas Bidegain which is so impeccable and free of contrivance that one nevers feels the need to suspend belief. There are moments that are effortlessly breath-taking; visual metaphors, like the collison of a speeding vehicle with a deer (a sort of bloody baptism), or a dizzying murder spree within the confines of an amored car. At almost two and a half hours the film never transgresses. Each succeeding scene compliments the latter, leaving one riveted in it’s inventiveness and bullet-like pace. The direction, here, is so taut that a noose tightening metaphor is appropriate.

   Directorial excess never rears it’s head as Djebena sweves from one hermetic situation to another. Consequently, I found myself holding my breath so many times, I had to remind myself to exhale. The score by Alexandre Desplat (”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) is restrained and precise, never superflous, adding a sentient quality not heard in his previous work. Moreover, Juliettle Welfling’s editing is top-notch. In fact, Audiard’s epic film is so well constructed, acted and shot, that the possibilty of movies as an exalted art-form is rejuvinated if not elevated to the world of classically great music. Should “Un Prophete” be overlooked at this years Academy Awards, the word scandalous would be an understatement, because, without a doubt, this film is easily one of the years best.
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   Ryan Adams says:
   Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 11:47am

   Other movies with great sequences set in prison:

   * Goodfellas (1990) (to which Un prophète pays homage)
   * Out of Sight (1998)
   * Before Night Falls (2000)
   * The Reader (2008)

   I didn’t forget Short Eyes. I’ve just never seen it.
   I didn’t forget The Green Mile, either. I just didn’t like it.
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   Noah R. says:
   Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 12:06pm

   No love for Down by Law?

   “I scream-a, you scream-a, we all scream-a, for ice cream-a.”

   I don’t know if Chopper also counts but the first third of it does take place in prison and it is about that guy making a name for himself in the slammer.
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   Ryan Adams says:
   Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 12:08pm

   Down by Law and Chopper — two more gaps in my education that need filling, Noah R.
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   Noah R. says:
   Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 12:24pm

   Chopper is Eric Bana’s In Bruges, American Psycho, etc. The film that proves how brilliant he can be if given the right material.

   Down by Law is my favorite Jim Jarmusch film next to Dead Man. Tom Waits, John Lurie and Roberto Begnini in prison together.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rK3s_BP9kE
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   Joolz says:
   Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 12:25pm

   Down by Law is one of my all time favourite movies Ryan. You’re in for a treat.

   (Unless you don’t have a taste for the deadpan, lazybones, nothing much happening, cool-as-f**k style of Jim Jarmusch, in which case, you might find it a bit meh)

   So I have been reading amazing write ups for Un Prophete and ‘the greatest prison flick of all time’ forces me to try and catch it sometime.
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   Ryan Adams says:
   Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 12:28pm

   I’ve had Chopper on my to-view list for ages because of Andrew Dominik.

   The image of Roberto Begnini in prison brings back a lot of bad memories.
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   Ryan Adams says:
   Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 12:31pm

   I’m a big fan of Jarmusch, Joolz, and get off good on every film of his I’ve even seen. But my own deadpan, lazybones, nothing much happening attitude prevents me from pursuing a lot of things more aggressively.
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   Joao Mattos says:
   Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 12:43pm

   Serious doubts about “Un Prophete”. Don’t know. I haven’t seen yet, but I read a lot about it, and to me, the plot remembers “Bound by Honor”, by Taylor Hackford, a movie I don’t like, and probably Hackford most unknown work. I’m not saying that it’s a copy, anything like that. Bet that no one involved with the french movie saw “Bound”. Just that the characters trajectories seems quite similar.

