Le Gang des bois du temple

Unfortunately "The Temple Woods Gang" is way too simple and straight-forward to catch someone's attention. The story itself doesn't contain any twists or turns and I was patiently waiting till the end to be surprised by some big turn-around, that never came. The main theme - revenge - is displayed here rather trivially in two forms: 1. Revenge of the Arab prince for his stolen property, 2. Revenge of Pons for the a murdered gang. Sadly the revenge of Pons came for me sort of out of the blue, because the relationship between him and the gang wasn't built properly or deeply and they seemed more like acquaintances than actual friends. Because of that when it comes to his revenge it is hard to connect with his character and his motives and emotions. Overall the pace of this film is super slow (what could have been a 45 minute episode of a crime TV show is an almost 2 hour long film) with no artistic qualities whatsoever. The only thing where I can see some ambition is the cinematography, which captured some nice shots, but I felt like it did not reach its full potential. For its simplicity, slow pace and quite a few bad acting performances, I can't recommend this film.

I just saw it at Berlinale 2023 and it's a very good film, very well constructed and directed, I wish more movies like this to come! The script is solid, the actors are brilliant, the story is very nice to follow. Also, after the panel discussion and Q&A with the team (director and main actors), it seemed to me a very nice experience. It is an homage to humanity, to the suburb living people, a movie which is based on contradictions. Overall a very good movie, I don't want to give spoilers and I tried to give you a flavour of whats about! I would reco to see it in the cinema, however it can be seen as well at home! Thank you, Dan!