Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageRivals (2008)
Director: Jacques Maillot
Movie review
From Time Out London
This frisky if long-winded and derivative French policier never gets off the starting-blocks despite some charismatic performances and intriguingly executed set-pieces. It’s Lyon in the late 1970s, and cop François (Guillaume Canet) welcomes home his reformed jailbird brother Gabriel (François Cluzet). When attempts by ‘Gabi’ to snag a job lead to degradation, he switches back to the trade he knows.Director Jacques Maillot traces the brothers’ different fortunes, as the film sadly tramps a path to nowhere unusual. There’s potential to draw conflict and moral ambiguity from the plot, but attempts to realise it disappear at the hands of saggy editing, signposted emotional cues and uninteresting side players. The essential film’s banality is reflected in a colour palette of beiges, greys and browns.
Author: David Jenkins
Time Out London Issue 1998, Dec 4 - 10, 2008
Cast & crew
Director: Jacques Maillot
Cast: Guillaume Canet, François Cluzet, Marie Denarnaud, Clotilde Hesme
Rated: 15
Duration: 106 mins
UK Release: Dec 5 2008
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now