Diamant noir

"Dark Inclusion" ("Diamant noir") is a masterful thriller that needs to be observed with attentive eyes and care, just as one of the main elements from its plot: diamonds. Arthur Harari's film is as polished and rare as such, carefully made but it's not for everyone's taste - those who can see through its details will find beauty and find some reward. It goes beyond the typical revenge thriller, with secrets from the past going back to surface as a young man tries to get even with the family that deserted him. It flies with many non-typical elements, very unexpected and peculiar from the get-go, but it all makes sense. Just accept the weirdness and some creepiness from its early minutes and you'll find something exquisite and potent.

With the recent passing of his dad, the young jewelry thief Pier (Niels Schneider) is embraced by distant relatives like his uncle (Hans Peter Cloos) and the family business of jewelries, that also includes his cousin (August Diehl). Truth is that Pier works on two fronts: the ideal where he can work with those folks, their new associates, since he has a keen eye for diamonds and knows how to navigate in that world of business - besides his criminal past working under a wise father figure (Hafed Benotman); but Pier also wants revenge due to a past situation that happened with his erratic father and the brother (the very first sequence of the film, impossible to forget). He wants to bring those rich folks down, and profit if possible so it's a quite obvious scenario that his old criminal mates will help him out.

Now, what comes next feels like a cliche yet Mr. Harari doesn't make it as such. Pier's cousin is engaged with a beautiful woman (Raphaële Godin) and one can see that a connection between both will happen. It does, but never like a Hollywood film would do. It's all done in an intelligent and sensitive manner - as there's a difficult situation revolving the cousin's health. And the main question: does Pier has what it takes in order to fulfill with a revenge? Could it be a case of killing people, or just ruin them where it hurts the most: wealth and power. He knows how to conceive plans; but can he embrace the darkness with a murderous desire? This duality is interesting to follow, as he slowly moves inside the family business, forms new partnerships in such a quality way that one may wonder why he doesn't ignore his vengeance acts and go legitimate in a world where he has a future.

A very intelligent film that doesn't simplify with its ideas and presentation, yet it doesn't make it inaccessible or difficult to follow. It simply demands a special attention to characters, reactions, situations and how the connect with each other, how they are solved or not. It doesn't fall into the usual trend of leaving everything in the open, there are plenty of solved situations, but it also leaves some room for audiences to question about little unanswered things.

And if there's another great attraction to everything it is through Niels Schneider's performance. Here, he's given a chance to disappear a little from the usual cute next door guy or the object of love and adoration of everybody - like he was in Xavier Dolan's "Heartbeats" - and reaches some darker modes, someone who can be seen as appealing at the same time he's out of radar as he's a criminal without many social contacts outside his mates, and new family. He doesn't play the heroic type we cheer at all times, he fails badly at one particular moment that almost risks his plan a great deal. But he's human, hard working when it comes to diamonds and even human relations to get what he wants, but he's not cold hearted enough to a bigger danger than stealing. Schneider navigates this character in such an unusual manner that it's hard not to care about him and his ideas of revenge - not to mention it's hard to imagine any other actor playing it. His scenes with his cousin's fiyancee are amazing as they slowly develop a bonding that you can actually believe it rather than typical cinema cliche of "man will fall in love with a beautiful woman and/or will find ways to be a homewrecker.

Hearing the premise of it all conquered me enough to watch it. But watching it, it's such a complete unique experience that blew my mind in all ways.

It's one of those small films that are destined to become one of those experiences you feel the need to share with anybody without regrets. 9/10.

This film partly from Belgium is a vengeance tale. A young man decides to avenge the death of his father, which he knows has been provoked by his uncle, the deceased's brother: a diamond broker in Antwerp. So our lead plans his vengeance, helped by a couple of hoodlums of his acquaintance. This feature is not a masterpiece but a well made like TV movie piece of work. I found it maybe a bit too long however. Just note the presence in the cast of Ahmed Benoman, a sort of Edward Bunker. An ex con and also novelist, writer of authentic tales of despair, violence and brutality. A man who unfortunately died just after the shooting of this movie. He plays here the Rachid character, a hoodlum. His performance is outstanding, especially in the scene where he kills a pigeon, only to show the lead character what it makes to kill. A so powerful scene. A good little film.

Diamant Noir (or Dark Inclusion for the English title) is shot in Antwerpen in my home country Belgium. I recognized a lot of places where they shot some scenes. It's an enjoyable movie to watch, never boring, with a good story that keeps you interested in the movie. I wouldn't really categorize it as a thriller even though there are some revenge thoughts going on, but more a drama. The whole cast did a good job playing their respective characters. For Hafed Benotman it was only his third movie but he died before the movie was released. The movie is mostly in French, but there are also some German, Dutch and English passages, what perfectly normal is for Belgium as most of the people there speak at least two if not three or four languages. Diamant Noir is one of those movies that won't make it to a big public but it deserves a wider audience. Another good Belgian production.

Pier Ulmann cases houses and works with Rachid in break-ins. His estranged father Victor dies penniless. Victor mangled his hand while cutting a diamond for the family business and then lost his inheritance to his brother Joseph. After the funeral, Pier's cousin Gabi offers him a job renovating the diamond office. Gabi is trying to push the business into a bigger wholesaler buying from Vijay Sha Gopal's cutting operation. Joseph vehemently disagrees and tries to buy Rick De Vries' cutting operation to work on boutique specialty large stones. Pier sees the opportunity to case the office and avenge his father. He infiltrates the family business and befriends Gabi's boxing wife Luisa.

This is an intriguing noirish story but director Arthur Harari needs a more stylish flair. The most memorable scene is killing a pigeon. The movie starts off with a bloody scene. That may have raised my expectations but it doesn't maintain that intensity. The lead is reserved for the most part due to the story. It's not really a caper movie or a thriller. It's a family dysfunction movie.