Saturday, November 15, 2008
REVENGE MAY NOT BE SO SWEET AFTER ALL
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Claude Chabrol's
This Man Must Die / Que la bête meure (1969)
Another morally twisty tale from a master.
It has you guessing.
I liked it up to a point. The acting was slightly wooden in some sections. The trouble with French cinema is that one never can be sure if this is intentional or not.
But, as this is a rather straightforward story, that is probably not the case this time. It was wooden.
A boy is killed by a hit and run driver.
The father tries to find the killer.
Through a coincidence, that you need to rush through not to see as contrived, he finds the guy.
What he does once he gets the man in his sights is the point of the film. How do you exact revenge without becoming morally wrong yourself. And will Providence let you.
More coincidences. More twists and turns.
I liked it well enough. Once is enough. A 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