   Ask some friends who saw it, if that is a delirious. Since none of them saw “Bound by Honor”, that really make anxious to see if my first impression have some logic.
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    srh1son says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 12:50pm

    Can we get an obituary for Henry Gibson? Great actor, from “Nashville” to “Magnolia”, “Blues Brothers” to “The Burbs”.
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    Ryan Adams says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 1:02pm

    “Bound by Honor”, by Taylor Hackford, a movie I don’t like…

    Going by the few reviews I see of Bound by Honor, nobody else liked it either, Joao. Ebert gave it 2 stars. You’re right, I never heard of it.

    There’s a lot of similarity between Blow and Goodfellas, too, right? One is a lot better than the other. Rocky IV sounds like Raging Bull, until you’ve seen them both.

    
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    chrisw says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 1:29pm

    A Man Escaped? No?
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    Magically Delicious says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 1:34pm

    What about Dassin’s Brute Force? Burt Lancaster is my hero.
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    Rob Y says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 2:05pm

    Bridge on the River Qwai
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    Meredith says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 2:13pm

    Some nice movies on that list. I was a big fan of Bad Boys when it came out in the early eighties. Clancy Brown plays a great prick. I could see him as The Judge in Blood Meridian.
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    Ian says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 2:18pm

    Venus Beauté is NOT a fil by Jacques Audiard. And it couldn’t be more opposite to Audiard’s aestetic and thematic world. Please be careful when writing about authors you don’t really know.
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    Rob Y says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 2:21pm

    Kwai
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    Bastoche says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 2:25pm

    How about Hunger?
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    Ryan Adams says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 2:31pm

    You’re right Bastoche. Hunger deserves to be on the list. I forgot about it, thanks.

    I misspoke, Ian. Jacques Audiard is only one of the writers credited on the screenplay of Venus Beauty Institute.

    Magically Delicious, Brute Force I have not seen. I’ll check it out soon.

    Bridge on the River Kwai slipped past me, Rob Y, because the prisoners had relative wide-ranging freedom of movement in the Thai jungle. But you remind about Rescue Dawn.
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    Joao Mattos says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 2:45pm

    “Blow” is one of the most stupid and worst movies I saw in the last 25 years of my life, and I’m in my thirties. Remember that I thought that I could never take Penelope Cruz seriously as an actress, after that. Fortunely, “Nun Ti Muovere”, “Volver”, etc, make me change.

    Rocky IV: Hey, stripped down that Cold War mumbo-jumbo, that over the top, demented, dumb and kitsch anti-communism – and believe people, I have no sympathy for communism, not at all. I saw again the movie two years ago. “Rocky IV” is a cool, decent, “boy flick”, with that plot about ageing boxer who fights for the memory of his friend. And, like all the “Rocky” series, with all that wonderful and totally b.s scenes of boxing, where the fighters gets a gazillion of punches in the head and nobody gets in coma or dies, with exception of poor Apollo, of course.
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    Joao Mattos says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 2:45pm

    Jacques Audiard: “Read My Lips” (2001), don’t like it, but “The Beat that My Heart Skipped My Heart” (2006, better than the original, James Toback’s “Fingers”), “Regard les Hommes Tomber” (1994), and “Um Héros Très Discret” (1996), are excellent.

    Jacques is son of the late Michel Audiard, a very sucessfull screenwriter, but also one of the most notorious victims of the juvenile and purefury of the “Cahiers du Cinema” sixties generation, who thinks his texts are part of they call “cinema du papa”, “cinema de qualité”.

    “Un prophete”: 150 minutes.

    “Bound By Honor”: 180 minutes.

    Man, I will try to see “Bound” again, before “Prophete”.
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    Ryan Adams says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 2:56pm

    ha, you’re a hard case, Joao.
    If I were a magistrate I’d sentence you to 150 minutes watching Un prophète, but since you’re beyond my jurisdiction you elude justice.

    
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    jose says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 2:58pm

    Please, you forgot one incredible awesome masterpiece!!

