This mini TV series was released six or seven months before Olivier Marchall's one: LES LYONNAIS. So it's not a copycat. Period. The two describe gangsters sagas, in a kind of way Francis Coppola did thirty years ago with his GODFATHER saga. The two first films.
Back to the french movies or TV series, for each of them, we watch stories told in modern times for the half, and thirty years ago for the other half. Flashbacks where the lives of the leads - gangsters, of course - are shown in a realistic way, fictitious or not. Old timers with their forgotten rules, their slang for one side, and new gangstas from their suburbs, for the other one. For both of these stories, there is lots of violence, some romance and enough emotion to entertain the audiences. The main difference between the two films would be the emphasis on the generation conflict. In the TV series - LES BEAUX MECS - the lead has to deal with young hoodlums to get back in business, because he has no more friends in life, and out of jail...And the screenplay insists plenty on that. The "old" gangster's point of view vs the young one's. In LES LYONNAIS, the film doesn't not insist so much on such things.
But the two stories have plenty in common. Especially the main characters: LANVIN and ABKARIAN.
I would prefer Olivier Marchall's feature. But the TV series is very interesting.
Back to the french movies or TV series, for each of them, we watch stories told in modern times for the half, and thirty years ago for the other half. Flashbacks where the lives of the leads - gangsters, of course - are shown in a realistic way, fictitious or not. Old timers with their forgotten rules, their slang for one side, and new gangstas from their suburbs, for the other one. For both of these stories, there is lots of violence, some romance and enough emotion to entertain the audiences. The main difference between the two films would be the emphasis on the generation conflict. In the TV series - LES BEAUX MECS - the lead has to deal with young hoodlums to get back in business, because he has no more friends in life, and out of jail...And the screenplay insists plenty on that. The "old" gangster's point of view vs the young one's. In LES LYONNAIS, the film doesn't not insist so much on such things.
But the two stories have plenty in common. Especially the main characters: LANVIN and ABKARIAN.
I would prefer Olivier Marchall's feature. But the TV series is very interesting.