Triplo gioco

I have seen every film directed by Neil Jordan. Being a big fan of his, I didn't want to miss this one. Well, it was the big disappointment of my life. This remake of Bob le Flambeur is horribly directed and acted. The last sequence is just about the best thing of this film, but as for the rest, it was just mediocre, at best.

The idea of putting together these many characters in the Riviera was probably a great thought, but then, the many actors of different nationalities and backgrounds prove to be a hindrance to the story. If one can get over the accent problem, then there is the sound track of this film, which was so hard to hear at all, at least in the theater where I saw it, that you have a double hurdle to get over.

Nick Nolte with his hair dyed a carrot hue looks hideous; he probably was going through a bad period when he made this movie. His take on Bob is fitting with the character's spiral descent into hell because of his drug problem, no doubt. But he is also hard to understand since he whispers and mumbles most of the time. A little more clarity would have helped.

The last moments of the film are very well executed, but as caper films go, this picture doesn't contribute anything to the genre.

Sorry Mr. Jordan, better luck next time out. Maybe leave remakes to mediocre directors. You could not improve in the original one, so why even bother?

This was a re-make of the 1955 film noir, "Bob LeFlambeur," which I also own. That was black-and-white and made in France while this is 2002 movie in color with English-speaking actors.

Usually I'll take the original over the re-make but not in this case....with one major consideration. In order to like this film, I had to play the DVD with the English subtitles on because many of the accents were just too tough to decipher and if you can't understand the dialog, it gets a bit frustrating. The story is confusing enough as it is, so, if you have a similar problem as I had, play this with the subtitles.

If there is such a thing as colorful film noir, this would be it, with many splashes of the neon nightlife of France, inside and outside.

Story-wise, if you're confused you are not alone. After two viewings, I still haven't totally figured out the twist at the end. The dialog tries to be snappy mid-40s Raymond Chandler stuff and sometimes it's great, other times it's affected. Overall, however, it 's fun. Nick Nolte delivers most of the clever lines. The young girl in here, Nutsa Kukhianidze, is intriguing new face, as was the case with Isabelle Corey in "Bob."

This movie gets a lot of negative reviews from professional critics. Don't trust them; give this a look.

Heist movies are of two kinds: those where the heist is successful and end in some sort of bliss for the robbers (on whose side the viewers always are) and those where it fails and ends up in tragedy. The heist told in this movie belongs to a third kind because in my opinion it's neither successful nor unsuccessful like you will see in the end and understand why I am saying so. Nick Nolte does an excellent job in the role of a middle aged gambler, heister and drug addict who plans a robbery of valuable pictures in a casino in the south of France despite the fact that he is being watched by the police. The heist plan is very original indeed and it is based on a fake heist on one place while the real robbery will take place on another one. The end of the movie is bit confusing while mixing luck at gambling (in a rather unbelievable and unexplained way) with the success or failure of the heist itself. Well but it's a merry movie (except for the only death that occurs there)and Nick Nolte plays his part in a wonderful way.

THE GOOD THIEF (3+ outta 5 stars)

Very good character study/caper film about a drug-addicted American criminal (Nick Nolte) in France who straightens himself out for one more Big Score. He in constantly under the watchful eye of a kindly police inspector who wants to stop him for his own good... so he hits upon a plan to devise a *fake* robbery to divert attention from the *real* one. It's a remake of an old French classic, "Bob La Flambeur" (which I haven't seen yet... so I may have a different take on this movie after I've seen the original). The cast (various character actors of different nationalities) is great... and Nolte portrays a very believable down-on-his-luck substance-abuser... but that may not be much of a stretch for him. Directed and written by Neil Jordan... it may not be one of his best movies ("The Crying Game", "The Butcher Boy") but it's still a fine piece of work.

There isn't much one can, or for that matter should say about Neil Jordan's "The Good Thief". Fun and stylish heist movie that drags a bit in the middle but gets back on track by the end. Along for the ride with a weathered thief/drug addict/bon vivant named Bob (Nick Nolte) is a motley crew of characters with varying degrees of fashionable zaniness. The most notable of the lot might be transsexual Philippa (Sarah Bridges) and security-systems expert Vladimir from Vladivostok (played by another raconteur European director Emir Kusturica).

Dialogue, though, sounds like it was written by a teenage comic book artist in a foreign palaver and then translated into English. The fact that most of the actors don't list the language of the British as their mother tongue isn't helping either, especially when the details of a complicated robbery are being discussed. However, this all fits comfortably enough in the overall ambiance of the movie. Choice of music is excellent, enhancing the experience greatly. It was nice to see the REAL south of France with its strong Algerian influences instead of just the usual white bred high society crowd most people associate with Monte Carlo and Nice. In addition to Algeria, we also get some Russia, Bosnia, England..

P.S.: Young actress from Georgia Nutsa Kukhanidze is another bright spot managing for her vulnerable character Anne to also come off very sexy, chic and even debonnaire. Through her confident performance she really sells us on the notion of these hardened 'old' men being infatuated with a 17-year-old crack whore from Bosnia. And they say movies sugarcoat reality... :)