The eyes. It's all about the eyes. Alain Delon's blue eyes and Catherine Deneuve's green eyes. Eye contact between characters, between friends, between partners, between enemies. Eye contact with Van Gogh. Robbers communicate with their eyes during heists, look, nod, only a few words uttered. The camera would always follow the movement of the eyes, constantly shifting as characters exchange glances, or stare at each other.

Through Simon's (Richard Crenna) eyes we see that he's a confident robber. Calm and skillful. Through Coleman's (Alain Delon) eyes we see that he's a weary detective, sick and tired of it all.

"No, I don't know him." said Simon. The camera rapidly cut between Simon's and Coleman's eyes. The tension rised exponentially. Throw…

Action! – Three Auteurs: In The Wavelength of Melville

Melville’s marathon concludes with probably the weakest of these stylish crime thrillers. There’s plenty of good to be found, namely that memorable and awesome train sequence, which goes to show the director’s great skills in shooting this complex action and tense set pieces. All the performances once again are pretty good, especially Delon, who is now playing on the right side of the law and does really well as the cop trying to stop these thieves from reaching their goal. I wasn't a big fan of the blue cinematography, but I guess it adds a distinctive and distinguishing tone to the film.

All in all, not the greatest way to cap…

A cop is unfortunately Melville's final film outing and also, unfortunately, one of his weakest, but it's a film which still manages to offer a stylish minimalist crime thriller but lacks the flourish of previous films. The film's whole feel and foray into existential loneliness feels downright depressing, especially with the visual style too, but maybe that represented Melville at the time, but I'm not sure. It's just emotionless from start to finish, and it's probably my favorite part, just how bleak this world is. Alain Delon is great here too as this weary cop who feels more like an observer than an officer, but he holds your attention from start to finish even with long stretches of no dialogue.…

Melville's farewell not only to the crime genre and his collaboration with the great Alain Delon, but to cinema itself, was the last proof that shows that Melville was still at the top of his game.

The story is deceptively simple, goes by the book, opens as most films of the genre do, closes like few of them do, has a predictable climax, and is one of the most important examples of neo-noir, including the relentless, determined cop, the beautiful blonde femme fatale and the typical friendship connection between cop and crook.

What are, then, the motivations for watching the film? Mellvile's scope, of course, the jazzy score and the performances of the terrific cast.

Le Cercle Rouge is famous…

The final film of Jean-Pierre Melville before his untimely death just a year later is this stripped down nihilistic crime thriller. It's a little too stripped down if anything. The muted cool blue tones make it feel like a Melville film stylistically, while the heist thriller plot with a link between crook and cop is very much the director's staple. It feels stunted in terms of characters - for all the slow pace and attention to detail, there's a real lack of meat on the bones compared to the director's best work. Alain Delon's character and his relationship with shady bar owner Richard Crenna is never fleshed out, while Catherine Deneuve barely appears. There are a few ideas previously used…

the exacting granular minutia of a heist painted in excruciating coldness by melville's gleaming blues. alain delon's sly roguish charm is hardened into this blunt cudgel of a cop: in his sequestered space-age office he impotently slaps his trans informant, the camera prominently following her wounded visage as she exits onto the icy, equally-uncaring streets. melville's police here are more mechanized than ever, deprived of humanity and nobility, and no matter how professional our protagonist thieves are at their work, this clockwork universe of bourgeois law is destined to obliterate them, and unlike in le cercle rouge, this criminal brotherhood doesn't even get to heroically die together in a friendly gesture of loyalty. un flic is the bleakest of the…

This one’s going out for Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon, November 8, 1935-August 18, 2024.

Un Flic is a minor Jean-Pierre Melville, but it’s still terrific, encapsulating the director’s cool, objective, existential style. In showing the processes carried out by cops and criminals, it’s an ode to professionalism while exemplifying that of the director as well.

JPM calls attention to his style in the opening sequence, as a group of thieves led by Simon (Richard Crenna) rob a bank in a French coastal town. As he always does, Melville presents the robbery slowly, capturing the details of the process. A windy rainstorm is raging, adding to the dreamlike, otherworldly mood of the scene. Did JPM deliberately wait for such a…