Thursday, June 22, 2006

District B13

District B13 is a French-language action film (it came out in 04 in France) that is currently in limited release in the US and is probably going to be gone soon.

This isn't the special effects type of action film, but rather the type where actors are actually doing their own stunts. It was good and very entertaining. (The pacing was excellent, as far as the action goes.) As I had read, the plot isn't exactly the strong point of the film, but that's not why you should be seeing it. Go for the action.

Luc Bessen and Bibi Naceri (the original boss in the film) have the writing credits. The film takes place in an eponymous ghetto part of France, filled with tatooed drugdealers and other hoodlums. The government has given up on it, having removed the school and other things (which at some point includes the police station and at some point doesn't...I was a bit confused there), added walls around the city, and (finally) decided to use one of their own missles to kill the city by having their best operative enter secretly and accidently start the thing going when he thinks he's disarming it.

What else to mention...? This is the third movie with a character named "Lola" that I have seen in the past month (and maybe some change). This one is more in line with the second Lola (though much tougher and this one wore a dog collar at some point) rather than the first, which more in line with what the Kinks sang.

One last thing: There were occasionally translation hiccups in the English words at the bottom of the screen. One might say that they "mega-"blew it a couple times. Well, it was easy to figure out what they meant, but whoever did the translation made more than his/her share of elementary errors.

4 comments:

Lemming said...

Plot, but not signifigant spoilage, discussed below.

First, the confusion wrt the police station--when the movie begins there is one remaining in B13, but they make a point that it's closing down that day. Most of the movie takes place 6 (or was it 7?) years later, long after the last police are gone.

Mason said...

It was six years later? For some reason, I had 6 months in my mind for the time gap...

Lemming said...

Honestly, 6 months would make a lot more sense, but I seem to remember reading the subtitle saying "6 years". I also remember being rather shocked... I could, of course, be on crack.

Oh, and one more important point:
Lola was hot.

Mason said...

Maybe it's time to move to France?