Le Samourai Reviews

Beau Travail (1999)

Fantastic adaptation and masterful direction--Denis' best to date.

[10/10 · 27 April 2001]

Just to correct a previous comment, this adaptation of Melville's Billy Budd does not focus on Vere, it focuses on Claggart, the man whom Budd kills in the original text. In Melville's version, Claggart is a completely evil man, entirely undeserving of any kind of sympathy. Denis examines this characterization, and in doing so changes the storyline significantly. I don't want to spoil the ending, but I would like to say that the very end of the film is one of the single most beautiful and powerful images that I have ever seen.

Denis uses filtered cameras and harsh light throughout the movie, but one always feels in contact with the characters. Repeated close-ups and repetitive work done by the characters somehow connects the men to the viewer.

All in all, a brilliant film by an outstanding director.

Coonskin (1974)

Fantastic examination of Racist Stereotyping

[9/10 · 6 December 2000]

One of the most interesting movies to be classified as "blaxploitation," Bakshi's "Coonskin" is a rich text full of wonderful insight. He wrote it in collaboration with Scat Man Crothers and Barry White, who appear in the film as well. The racist imagery can often be disturbing, but the message of the movie was so powerful that the NAACP gave it an endorsement (but only grudgingly).

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in an examination of the pervading atmosphere of racism that Bakshi attempts to deconstruct. Wonderful stuff.