Killing Zoe

This is another good french movie,I must say that I am surprised that France make so many good movies.This movie has a simple plot about gang who is planning on robbing France national bank.You can say that the movie is devided into two parts, the first is the preparations and the wild night before the bank job.And the the second half of the movie is of the actual robbery.This movie has some scenes that you usually dont see in most movies,I am talking about brutal killing and a cool little sex scene.One reason why this movie turned out the way it did, must have been that they got Quentin Tarantino as their executive producer.And we all know the amount of violence that are in his movies. This is an entertaining movie to watch,but maybe a little brutal for some people.And look out for Jean-Hugues Anglade,he has a powerful way of acting that gets you focused,really cool actor. An other thing about this movie,is that it is not very known,so if you see it, I advice you to buy or rent it because it is quit rare.

Zed (Eric Stoltz) has only just arrived in the beautiful Paris and already he is up to no good. Having just slept with a call girl (Julie Delpy), he spends a night on the town with his dangerous friends. They all decide to rob a bank the following day. There is only one problem: Zed's call-girl, Zoe, just happens to work at the bank which is to be robbed! I believe this film comes from the same guy who wrote "Pulp Fiction", and the similarities are evident. Although the first half is a strange romance-turned-heist, the film gets increasingly violent as it carries on. This is very much the same style as "Pulp Fiction". (Both also feature Eric Stoltz.) Julie Delpy is interesting here. Although she is more or less reduced to a secondary character, it is interesting how she was something of the "it girl" as far as French women in American movies were concerned. She was not the first or the last, but it seems that at any given time there is always one French actress who is the standard for appearing in American films.

This film is a dark and profound meditation on the violent life and seemingly subsequent redemption of it's main character,E Stoltz, it is however often asked why the film titled 'Killing Zoe', J Delhi's role.

Pay close attention to the fact that her character, in the films bloody climax, has her hand slashed by a crazed French bank robber. He is then smoked by at least a dozen tactical response police officers.

At the end of the film Julie Delphi is in a car with stoltz, who mistakenly thinks Delphi has been hit or injured, she replies that the blood is not hers, and ofers to show 'Z' the sights of Paris.

Earlier in the film the leader of the French gang relates to Z the fact that he has contracted HIV (or in his words Aids) therefore there is a better than average chance that Delphi contracted the virus from him during the aforementioned bloody climax.... Hence the title Killing Zoe!

'Killing Zoe' is a movie that has grown on me over the years. When I first watched it I didn't think all that much of it, but each time I've seen it since I've liked it a little more, and I'm at the point now where I like it a lot. I don't think it's a GREAT movie, but it's a very good one, and extremely underrated. Roger Avary's connection with Quentin Tarantino has turned out to be more of a hindrance than a help to him. 'Killing Zoe' was frequently dismissed as just another Tarantino clone, which to me is unfair, because a) Avery actually wrote some of 'Reservoir Dogs', 'Pulp Fiction' and 'True Romance' (usually uncredited), and b) though the subject matter of 'Killing Zoe' is similar to say 'Reservoir Dogs', the approach is very different. And let's face it the heist-gone-wrong flick has a long history (the influence of 1950s crime classics 'Rififi', 'Bob Le Flambeur' and/or 'The Killing' on all subsequent variations of it cannot be underestimated), and Tarantino was building on an already established tradition. As well as that the hostage aspect of 'Killing Zoe' brings to mind 'Dog Day Afternoon' more than anything by QT. Anyway, I think this is an interesting movie. The violence is pretty blatant, but apart from that it is a subtle, character driven movie. Eric Stoltz ('Pulp Fiction') and Julie Delpy ('Before Sunrise') are both very good, especially in their first scene together, but the real stand out performance is by Jean-Hughes Anglade ('Betty Blue') who is outstanding. Anglade really makes the movie for me. 'Killing Zoe's reputation seems to be growing as the years go by, and now that the mid-90s Tarantino hype has died down it's about time it was judged on its own merits.

Much hated by Tarantino-lovin' geeks who often haven't even bothered to see it, KILLING ZOE is a nasty and hilarious gem, lacking much of Quentin's trademark video clerk snottines n' know-it-all nerdy attitude. Combining elements of old French noir flicks with a true nihilistic slant, Avary's flick is a true avant-pop classic.