nov 10-14 2010 - Rehoboth Beach Film Society

feaTuRe fIlms
46
Mesrine is a two part film series directed by Jean-Francois Richet “Nobody kills me until I decide,” rages Vincent
Cassel in his extraordinary performance as legendary French gangster Jacques Mesrine (1936–1979), who was Robin Hood,
Fantomas, Doctor Mabuse, Scarface, Butch, Sundance, and Michael Corleone all rolled into one. From 1960 til his violent death
in 1979, Mesrine’s quick wit, confident swagger, and hair-trigger temper rendered him the stuff of legend in a France at once
fascinated with his every move and increasingly exasperated at his propensity for successfully robbing banks and subsequently
escaping from prison.
In part one of this hyperventilated adaptation of
Mesrine’s self aggrandizing, prison-penned memoir The
Killer Instinct, echoes of GoodFellas are summoned as
Mesrine eases into the criminal life under the tutelage
of underworld boss Guido (Gerard Depardieu). After
episodes in Canada and Arizona and the inevitable prison
sentence and escape, the film climaxes in a spectacular
shootout as Mesrine returns in a failed attempt to free
his jailed pals.
In part two, Public Enemy Number One, the gangster
nearly convinces himself his actions are political at
heart, although the French government, in the form of
a long-suffering police commissioner (Olivier Gourmet)
has other ideas. “People like it when it moves, they
want action,” Mesrine tells his shocked lawyer, by way
of explaining the exaggerations in his memoir. Director
Jean-Francois Richet, whose work here earned him the
French César for best director, has taken those marching
Mesrine: Killer instinct
(Part one)
Thurs Nov 11 3:10 PM-5:10 PM
FrI Nov 12 5:00 PM-7:00 PM
sAT Nov 13 2:50 PM-4:50 PM
[France/canada/italy, 2009, 35mm, 113 mins. in French, arabic, Spanish,
and English with English subtitles]
Website: www.musicboxfilms.com
[this film is part of lights, camera...action!: Sidebar]
Mesrine: PuBlic eneMy
nuMBer one (Part tWo)
Thurs Nov 11 6:45 PM-9:05 PM
FrI Nov 12 8:00 PM-10:20 PM
sAT Nov 13 5:20 PM-7:40 PM
orders to heart: the star-studded Mesrine is a propulsive epic of a life
that doesn’t just involve crime but embraces it as a noble profession.
[France/canada/italy, 2009, 35mm, 132 mins. in French, arabic, Spanish,
and English with English subtitles]
Website: www.musicboxfilms.com
[this film is part of lights, camera...action!: Sidebar]