À toute vitesse

I took this movie on sexual orientation, racism, and relationships to be a slightly schematic allegory about how French intellectuals have abdicated their responsibility to marginalized people in society--Quentin, the successful young (white)writer takes off for Paris to be lionized by the literary establishment, leaving his working-class, gay, and North African buddies to defend themselves against the local rightwing thugs. He really has little interest in his erstwhile friends except to instrumentalize their pain and anger as material for his new book and for a public display of "concern." A bit slow, but not a waste of time.

'Full Speed' is like 'Speed 2'; neither contained any sort of momentum. Perhaps I missed the boat on this one; sure, it was foreign, but it was very hard to follow. I guess there was this writer and some friends, some loved some, some were just loyal. It's labeled as a 'gay themed' movie and there was at least one gay person here, but it seemed like just a side character. For the most part, I was bored, waiting for that signature big-bad event that happens in almost all independent movies. When this one comes, no spoiler, it's so left-field it was hard to believe. Nothing really new here, nothing exciting. I seriously don't know how it got the title as slow as this was, but then again, like I said, I probably missed the boat. I've seen literally one hundred gay themed movies, including a multiple of foreign films. This does not rank anywhere in the top 90 of those. No one really to root for, no real character development. In fact, the acting in a lot of scenes was laughable. The funniest scene seems to be the most tragic: one character dies and all but does a 'Brady Bunch' death scene – so bad when his/her head hits the window that I was waiting for either the fake, studio audience laugh-track or "Oooohhh" to come. Since there was no real character to root for, no one that stood out as too evil or too good, it was all so ho-hum with very little direction. I see others giving this high ratings, and more power to them that they enjoyed it. Hopefully they'll realize there's dozens upon dozens better than this and move on to explore real visions of love and plight of gay characters.

This is the latest film (the next one debuts in France later this year) by young actor turned director, Gael Morel ("Wild Reeds"),available on video in the US and UK. AT FULL SPEED explores many layers and complexities of relationships between youths in multi-racial France. A non-linear film, it examines the relationship between the characters in a variety of ways, contrasting attitudes in the province with those in Paris, exposing racism, and sexuality in ambiguous ways. But at the end, Morel suggests there is a fine line between hetero, bi, and homosexuality, between racists and their victims. A gifted ensemble cast including Morel's two co-stars in "Wild Reeds": Elodie Bouchez, and Stephane Rideau get the points across well to those willing to think and digest this difficult to follow film. It is definitely not for fans of current American youth-themed films. Although it lasts less than an hour and a half, the film leaves you feeling like it lasted much longer. That was, I think, Morel's intention, and not necessarily negative. It just may be too sophisticated for its intended audience.

Gael Morel's study of the tangled relationships of four teens is fairly sophisticated in structure and theme but, I suspect has little of worth to say to anyone outside of France. The universal themes it touches upon have all been explored before in greater depth and sensitivity, and those themes particular to France are, by their nature, unlikely to arouse interest in foreign viewers. That isn't too say that this film isn't interesting enough, even though it refuses to be hurried and so takes a while to engage the viewer. Probably one of its biggest strengths is in the way it portrays teenagers as rational, thinking adults, capable of maintaining (for a while, at least) adult relationships. Too often these days, teens are poorly written stereotypes – either sulking and non-communicative, or sex-crazed and drunk.

While the film is primarily character-driven, it unfortunately feels it necessary to contrive a plot in the second half that leans too heavily toward melodrama, and the viewer is left with the unwelcome feeling – surely not intended – that these characters are mere pawns playing out preordained roles. One character dies a lingering death from a blow to the head, another reaps what he sows, losing everything (emotionally) but learning nothing. When you think about it, that's the kind of stuff Warners were filming with Bette Davis in the 40s, and it damages a film that was made in the nineties.

Despite this, Full Speed is worth checking out. For the most part it is a thoughtful, intelligent depiction of the emotional and sociological influences on modern-day teens.

Interesting primarily in relation to an earlier French film "Wild Reeds" (1994), which was the first film featuring several of the young actors here. Unfortunately it just does not "translate" - the interwoven themes of French political, racial and class tensions, and fallout from the Algerian conflict (which no doubt have great resonance with French youth) will be almost entirely lost on American viewers, who may see the film primarily due to its minor gay sub-text. The motivation behind some key scenes, particularly involving violent conflicts between groups of young guys, is pretty much incomprehensible.