Racer and the Jailbird

Racer and the Jailbird is an absolutely infuriating film. It started off quite well, it's nicely shot and looks good, has good sound design, and the beginnings of a quite compelling plot. What's more the leads are brilliant, Adèle Exarchopoulos especially so (even when her character's arc begins to devolve). But of course, it doesn't last. Towards the end of the first chapter what had the potential to be quite an interesting plot point about Gigi's relationship with Bibi and robbery (maybe the cartoonish names should have been a warning) turns into just another "one last job"and things start steadily deteriorating. But the film still holds the potential to just be a simple fun melodrama, or maybe even to subvert cliche. But no, in what must have been a misguided attempt to do the latter, the film devolves into a gritty overwrought mess. It really is quite terrible.

The first hour was entertaining. The second wasn't. I already had some difficulties with plot choices in the first half, but the suspense was there to keep the plot moving and the chemistry between Gigi and Bibi was intriguing enough. In the second half I find some plot choices too ridiculous and it made me loose my interest in the way the characters handle them somewhat. The sense of time also becomes kind of weird. A lot of very dramatic events are packed into that last hour, but the intensity or heaviness of them doesn't seem to come across the way it should.

I loved Karatzanis' photography and the sound design as well.

This movie is definitelty worth the watch. I think it deserves it's rating on here at the time of this review (6.3).

Very good Belgian romantic drama about a couple that, despite loving each other deeply, have a bad fate and are very different: he is a great robber (who does not have the best relationship with dogs) and she is a rich car racer (her background is less important than his in the film). Acting is excelent (Matthias Schoenaerts and Adèle Exarchopoulos also do work well together), script is quite good and it is very well directed. However, the very depressing end, while not being bad, it is clearly below the excellent level of most of the movie development.

Taking risks makes some feel alive. Both Bibi and Gigi, a racecar driver and sophisticated thief, are the type. True to nature, they fall for each other on first sight and quickly dispense with the formalities. "Do not bring flowers," says Bibi. Not that she needed to warn him. Bibi and Gigi share a danger addiction. Distance feeds their adrenaline, and attraction. "Do not lie to me," warns Bibi, yet she cannot get enough of it. What attracts is also what tears apart. The poor one among them who fails to keep pace with the other, or who runs too far away! Please, I thought at the start, do not let Bibi rescue Gigi in a car at any point during the film. The more the premise of the film and the nature of the characters is revealed, the less one needs to worry about this. The Bibi/Gigi chemistry is palpable. The best part of the film is the tension between the main characters, waiting to see who is going to crack first. Matthias Schoenaerts (Gigi) is reunited with the director of Bullhead. Bullhead is darkly amazing, and it is where Schoenaerts achieved well deserved notoriety, but the duo did not repeat the magic here. More depth is needed to the plot, supporting characters, sound and cinematography. Seen at the Miami Film Festival.

Gigi and Bibi. It sounds like two cartoon characters, but in fact they are the nicknames of Gino and Bénédicte, the two leads in Michael R. Roskam's new movie 'Le Fidèle'.

Already in the first five minutes of the film, Gigi and Bibi fall in love. This love affair is the main theme of the film. It's not an easy affair, since Bibi is the daughter of a wealthy business man, who supports her race car driving career, while Gigi doesn't have any relatives and earns a living by robbing banks and cash transit vans.

At first, Gigi hides his real occupation and pretends to be a car salesman. When he no longer can hide the truth, he is quick to point out that they both have a lot in common, in spite of their different backgrounds. He likes the risk-taking and the danger that comes with his job, exactly as she does with hers.

For Belgian moviegoers, the film has an extra appeal. Roskam has based his story on the lives of a well-known gang of criminals, who were household names in the 1990's. They captured the attention of the media and the public at large, because they combined extremely audacious and violent robberies with a glamorous lifestyle.

Roskam shows in this movie how such brutal criminals could at the same time be loving husbands and friends. Gigi loves Bibi, and he is extremely loyal to his criminal friends, but he has no respect for the feelings of his victims. Matthias Schoenaerts plays this complex character very convincingly, and Adèle Exarchopoulos is quite effective as the slightly naive girl whose love for Gigi is unconditional.

The last part of the film is different from the rest. The love affair, having been firmly established, is no longer the central theme. Instead, we see a quick succession of increasingly dramatic events, which sometimes feels a bit exaggerated. But the beautiful end scene compensates for this. This long take is technically simple, but very clever and creative from a cinematographic point of view. And the very last shot even more so. It's these kinds of scenes that show how original a film maker Roskam can be.