Le Doulos

Film, 1962

I don’t really get the allure of the cool criminal movie. Sometimes when I read about one like this it turns out that the director based it on people he actually knew. So that seems legit, but having been raised in a culture soaked in Tarantino and his derivatives, that aspect of these films is kind of wasted on me. But that’s okay, because these things are usually so well done and absorbing, like slipping into a bubble bath, that by the end of it you don’t know if it lasted an hour or four. This one’s got some canny storytelling tricks, but occasionally jostles you awake with its overabundance of style. Unless there really is a time and place where women who look like that spend hours getting their hair and makeup to look like that and then wear those nylons just to lay around reading before tucking in for the night, because if that’s case sign me the fuck up. The only thing not to like here is that this movie, at its core, is about bro love, which is kind of annoying.

Bob Le Flambeur

Film, 1956

Le Samouraï

Film, 1967

Le Samurai doesn’t have much to offer beyond beautiful colors and a mesmerizing pace, but it’s more than enough to get satisfyingly lost in for it’s running length. 3.5