Post by klep on Aug 21, 2017 6:58:35 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 8/21: Rififi
HEIST WEEK!
"I love it when a plan comes together" - John "Hannibal" Smith, The A-Team
The centerpiece of a great heist movie is always the heist itself. There's fun in putting the gang together and planning the heist, and of course there can be some great drama after the heist as things go awry in various ways. But the core is always the heist itself, and in Rififi it's one of the most brilliant heist sequences of all time.
It's not that the plan is terribly complicated, or has a large number of moving parts. There's not even much in the way of human engineering. There's just a need to stay quiet, and a ticking clock.
From the moment the gang leaves their car, the heist proceeds in near total silence. They don't speak, there's no music. Just what minimal sounds are necessary for the job. This silence reinforces in our minds the need for silence, increasing the tension as the job goes on - any stray sound could betray them. Each man does his thing one at a time, while the others (and the audience) watch on in nervous anticipation. Further adding to the tension is the occasional shot of the clock. We know how long they have, and as it ticks ever closer to the start of the business day the question of whether they can make it becomes more and more uncertain.
It's irresistably gripping, and when they do finally make it out and home safe we feel the catharsis as much as they do. Of course, the seeds of the gang's destruction have already been sown, as the safecracker Cesar (the director, Jules Dassin) takes a ring to give to a girl at a club run by a hood. Greed leads these men to pull off the heist, but greed also leads them to their doom.
Greed and lust, that is. Rififi is soaked in sexual desire, whether it's Tony's (Jean Servais) desire for Mado (Marie Sabouret), Mario's and Ida's (Robert Manuel and Claude Sylvain) healthy sexual marriage, or the lust Cesar has for Viviane (Magali Noël). Viviane performs a very sensual song & dance number which allures as it explains the film's title, and in a very unusual moment for a film of this era we even see Ida's nipple through her clothing.
The only place where lust is not a dominant force is in the household of Jo (Carl Möhner) with his wife Louise (Janine Darcey) and son Tonio (Dominique Maurin). It is here in this picture of domesticity that the consequences of the heist are most heavily felt as a wife and a child lose a husband and father. The gang hoped to make life better for all of their loved ones, but instead it tore them all apart.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 8/28: Inglourious Basterds
THIS FILM KILLS FASCISTS WEEK!
We've decided to take the "killing fascists" part of this week's theme rather literally, because a lot of Nazis die in Tarantino's brilliant and bloody Inglourious Basterds. Join us next week for a little bit of catharsis! Inglourious Basterds is available on Netflix Instant and for purchase on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 8/22: The Battle of Algiers
The Next Picture Show Podcast's next edition focuses on the new Katheryn Bigelow drama Detroit pairing it with the best film about urban warfare of all time and recent Movie of the Week, The Battle of Algiers. We'll have a thread for the older film on Wednesday. The Battle of Algiers is available on Filmstruck's Criterion channel and for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
HEIST WEEK!
"I love it when a plan comes together" - John "Hannibal" Smith, The A-Team
The centerpiece of a great heist movie is always the heist itself. There's fun in putting the gang together and planning the heist, and of course there can be some great drama after the heist as things go awry in various ways. But the core is always the heist itself, and in Rififi it's one of the most brilliant heist sequences of all time.
It's not that the plan is terribly complicated, or has a large number of moving parts. There's not even much in the way of human engineering. There's just a need to stay quiet, and a ticking clock.
From the moment the gang leaves their car, the heist proceeds in near total silence. They don't speak, there's no music. Just what minimal sounds are necessary for the job. This silence reinforces in our minds the need for silence, increasing the tension as the job goes on - any stray sound could betray them. Each man does his thing one at a time, while the others (and the audience) watch on in nervous anticipation. Further adding to the tension is the occasional shot of the clock. We know how long they have, and as it ticks ever closer to the start of the business day the question of whether they can make it becomes more and more uncertain.
It's irresistably gripping, and when they do finally make it out and home safe we feel the catharsis as much as they do. Of course, the seeds of the gang's destruction have already been sown, as the safecracker Cesar (the director, Jules Dassin) takes a ring to give to a girl at a club run by a hood. Greed leads these men to pull off the heist, but greed also leads them to their doom.
Greed and lust, that is. Rififi is soaked in sexual desire, whether it's Tony's (Jean Servais) desire for Mado (Marie Sabouret), Mario's and Ida's (Robert Manuel and Claude Sylvain) healthy sexual marriage, or the lust Cesar has for Viviane (Magali Noël). Viviane performs a very sensual song & dance number which allures as it explains the film's title, and in a very unusual moment for a film of this era we even see Ida's nipple through her clothing.
The only place where lust is not a dominant force is in the household of Jo (Carl Möhner) with his wife Louise (Janine Darcey) and son Tonio (Dominique Maurin). It is here in this picture of domesticity that the consequences of the heist are most heavily felt as a wife and a child lose a husband and father. The gang hoped to make life better for all of their loved ones, but instead it tore them all apart.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 8/28: Inglourious Basterds
THIS FILM KILLS FASCISTS WEEK!
We've decided to take the "killing fascists" part of this week's theme rather literally, because a lot of Nazis die in Tarantino's brilliant and bloody Inglourious Basterds. Join us next week for a little bit of catharsis! Inglourious Basterds is available on Netflix Instant and for purchase on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 8/22: The Battle of Algiers
The Next Picture Show Podcast's next edition focuses on the new Katheryn Bigelow drama Detroit pairing it with the best film about urban warfare of all time and recent Movie of the Week, The Battle of Algiers. We'll have a thread for the older film on Wednesday. The Battle of Algiers is available on Filmstruck's Criterion channel and for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.