MAN ON THE TRAIN A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
MAN ON THE TRAIN (L' HOMME DU TRAIN) is by director Patrice Leconte, who in the past few years has enchanted American audiences with his THE WIDOW OF SAINT-PIERRE and THE GIRL ON THE BRIDGE. His latest picture is another charmer, an unlikely character study of the new friendship between an old teacher, Manesquier (Jean Rochefort), and an old bank robber, Milan (Johnny Hallyday).
Shot almost exclusively in shades of light blues, pale reds and creamy whites, the movie's look perfectly matches the story's tone, which is that of a small fairy tale for adults. The ever-observant camera likes to linger in close-up on the leads. The lines in their haggard faces tell as much about the characters as does the brightly written dialog.
Manesquier is scheduled for a triple-bypass operation on the same day that Milan is supposed to rob the bank in Manesquier's small town. Manesquier, who would like nothing better than to have an exciting life as a crook, invites Milan to stay with him. Although Manesquier would love to be like Milan, his one attempt fails dramatically but sweetly. When some loudmouths in a combination bar and restaurant disturb the two of them, Manesquier decides to play tough guy for once in his life. Going up to the loudest of the group, Manesquier tells him to shut up. Rather than getting angry, the noisy guy starts quoting a poem. It turns out that, twenty years ago, he was a student of Manesquier, and he still remembers his old teacher fondly.
The ending is at once predictable and surprising. When you exit the theater, you'll leave with a bittersweet and very satisfied smile.
MAN ON THE TRAIN runs 1:30. The film is in French with English subtitles. (It also has exactly one line in English, which is one of the script's best.) It is rated R for "some language and brief violence" and would be acceptable for teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, May 23, 2003. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com
Want free reviews and weekly movie and video recommendations via Email? Just send me a letter with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
========== X-RAMR-ID: 34853 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1139279 X-RT-TitleID: 1122069 X-RT-SourceID: 703 X-RT-AuthorID: 1271 X-RT-RatingText: 3/4
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews