Man from Beirut

The light in the darkness

ok, leon, a contract killer and a girl, but it seems like if you imagine leon being directed my kaurismäki, dark and laconic and some strange humour in it. Anyway - the team joined the screening at Black Nights in Tallinn and it felt quite true when they presented themsvs as the streetfighters of the filmbiz, I gue3ss with their low budget they wouldnt survive a minute in a Hollywood project and they pulled it off in fourteen days. I remember Willeford's Miami blues as one the few stories with death and darkness always on the agenda and we got all that great martial art stuff from Asia, just think of the blind swordsman! He needs to rely on his instincts he needs to FEEL the enemy's approach in his darkness - but he#s tired and here comes Momo, here the light comes into his old soul, a little girl, end of his innocence / beauty and the beast / you name it. She leads him to the sea, to the one place he is longing for, she pulls out that mean queen's icepick off his frozen heart - a fairytale indeed, pure and straight in neo-noir b/w. Gampl follows the path of Takeshi Kitano, Melville and Michael Mann's Collateral, taking us through the berlin night - not a place for fairytales? nonsense! And what speed we gain there rushing through the dirty streets- intentionally for sure because that speed makes me remember all those shocking moment of violence - while infact they never were in the movie! My imagination was ignited by this fine piece of art, by that velocity and that reduction to the bone of filmmaking: The light in the darkness! Why do I go the movies anyway - if not for that? Da capo!

Really cool and stylish thriller made in Berlin, loved the photography, academy format b/w, i'm not sure if you really can understand all what's going on, but that's not the focus, it's about the suspense, the style and the story. I discovered so many references to other movies, I loved that. The main character Momo (by Kida Ramadan) reminded me of Belmondo in A Bout de Soufflee. Saw the movie last year at the Festival in Tallinn and now watched it again. Totally worth a second watch...

One of the stronger aspects of the film is definitely the visual look, but that's about it. The plot is shallow and doesn't really hold together. The idea itself might seem ridiculous, and it is, but it could've even been believable if done slightly differently. Maybe even if portraying a blind person would've been at least halfway decent. Here the blind assassin seems to behave more in the vein of a supernatural Matt Murdock than as an ordinary, blind, middle aged, middle eastern man.

As the film stands, it seems like a silly re-imagining of Léon (1994) or a fan fiction inspired by it. Unfortunately it possesses almost none of the qualities nor charm of it's legendary counterpart. The film is a cheap copy of noirish action, trying so hard to be stylish but forgetting what it should be all about. Perhaps that's the result of working mainly on commercials, as is the case with the director Christoph Gampl.

Even though it has many shortcomings I'm positive the film will appeal to some. It's not inherently a bad production, just a bit lacklustre mix of everything that doesn't necessarily work together.

First of all, I don't think the film has anything to do with Leon or just as much as Besson owes a lot to Cassavetes and his film Gloria, so to speak. I read an interview with the director in which he explicitly refers to Gloria. About the film itself, I like his style. When I go to the cinema, I want to see something other than what we call reality. I found that here. I was tied up the whole time and maybe I missed therefore a few mistakes. Anyway, it doesn't happen to me too often with a movie, and that's what it's all about.

Was lucky to see the movie at the premier PÖFF and meet the crew. Definitely feels like the film he was destined to make. Remarkable that the film was made in 14 days. Black&white, superb editing and soundtrack. love everything about it