    Le trou, directed by Jacques Becker. This is the best with The Great Escape and Bridge Over the River Kwai.
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    Stéphane says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 3:01pm

    Funny, Jose beat me to it. I was going to bring up Le trou. It’s a bare-bones movie (to the best of my recollection, there is no score), but the final minutes are truly chilling.
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    Jon says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 3:08pm

    Ryan, you missed several good prison films.
    “American Me”
    Clint Eastwood’s “Escape from Alcatraz”
    Robert Redford’s “Brubaker”
    Does Hal Ashby’s “The Last Detail” fall under this category? They are obviously taking the character to prison.

    Also want to mention “Runaway Train” – one of my favorite movies ever – since Voight and Eric Roberts BREAK OUT of a maximum security prison.

    I also think there are aspects of the Eddie Murphy/Martin Lawrence prison drama “Life” that are underrated. It’s not a bad film at all. Not great either.
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    Jon says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 3:09pm

    Meredith, great mention of “Bad Boys” with Sean Penn. Love that movie.
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    Diane says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 3:54pm

    I saw the Prophet, and it was good. I still like Read my Lips and the Beat that my Heart Skipped better out of Audiard’s films.

    That being said, the young lead actor in the Prophet puts in a phenomenal performance.
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    Meredith says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 3:54pm

    The scene in Silence of the Lambs where Clarice first meets Hannibal is about as creepy and memorable a prison scene as I can remember. Not really a prison movie, but some good scenes in Hannibal’s dank cell anyway.
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    Joe W says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 4:50pm

    Saw this at Telluride and was one of my favorite films of the festival. I also got to talk with the director and screenwriter for a good hour about it as well. A really fantastic film and I’m really happy France chose this as their official submission, this could definitely win. Think if all of Goodfellas was set in a prison and you’ll have some idea of what it’s about.
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    Ryan Adams says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 5:01pm

    I never get a handle on the vagaries of international release date rules for Oscar consideration, but France’s choice of Un prophète is especially meaningful when we consider it was in the running with films as important as Séraphine and Summer Hours.
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    screenguy says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 5:02pm

    Of those mentioned already, Le Trou, A Man Escaped and Grand Illusion would have to top my list. And I’d add Hector Babenco’s Pixote as well. I’m really looking forward to Un prophète; I love this time of year!
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    Craig says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 5:05pm

    Better than Shawshank? Gotta see it then.
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    Mike says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 5:11pm

    Tahar is very hot.
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    Jeremie says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 6:05pm

    I love you Ryan. Had an awful shit day at work, got back and saw a article about Audiard and his latest masterpiece.
    I saw the film last week in France and, like his previous works, it completely blew me away. Audiard is my God, and I’m so glad to see that his talent is appreciated overseas, and that the film is even considered Oscar worthy. That’s nuts. It made my day, thank you.
    (also glad to see that Dancy and Depp had been removed from the tracker, is it a step forward to make some space for Rockwell and Phoenix, maybe even Tahar Rahim ?)
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    daveylow says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 10:07pm

    I saw A Prophet on Tuesday and thought it was a step forward for Audiard, and even better than The Beat My Heart Skipped. The lead actor is fantastic and keeps you rooting for him, even when he becomes more and more a criminal. I do think the film could have been shortened a bit, and I would say the only flaw of the film was some of the ghost scenes in the first half of the movie.But definitely worthy of all the praise.
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    Swartzwelder says:
    Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 11:43pm

    Not sure if this really counts as a prison movie, but American History X is on a list of many favorites.
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    Morgan says:
    Friday, September 18, 2009 at 12:07am

    This was by far my favorite film at Telluride and of the entire year. It is just indescribable. People keep asking me when I bring it up what it’s about and there’s really no adequate way to answer that question. I hope it gets a decent theatrical run here because it completely deserves one.
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    Dominik says:
    Friday, September 18, 2009 at 3:13am

    “The Beat that My Heart Skipped” is such a great picture with a breakthrough performance by the fantastic Romain Duris that I am desperately looking forward to see A Prophet!

