Another one of those classic films that have kind of slipped by me over the years. I was always culturally aware of The French Connection, I knew its cast and director, what it was roughly about, but I often found myself passing on it with very little reason. I finally settled into The French Connection and when I did I found what feels like ground zero for the gritty 70’s crime thriller and a pretty engaging watch.
The French Connection…
Films in the Cinematic Attic #4
(Martial March #4)
Do I still like this better than Ong Bak? Yes. Do I think this still has a somewhat iffy portrayal of autism? Also yes. To the former, I’d say that Chocolate has some of the very best stunt work in any film I’ve ever seen, featuring back to back to back moments that had everyone in the room gasping or hollering; so many of those “how did they even do that?”…
This is still a deeply personal, emotional film for me and even on this, my umpteenth rewatch, I was still hit hard by the ending. I also can’t help but admire the way this film manages to make its characters feel like people you know instead of just strangers on a screen. Always worth watching.
“Welcome to New York, fuck you.”
One day, Japanese mastermind director Sion Sono will come out with a movie that doesn’t absolutely surprise me. That day, fortunately, is not today. I’m used to Japanese films based in the US or featuring American characters being pretty cringey, Sunny Gets Blue comes to mind, but Hazard is a different kind of beast entirely, Hazard knows what it’s doing.
Hazard follows the exploits of the aptly named Shin (Joe Odagiri), a disillusioned 20…
