Regarde les hommes tomber (1994)

Director: Jacques Audiard

Cast: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jean Yanne, Mathieu Kassovitz

Synopsis: When the police seem unconcerned about investigating the murder of his cop friend, a middle-aged man decides to carry out his own investigation.

Jean Yanne plays Simon, a middle-aged sales rep who sort-of witnesses the shooting of his cop friend. When his brain-dead friend’s colleagues don’t seem too concerned about finding the men responsible, Simon decides to undertake a little investigation of his own. In a parallel – but connected – tale, ageing hustler Marx (Jean-Louis Trintignant – The Conformist) reluctantly takes the mildly retarded Johnny (Mathieu Kassovitz – Amelie, Haywire) under his wing.

Couldn’t really get into this one. It’s filled with a Gallic moodiness that admittedly suit’s the subject matter, but which, in the absence of any likable characters, leaves the viewer floundering to find anything positive from the viewing experience. The fragmented narrative also makes things difficult to follow at times. Decent performances from the cast though – even Trintignant seemed OK to me, despite drawing negative comments from other reviewers.

(Reviewed 27th February 2012)