TIGRE DANS LA JUNGLE

Not the actual title screen but oooh c'est génial!

So the scene in Rififi? That's all of Le Samouraï (1967).  It's the quiet and calculated process of a criminal act by people who know exactly what they're doing all shown in action rather than dialogue. Tense and tiresome silence. There really isn't an ounce of fat in this film, it's totally economical. It's minimal and it's deliberate and it's meticulous, just like Cool Costello's razor sharp dress with a hat that's always well adjusted and never falls out of place. I loved seeing his neatly arranged rows of empty bottles of mineral water and cigarettes atop his wardrobe. Detailed order. Like a hired assassin, the film maneuvers in stillness with an awareness of time. It's loaded with noise though. The soundscape of dress shoes on cement, drizzling rain, birds who chirp, keys that click, metal that clatters, the pitter, the patter are all robust and work together like jazz. Plus the organ in the score gets me pumped brother.

The car scenes were my favorites. Not a word is spoken during the process, just the clink and clank of tools.

Melville finds any reason he can to change the composition within a shot through light. In the first scene Costello's laying in bed and you see the light from outside refracting from the windows onto the ceiling and suddenly a car passes on the street and it warps that light momentarily. The mechanic moves a lamp from the table to the ground so in the darkness his face, striking and sharp, becomes illuminated.

Nice little touch with color as his motivations change from money to survival.

Driving a film through images and editing rather than dialogue affords the actors with so much freedom. Cathy Rosier is a babe, model turned actress, and hey! not a great one but luckily for her she didn't have to be! You can see her hitting her marks but with a simple cut to her eyes her performance suddenly becomes explosive. Plus she does a spectacular job miming on the piano (and there's a really good moment of her swingin' around in a big white swivel chair.) She's always keepin her cool. She doesn't miss a beat, even with a gun pointed at her abdomen. Same goes for Delon. I don't know enough of his work--was he actually a good actor? Anyone know? Doesn't matter, because for a film that relies so heavily on facial expression, I'm not gonna complain about an actor with a really (really) pretty face. For all I know he really was Costello because I was never given enough to convince myself he wasn't.

Oh but the greatest part of the film is simply its setting in Pigalle and Montmartre, my neighborhood for a short three months (heart heart heart.) The dirty part of town. I don't think there's a single postcard moment in this movie? Honestly, we could've been in Brussels. It's a sort of unrecognizable Paris. Where Dassin as a foreigner looks to the city doe eyed and awestruck, Melville is a seasoned and hardened local, who kind of couldn't give a shit, he's seen it all already. Oh man I just remembered there's a moment where Costello is crossing the street and there's a vibrant wallfront ad for Orangina and that right there was the greatest little love letter to Paris hoo boy. On god my mouth started to salivate. I can SMELL that very street.

The cat and mouse game in the métro was Melville's version of an ode to his city. It's literally the seedy underbelly of the town, the clandestine underground! And Costello knows the metro "commes ses poches" and its so dazzling!!! But I'm just a sucker for seeing the métro on film, especially when the character's home line is ligne deux, the blue line, MY line!! Made me sort of weepy. (Liddle fun fact, Porte de Lilas is an abandoned stop, making it the perfect playground for movie makers. You see it in a lot of Frenchy movies despite it bein a ghost.)

Last thing I'll say!! With a film that's mostly silent, ending with a self sacrifice and noble surrender (similar to Dassin's Uptight a few years later) followed by the clumsy bang of a drum is pretty hysterical.

Made up quote lol

yooooo this is so dramatique!!!!