A piece of arty french cinema from the sixties? Don't mind if I do. I know pretty much the entire world is alienated from these films, believing they are just stuff for snobby film students to get their dicks hard but it's been a long time since I've touched anything remotely serious, I've just been doing schlock after schlock so just let me have this moment, just once and who knows, maybe after this you'll go see the film and really enjoy yourself! Enjoy!
So first things first, this film, if nothing else is undeniably cool. The style of the sixties is cool enough, but coupled with the tropes of French art cinema this film simply bleeds style. We live in a day and age where 'style over substance' means an over edited mess, in this genre of cinema 'style over substance' literally means that, style.
Jeff Costello is probably the least cool name for an assassin come samurai I have ever heard. Luckily he makes up for this with good looks, his sense of dress, his near chainsmoking and the fact he is a man of very little words, except for cool one liners, of course. Although it never explicably explains it to you, the first twenty minutes or are dedicated to the first kill of the movie. Jeff starts the day in isolation, to a quote from the Bushido about isolation and then a camera trick accentuates the claustrophobia of his surroundings, he then steals a car using a ring of keys with literally every kind of key known to man on it, goes to get his assignment as he gets his plates changed, sorts of his alibi with a stunningly beautiful woman, arranges to play cards after the kill and ultimately completes the kill. Even the kill itself, although not a dramatic action sequence, is so awesome, fast editing, limited dialogue and the emotionless Jeff make the moment more of a Cowboy Standoff than anything else. What I don't get is why he took his gloves off after he killed but before he left, won't his fingerprints still get everywhere as he tries to exit the premises? He then finishes it all off with disposing of the evidence.
We then get a really interesting scene of him deliberately going into the line up. Us, the audience know he has done it and he hasn't changed anything about his appearance or clothes but in the real world our memories don't quite work as well so as the witnesses study him, they begin to fill with doubt. He had a different hat than that, darker... No it was a light hat. No, he had a moustache and so on, it is interesting because in a normal Hollywood film after something like this, the assassin goes away and like puts on a mask or a wig or something and runs away. That being said, we later learn the key witness actually saves him. The reason for this is never directly explained, but there are hints of romance or maybe she was more involved than we realised... this probably deserves a second viewing.
That being said, it soon seems that things aren't really going so well for Jeff, but I mean, why? They make no sense to establish him as an assassin, he makes one kill and it all goes really wrong, so all it establishes is he isn't very good at his job. And that ain't cool! That being said, there is no real reason why the cops suddenly gun for Jeff, other than the fact we know for certain who did it, key witnesses don't identify him, his alibi holds up, it makes no sense. The film tries its best to give reasons, but it never really clears it up, which is a problem because pretty much the entire narrative rests on the fact he was caught by the police.
The pacing is bad, there are no doubts about it. It took twenty minutes for the key assassination, then about a further twenty minutes to go through the police proceedings, then after all that is done, the actual plot of the movie starts. Jeff got arrested after the assassination, surprisingly the employers who hired him and to shout exposition at us, aren't too happy about this and decide to take Jeff down, while at the same time Jeff is being hunted by the police. Awesome set up. Shame it took so long to get here. The film ends up ending much in the same place it started with many plotlines simply left dangling, unanswered and some not even really explored or explained. And I really don't get the ending.
We get really interesting scenes with the employers plotting against Jeff cutting straight to the police plotting against him. I like the style of construction.
At the same time though, there are bits of construction I just don't get, I mean what is with this motif of master keys? And do we really need to see them try every key until one works? I guess it is to provide tension, but it doesn't work, it is just boring and you're just bloating out your running time. The whole film lacks any real tension, Jeff is a hitman who has fucked up royally, he has got the police gunning for him, assassins chasing him and we never really get any sense of this.
I know this is an art film, but as a piece of entertainment, it isn't actually that bad. It is well put together and well acted. And although it is rather slow paced, there are some interesting twists to keep you going and a deep, well thought out narrative even if some scenes I can't wrap my head around their purpose even the special effects aren't all that bad really, especially considering the films age, although do we need to see him dress his wound multiple times? There is even a little action. It's easily one of the better noir movies I've ever watched, artsy fartsy French film or not.
So do I recommend this? As mentioned, there are problems, mainly in pacing and a breakdown between the writers and director getting the message to me, the viewer, but all in all, this movie is just too fucking cool not to be liked and too fucking cool to miss. Especially if you're a noir fan or a fan of this French new wave or both.
Think About It!
-Locke
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