    My favourite prison movie? Hmm…Cool hand Luke!
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    UncleVanya says:
    Friday, September 18, 2009 at 3:46am

    I have now seen over 20 films here in Toronto, and “Un Prophete” still towers over everything I have viewed. In fact, it will be battling for my #1 spot of top films at years end. Others I have yet to mention are below:

    Day 6 or 7 (I’m losing track of time and my senses due to lack of sleep).

    Yesterday afternoon I saw the prolific Johnnie To’s (“Election”, “Exiled”) new actioneer, “Vengeance”. It stars Johnny Halliday (a one time french crooner) who plays a father seeking revenge after his expatriated daughter, grandchildren and son-in-law are brutally murdered by Hong Kong Triad thugs. “Vengeance” is structured similarily to Clint Eastwood’s, “Unforgiven” (but, with a sub-plot dealing with memory loss). Nevertheless, though visually pleasing and highly stylized, “Vengeance” ends up more akin to a Dirty Harry/Death Wish mashup with better choreography and cinematography. That is not to say that it is a complete failure. The film definately has it’s moments with quotable one-liners and an amazing battle/gunfight sequence that includes rolling bales of compressed garbage at a recycling site. But, in the end this is not classic To, in fact, it is instantly forgetable.

    Earlier in the week I saw “The Damned United”, a film directed by Tom Hooper (“Longford”), starring Michael Sheen in another role of a real-life character: here, he is playing Brian Clough, a one time coach who takes the Leeds soccer team to uncertain victory in 1974, Britain. I have to admit that when I purchased my ticket for this film it was on a whim, because, at the time, I erroneously thought the film was going to be a documentary about the great 70′s punk band, The Damned. When I realized my mistake, I decided to give the film a chance. And, all I can say, now, in retrospect is that I will never understand Britain’s obsession with soccer. In other words, I really hated this boring, pretentious biopic.

    I also took in a screening of one of the City-to-City films (featuring Isreali movies), “Life According to Agfa”, directed by Assi Dayan. The film is centered around a pub in downtown Tel-Aviv, and the patrons who frequent it. Shot in black and white, the film is endlessly bleak, so much so, that one gets the feeling that if this is an accurate portrait of city dwelling Isreali’s, well one wonders how they get out of bed in the morning.
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    UncleVanya says:
    Friday, September 18, 2009 at 3:56am

    And to all you prison film lovers, I recommend reading, “Discipline and Punsh: The Birth of the Prison”, by Michel Foucault.
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    Dominik says:
    Friday, September 18, 2009 at 4:17am

    Damn, I never thought someone would mention Foucault on awardsdaily!
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    bambi says:
    Friday, September 18, 2009 at 9:04am

    #39 “And, all I can say, now, in retrospect is that I will never understand Britain’s obsession with soccer.”

    Britain`s? It`s the whole world`s obsession sans US where baseball rules (considered to be a boring shit by the soccer-obsessed rest of the globe which is billions of people).
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    Dominik says:
    Friday, September 18, 2009 at 9:39am

    “Britain`s? It`s the whole world`s obsession sans US where baseball rules (considered to be a boring shit by the soccer-obsessed rest of the globe which is billions of people).”

    Ditto!
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    ericd says:
    Friday, September 18, 2009 at 11:58am

    hi ,
    i m from france and i saw “un prophete”,i just wanted to say that it is clearly the best movie i ve seen this year,
    meanwhile , there s a prison movie a lot of people forgot to mention,it is the famous “Midnight Express”,i ll remember i was in the “premiere” at cannes’ (i was assistant director at this time) ,everybodys get up at the end of the movie and applause without end,unfortunatly it didn t receive the big prize,and it was a shame,i hope the “prohete” will receive an oscar cause it deserves it …
    sorry for my english ..

    eric
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    Drew says:
    Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 12:35am

    I am a Fugitive on a Chain Gang also deserves to be mentioned.