leethomas-11621 Great settings, acting, actors, soundtrack and camerawork. Complications of plot at times (who's who?) didn't hide inevitably of ending. Also unfamiliar with French justice and political systems. But well worth the watch - I couldn't leave it before the end - especially for the two lead actors. Best French movie to come along for a while. Also called The Connection. (viewed 8/16)

hond-92064 This movie leaves one with the impression that the team shot a 4 hours long movie and then quickly had to cut it to 2. And that they then lost interest and just snipped it like a bored and failing student would do to a assignment that has to be in tomorrow. The result is that there are loose ends flapping all over the show and that many - sometimes crucial - plot developments are not sufficiently clear. It also suffers from too many sub plots that really does not contribute to moving the story forward. And the worst thing - it starts off with some promise. Which means one keeps on watching for far too long. In the end I finished watching it merely because I have been watching it for so long and to make sure it really is such a failed movie. But I did get one thing from it - I realised how important casting is. The crook and the hero look alike (unintentionally ... I think...)with the result one must work to follow which one is in frame. In the end a failed and boring movie with a stale plot.

geoced The trailer got me really interested, especially because it seemed to promise a fierce duel between Dujardin & Lellouche, not unlike the memorable Al Pacino/De Niro duel in "Heat", which I still consider to be the absolute best gangster movie ever! Well, it didn't really deliver on those promises... Dujardin was great as a relentless judge, but unfortunately I thought that Lellouche lacked the kind of machismo and presence that would have made him a strong opponent to Dujardin. He wasn't convincing as a feared and respected drug kingpin. Without what should have been its strongest point, the film fails to keep us interested, mainly because of its uninspired plot and dialogs as well as its length. Because of all this, "La French" feels like a missed opportunity. Too bad, I really wanted to love this one! If you wanna watch a great french gangster movie, I recommend "L'immortel" or "Truands". 6/10

miranda-welch-abroad If I could only recommend you go and see one film this year, The Connection would be it.The film follows the true story of the rise and fall of Pierre Michel "The Judge", played by The Artist's Oscar winning Jean Dujardin, against the Marseillaise mafia gang The French Connection in the 1970s. The story had already been put to cinema in The Judge (1984), but this time the story's been redone much more ambitiously.It's a typical good guy versus bad guy story, but it's the bells and whistles in this film that really make it so much more than that. The director achieves the perfect combination of action, drama, comedy and tragedy with the irrepressible Mediterranean sun beating down on every day time scene in the film. The Mediterranean settings give the film a sense of glamour and surrealism, juxtaposing the surreal nature of life as a successful drug trafficker in the 1970s, passing time between seaside villas and the biggest nightclub in Marseille.This is film making at its best - it's as if the screen writer and director Cédric Jimenez pulled out an old school book of film making craft written in the 1970s and followed all the old rules to perfection to bring about not only a brilliant piece of cinematic entertainment, but also of art. This film is a living, breathing and intimate nostalgic reinvention of the 1970s and a just and accurate portrayal of a real gangster story, with some liberties in representing the character's private lives.Cédric Jimenez grew up himself in Marseille in the 1970s and says that the story of the Judge has run through his veins his whole life. He has wanted to make this film as long as he has wanted to be a film maker, starting his career initially as a documentary maker. He chose to shoot the whole film with a hand held camera, which gives the film it's intimate and raw feeling.It is an absolute viewing pleasure to be immersed back into the 1970s era and the sets and costumes have been rendered to perfection, to every last detail. The velour furniture, the dingy nightclubs, the glamorous dresses and old style police surveillance technologies are a delight to rediscover. The cowboy style of policing in the 1970s makes the action scenes much more exciting than anything depicting the risk-averse 2000s - the only person in the film wearing even a bullet proof vest is the gang leader Gaëtan "Tany" Zamper (Gilles Lellouche).There are countless unforgettable scenes in this film, the dialogue is witty, the action is edgy and the acting is superb. Another highlight is the film's soundtrack featuring endless classics from the 1970s (Blondie, Kim Wilde and the Velvet Underground) and tunes by composer Guillaume Roussel that reflect the film soundtracks of the time (for example, his tune Meurtre de fou). It can be tough to watch a sub-titled film for 2h15min, but believe me it's worth it.