Thursday, May 5, 2011

The Killer (2007)

The Killer / Le tueur (2007)
The Killer / Le tueur (2007)

Genre: Drama
Director: Cédric Anger
Starring: Gilbert Melki, Grégoire Colin, Mélanie Laurent
Duration: 91 min.
Rating: 7.7/10

Summary:
Christmas Eve in Paris.  Leo Zimmerman is a businessman who lives for his beloved little daughter’s smile.  Outwardly, his life is exemplary.  However, when Dimitri Kopas walks into his office, pretending to be a normal client, Leo understands that a contract is out on his head and that the young man has come to town to kill him.  Overcome with anxiety and paranoia, no longer able to sleep, Leo decides to meet the killer face to face and to broker a strange deal.


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The Killer is the debut feature from former Cahiers du Cinema critic Cédric Anger.  It is a dark and atmospheric psychological thriller set in Paris, but not the romantic city of lights we are accustomed to seeing on film, this one is grey and dirty and gritty.

Anger delivers a strong first effort with fine storytelling, pacing, and cinematography.  There are some very well crafted scenes of tension where the paranoia of the main character really comes through, and I was also impressed by the look and feel of the night time scenes.  The dialog is minimal and the acting is superb, especially the complex performances by Gilbert Melki as the target Léo, and Grégoire Colin as the hitman, but also a very good supporting role by Mélanie Laurent as a call girl hired to distract him.

I also have to mention that the film has a very cool soundtrack featuring several songs from Devo, and my highlight, a wonderful intimate scene set to Elvis Costello's sublime classic Alison

The Killer / Le tueur (2007)

The Killer / Le tueur (2007)

The Killer / Le tueur (2007)

The Killer / Le tueur (2007)

The Killer / Le tueur (2007)

The Killer / Le tueur (2007)

The Killer / Le tueur (2007)

The Killer / Le tueur (2007)

11 comments:

Beasts in Human Skin said...

A gritty Paris thriller sounds intriguing. It has to be better than The French Sex Murders, anyway.

The Angry Lurker said...

What's the strange deal?

Jesse Cohen said...

Dude, these flick picks are awesome. Opens my eyes to the rest of the world cinema.

Hermann Rorschach said...

Anyone have a quick translation of what he says when he gets in the car at 1:22 in the trailer?

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Thanks, I'm glad you like them.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

"Listen, I have something to offer."

"I know you're here for me"

"I keep worrying about when you will do it, if we decide when then I won't be paranoid all the time"

"Give me until Saturday"

G said...

looks a cool flick

Adalmin said...

It wasn't as strange as what I thought lol! The internet has broken my mind...

Michael Angelo said...

A lot of these foreign (more specifically French) are more often dark no?

Something I havent said in a while man, much love and support!

Matt S. said...

Great review! This just looks like an entertaining film to me, but nothing special.

-E- said...

glad to hear a critic is moving into film-making. doesn't happen enough imo.

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