Gangsta. (18.)
Directed by Bilall Fallah, Adil El Arbi.
Starring Matteo Simoni, Nora Gharib, Said Boumazoughe, Junes Lazaar, Werner Kolf and Nabil Mallat. Flemish with subtitles. Out on Blu-ray/ DVD from Signature Entertainment. 121 mins.
If you are in need of another gangster flick you are not spoilt for choice – we Brits seem to turn out one a month – so probably you will feel disinclined to bother with one that necessitates a bit of reading. But if there is any life in the genre it is here, in this busy Belgium crime movie that has ideas well above its station and appears to have enough going on inside to fill up three movies. Not necessarily three good movies, but decent ones.
Moroccan born and Belgium raised, Bilall Fallah, Adil El Arbi's third feature takes inspiration from just about everyone – they've even managed to sneak some of John Woo's doves into it. But the film it most reminds you of Lock, Stock, primarily because it juggles so many different characters and situations, and also because the plot is basically the same: four old friends try to play at being gangsters and end up in well over their head. Four pals from various ethnic backgrounds live in the high rises of Antwerp and spend their time sitting around playing computer games and getting high. When an opportunity presents, they decide to move into the cocaine trade because, in the words of the lead character and narrator Adamo (Simoni), every day was a copy of the previous day. The Flemish cocaine market takes against their move and they soon find themselves pitted against rival Amsterdam gangs, Columbian cartels and bent coppers.
It's all empty flash, but it is considerable flash. The script shapes events as a seven-level computer game based on the seven deadly sins. That conceit doesn't really lead anywhere but it does give the directors leeway to go wild with the set lighting and the film is full of bright, gleaming imagery. Every car dashboard, every pair of trainers seems to be equipped with garish light-shows; I've seen space ship movies with less flashing lights. I've no idea what the budget of this was, but I'd safely predict that it looks like it cost two or three times as much.
As calling cards go it isn't subtle but it is insistent and it was effective. At the beginning of next year, we are scheduled to see their first American feature, Bad Boys For Life, taking over from Michael Bay on the third Will Smith/ Martin Lawrence cop drama. If that goes well they are projected to make Beverley Hills Cop 4. More talented people than them have been crushed by Hollywood but on the evidence of this, they have a chance of making it. Which means they may not be making a film without a number in the title for years to come.
Directed by Bilall Fallah, Adil El Arbi.
Starring Matteo Simoni, Nora Gharib, Said Boumazoughe, Junes Lazaar, Werner Kolf and Nabil Mallat. Flemish with subtitles. Out on Blu-ray/ DVD from Signature Entertainment. 121 mins.
If you are in need of another gangster flick you are not spoilt for choice – we Brits seem to turn out one a month – so probably you will feel disinclined to bother with one that necessitates a bit of reading. But if there is any life in the genre it is here, in this busy Belgium crime movie that has ideas well above its station and appears to have enough going on inside to fill up three movies. Not necessarily three good movies, but decent ones.
Moroccan born and Belgium raised, Bilall Fallah, Adil El Arbi's third feature takes inspiration from just about everyone – they've even managed to sneak some of John Woo's doves into it. But the film it most reminds you of Lock, Stock, primarily because it juggles so many different characters and situations, and also because the plot is basically the same: four old friends try to play at being gangsters and end up in well over their head. Four pals from various ethnic backgrounds live in the high rises of Antwerp and spend their time sitting around playing computer games and getting high. When an opportunity presents, they decide to move into the cocaine trade because, in the words of the lead character and narrator Adamo (Simoni), every day was a copy of the previous day. The Flemish cocaine market takes against their move and they soon find themselves pitted against rival Amsterdam gangs, Columbian cartels and bent coppers.
It's all empty flash, but it is considerable flash. The script shapes events as a seven-level computer game based on the seven deadly sins. That conceit doesn't really lead anywhere but it does give the directors leeway to go wild with the set lighting and the film is full of bright, gleaming imagery. Every car dashboard, every pair of trainers seems to be equipped with garish light-shows; I've seen space ship movies with less flashing lights. I've no idea what the budget of this was, but I'd safely predict that it looks like it cost two or three times as much.
As calling cards go it isn't subtle but it is insistent and it was effective. At the beginning of next year, we are scheduled to see their first American feature, Bad Boys For Life, taking over from Michael Bay on the third Will Smith/ Martin Lawrence cop drama. If that goes well they are projected to make Beverley Hills Cop 4. More talented people than them have been crushed by Hollywood but on the evidence of this, they have a chance of making it. Which means they may not be making a film without a number in the title for years to come.
