With the amount of British filmmakers out there nowadays trying to recreate the magic of Guy Ritchie’s iconic Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, they tend to fall into two categories; imitators, and those who make you stand up and take note; but Dead In France adds a third; it makes you stand up and take note… and makes you laugh your ass off.
Socially awkward Charles (Brian Levine) is on his 99th hitman kill and then he’s out of the business. He’s renting a place in France to decide what to do next and sort his business ties out, and hires a cleaner (Celia Muir) to… well, clean. Giving a job to Lisa the cleaner sets in motion the most random and criss-cross-overy day of Charles’ life with meetings with Lisa’s Scouse hyperactive boyfriend Denny (Darren Bransford), Clancy, a hitwoman rival (Kate Loustau) and a pair of con-men brothers. Needless to say, if he gets through today, he’s going to earn his retirement.
The cast of (being honest) no-name unknowns, give a reasonably good collective performance; Levine does a great job as Charles and you can feel sympathy for him despite his questionable line of work (all the poor man wants is a quiet life with a nice lady he cares about, but his social retardation, and the amount of rubbish he has to go through to get that, is incredible). You can tell Muir’s Lisa has a bit of history to her, from a performance so good you can also hear the cries from help from the inside of her character; lines like “no ones brought me flowers before” are delivered with appropriate levels of depression, and it’s a great job done by Muir. Loustau tore up every scene as Clancy and was immensely enjoyable, but, on the other hand, there were some misfires (such as the two con-men brothers whose characters were so dull they became instantly forgettable) which weren’t helped by average performers.
The humour and quips in this film are great, and pleasingly make up a massive part of the film. The introduction of Lisa the cleaner is hilarious (with an extended discussion with Charles making you legitimately think she’s a prostitute for a good few minutes), and her no-nonsense Essex attitude makes her very likeable by ruining Charles’ romantic ideal of a yacht by proclaiming them to be “shit”. The scene where Charles talks to a fellow hitman whilst he’s in a pool is ludicrous, and whilst discussing buying-off Charles with money in his villa, it’s made all the funnier with a tiny rubber duck covering the hitman’s privates. Impromptu conversations at the worst time possible are a trademark of Dead In France and the black comedy crime genre and adds to the marvellous, ballsy humour.
It’s going to draw annoying comparisons from Lock, Stock, Quentin Tarantino, and Oliver Stone’s work (like many similar copies from these films), however, unlike a lot of the imitators in the mixed crime/comedy genre, Dead In France works; the classy black and white style helps differentiate it from rivals, and adds a modern noir feel to proceedings. The humour is enough to make it stand up from the pack, and there are a few homages with Denny the boyfriend wearing a suit similar to the ones worn in Reservoir Dogs, and the mansion raid imitating end of Scarface (but in reverse). While these don’t help the case to separate it from comparisons to these masterpieces, it’s nice to see some fun nodding too.
It’s nice to see this film trying to achieve a lot more than it’s budget allows, as whilst its own cinematography is stylish enough, there is a reasonable amount of CGI to show blood effects and, being frank, the effects do look rubbish, but at least director Kris McManus had the guile to put them in to make the point. It adds to the humour and violence, and adds to McManus’ vision of a black comedy crime genre film.
McManus directs a solid picture and captures the feel of southern France very well; with appropriate shots and locations giving the costa lifestyle a decent representation. The noir-ish feel (thanks to the classic black and white picture) gives the impression of French artistry, as well as covers up the fact it’s a micro budget movie. McManus can do a lot with literally zero budget, so it’d be quite interesting to see what he could do with even a small one.
It does turn a wee bit boring towards the end; mainly due to the flustering volley of action and character meetings that occur (trying to create the impression of a ‘multi-map’ of characters where you need a bloody massive flowchart to keep tabs on everyone and their relationships; it’s not as bad as Rock ‘N’ Rolla or Snatch but it’s still there). As well, there are some pointless scenes which don’t add much to the film and leave you thinking “why was that there?”
Overall, Dead In France isn’t going to revolutionise the cinema industry, but it is a lovely crime distraction to this summer’s blockbuster season. It’s also nice to see some British crime tales before the dirge of American speakeasy films coming up (like Gangster Squad and Lawless; which are both due later this year). Worth checking out to watch something a bit different, and to support quality cinema on no budget.
Terry Lewis – @thatterrylewis.
