Prohibido pasar

This is a pure exercise in style from the Luc Besson school of film making. A handsome gangster joins ranks with a school of dropouts who populate the Parisian subway system, hounded (but never phazed) by transportation police. The trouble is that head honcho Fred has fallen in love with the pretty but stroppy wife of one of his BCBG victims, and strife ensues below the streets of gay Paree.

Christopher Lambert is amazing as the stylish rebel gangster with a heart, Fred; Isabelle Adjani is pretty but, as always, deeply annoying -- she just exudes arrogance from the bottom of her dainty little heart. On the sidelines we see an impossibly young Jean-Hugues Anglade, Jean Reno and Jean-Pierre Bacri. I actually didn't recognise Reno, that's how young and unknown he is here.

If you have a deeper interest in cinema, this is a straight ten. It's amazing how Besson brings together great style, action, fun, pace, acting, dialogue and amazing characters. Unlike most directors who film in the province and try to make it look like Paris, Besson films in Paris but makes it look like Metropolis.

Unfortunately, there isn't much of a plot and zilch suspense. The film starts with a heated heart-to-heart between Fred and pretty Héléna, and since we are aware that their affair can't end but unhappily (albeit in an incredibly chic way), the suspense is exactly zero. So if you just want entertainment, you should better pick one of Besson's later movies.

It would be difficult to describe "Subway." Fortunately, I threw it into the DVD player knowing only who directed it, who starred in it, and that it was set in the Paris Metro. Maybe that was a plus for me, since I had no idea where the serpentine, if occasionally silly, plot was going. Suffice it to say that Christophe Lambert is chased into the Paris Metro, clutching some files that Isabelle Adjani is desperate to get her hands on. Of course, there's a romance with them, and a number of supporting characters--a roller skating purse snatcher, a smart cop, a dumb cop, a philosophical flower vendor, etc. Like many Luc Besson films, this one is over the top from the get-go, a crazy ride to nowhere, surreal, perhaps, but a bit obtuse at times with its eye-rolling symbolism. But it's fun, especially the excessive 80s look of the costumes and hairstyles, and Eric Serra's synth-and-bass-heavy soundtrack. Between Lambert and Adjani, I have to reserve all the praise for the lady, who deliciously scores with superb comic timing.

When I saw Subway, I wanted to see mostly the talent of Isabelle Adjani, one of my favorites.

As this movie starts, it seems promising with the dark Paris Metro atmosphere, which is a bit similar to our Subway system in Montreal. The weird caracters, the forbidden passageways and of course the hideout, that subway security can't detect nor approach.

But the story is slow despite good performances and the up-going suspence, that if security can snatch those guys. And by the middle of the movie, mostly the last half hour, it is boring.

Too bad for a story which started so well with such a offbeat caracter like Christophe Lambert (in blond, clad in a dark trenchcoat and bearing a neon stick) falling in love with a rich, sultry woman like Isabelle Adjani...

See it for curiosity only...

Truly I had no clue about what was going on in French director Luc Besson's offbeat, but terribly jerky story involving a sly safe cracker fleeing to the underground Paris Metro, after stealing some important documents off a millionaire that he would try to ransom off to. The bubblegum romantic-crime-drama premise is a washing machine filled with ideas, which are hanging off a very loose, but unpredictable plot. There's not much groundwork, but its impulsive nature, trivial gimmicks and interesting urban environment just gets you caught in the disjointed whirlwind of these strenuously adventurous situations, melancholy despair and eccentric characters. The delirious script never takes itself seriously (the humour is strong) and feels insignificant, but it sure had many awkward and lumpy exchanges. Some passages feel quite useless, and have poor continuity, but there's a certain charm that's hard to resist. The English dubbed version sounds quite terrible though.

It's like Besson has thrown caution to the wind, and is experimenting with his visually sharp prowess and stylish verve to get any sort of impact and details through. His placement, pacing and overall enthusiasm is impeccable. Some action sequences, mainly the opening car chase scene is very well delivered. He draws so much form very little and never seems bounded by logic. From the get-go he storms right in and never lets the smoking composition, slick atmosphere sway off course. Brimming in is an electrifying tacky electronic / rock soundtrack (by Eric Serra) and Carlo Varini's camera-work beautifully illustrates Besson's characteristically moody framings. The worthwhile cast do an admirable job. Christopher Lambert's broodingly dry and grasping performance has an immensely hypnotic ambiance to it. An alluring Isabelle Adjani draws up an infectiously collected, and classy performance. There's enjoyably fine kooky support from Jean-Hughes Anglade, Richard Bohringer, Jean-Pierre Barcri, Michel Galabru and the always delightful Besson regular Jean Reno.

Besson's "Subway" is resourcefully fun and colourful pulp, if a rather jaded experience.

This movie had a very unusual plot. It was basically unexplained, and at the end I was left wondering what I had just seen. It's not that the movie is hard to follow, rather that it doesn't give you much to follow. The main characters are never really defined outside of the specific events that occur in the movie, and vague references to events immediately before the beginning. Perhaps this was done on purpose, to avoid tying down the identities of those who were involved, in an effort to create the sympathetic characters most films aspire to. But it left me feeling like I'd missed something.

The film included shady denizens of the Paris Metro, but I'm not sure it focused on them as much as I expected. I expected the film to be about a normal main character running across an unbelievable array of weirdos in the subway, but the weirdos simply weren't that weird. I think I've actually see weirder people in the Paris Metro in real life. Instead, the weirdness in the movie comes from its lack of definition. An unidentified main character having stolen mysterious "papers" from the unknown rich husband of some random woman he happened to meet on the street.

I'm not sure what the movie was trying to get at, but I think it was leaning toward inspiring spontaneousness in all things and the consequences that brings. It really didn't ring any bells of resemblance for me with any of Besson's newer movies (Léon, Fifth Element), even though it had a score by Eric Serra and Jean Reno made an appearance. It also had the Eighties stamped into and slobbered all over it.

I can only recommend this movie to Besson fans trying to get a bigger picture of his work, 80's freaks, or anyone interested in trying to decipher cryptic movies.