Bullhead (Rundskop)

Belgian director Michael Roskam’s debut feature film may be a tough, brutal, gritty crime drama but its unbelievably good and certainly not to be missed and I opine its even better than his second movie The Drop (2014), which turned out to be James Gandolfini’s final feature film.   

The explosive Jacky Vanmarsenille. 

Starring Matthias Schoenaerts, the award-winning star of Rust and Bone (2012), Bullhead (2011) or to give it its Dutch title Rundskop, is harrowing tale of revenge, redemption and fate. The Belgium born actor plays Jacky Vanmarsenille a man whose life has been affected by a violent childhood incident that has left him permanently maimed which in turn has made him unsociable and deep, a handsome man who has never known love outside his immediate family. Jacky and his family are central to a meat selling scam, one in which beef cattle are illegally injected with hormones to bulk them up and produce more meat. But again due to that violent child hood occurrence Jacky Vanmarsenille has also been injecting himself with hormones as well as taking steroids. Three things happen to Jacky that complicates his life even more than usual, putting pressure on his already explosive nature. Firstly undue pressure from a Mafioso meat trader, secondly the murder of a Federal Agent who has been investigating the illicit trade in meat and finally a woman from his traumatic past.

 

The woman that comes back into Jacky's life..

To play this part the brilliant Schoenaerts had to put in a great deal of work bulking up to replicate the effects of the characters drug intake and successfully giving the impression that he will explode into violence any moment - which at times he does!  Don’t be put off by the movies ruthless and cruel subject matter, this is a film that should be widely seen and was selected as the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84^th Academy Awards and only lost to the Iranian submission A Separation (2011) - yes its that good.

The source of an illicit income.

The Drop.

My second American crime drama of late reinforces my theory that a film with a decent well-written story, that’s well told and has a cast of actors that can depict a believable scenario cannot fail to entertain the viewer, be it at the cinema or on its DVD release. The film under discussion is The Drop released in the UK at the end of 2014 and sadly has the distinction of being James Gandolfini’s final appearance in a feature film, an actor that will be fondly remembered for his role of Tony Soprano in the award winning HBO series The Sopranos.

 

The film starsTom Hardy.....

Denis Lehane not only wrote the short story, Animal Rescue, upon which the film is based, but also wrote the movies screenplay. Boston born Lehane has already had three other stories successfully adapted for the screen, the Clint Eastwood helmed Mystic River (2003), Gone Baby Gone (2007) with Ben Affleck directing his brother Casey in a Kenzie and Gennaro mystery thriller and in 2010 Martin Scorsese directed Leonardo DiCaprio in the psychological thriller Shutter Island.  Lehane writing is always solid with some great characterizations and The Drop is no exception. Directed by Belgian born Michael R Roskam, who had only directed one feature film prior to this one, the well regarded and Academy Nominated Bullhead (2011) and starring as well as Gandolfini British actor Tom Hardy, Swedish actress Noomi Repace and star of Roskams debut film Matthias Schoenaerts.

 

....Noomi Repace ....

This gripping and absorbing thriller centres on the autistic Bob Saginowski (very convincingly acted by Hardy who seems to get better in every movie) who works at his cousin Marv’s (Gandolfini) Brooklyn Bar. The bar is no longer owned by Marv but by some unsavoury Chechens who use it as a drop/collection point for the mobs money. Marv wants retribution for loosing his bar and plans to rob the bar of its rich pickings on Super Bowl night. Going home from work late one night Bob discovers a brutalised abandoned Pit Bull puppy in his neighbour Nadia’s (Repace) dustbin, when Bob rescues this dog he could not realise what the implications would be, some of which involve Eric Deeds (Schoenaerts), an ex con who claims responsibility for a ten year old unsolved murder, Deeds also claims he is the true owner of the dog!

 

....and the late great James Gandolfini.

Rust and Bone.

Jacques Audiard is a French film director and writer that I grown to admire. First of his movies to come to my attention was Read My Lips (2001) which starred Vincent Cassel as an ex-con on parole who gets a job in an office environment and gradually forms a relationship with a hard of hearing secretary whose colleagues treat like dirt. Then The Beat that My Heart Skipped (2005), which tells the story of a 28-year-old real estate broker who, although involved with some very shady deals, has ambitions to become a concert pianist. It stars Romain Duris and went on to win a BAFTA for the Best Film not in the English Language. His best-known movie however is the award winning A Prophet (2009) a very gritty prison drama that brought Tahar Rahim to the attention of the cinema going public.

Stephanie takes the applause at Marineland.

Although ultra tough males have dominated Audiard’s previous films his latest movie not only includes the usual alpha male but a lead female character of immense strength and courage. Rust and Bone (2012) is very loosely based on a series of short stories of the same name (the title refers to the taste you get in your mouth when taking a hard punch) by Canadian author Craig Davidson. Set in Antibes a picturesque coastal resort between Cannes and Nice in Southeastern France of which we get to see a far grittier picture than normal.

Not the best way to earn your living!!

Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) and his five-year-old son Sam, a boy he hardly knows, arrive on the Cote d’Azur to stay with his sister Anna and her husband. She puts them up in her garage and takes the wee lad under her wing. Ali, who was a boxer back in Belgium, gets a job as a bouncer at a nightclub where one evening he goes to the aid of Stephanie (Marion Coltillard), a pretty young women who he escorts home, leaving her his telephone number. Its when Stephanie is trying to come to terms with a terrible accident where she looses both her legs from the knees while training orca whales at the popular tourist attraction Marineland that she finally contacts Ali. He does not seem to be put of by her disabilities and starts a friendship that develops into a sexual relationship that literally puts Stephanie back on her ‘feet’. Meanwhile Ali begins to enjoy the monetary rewards of bare-knuckle fighting.

Ali and Stephanie become friends.... 

 Other than some over elaborate cinematography at times this is a well-made powerful movie, which has a love story that resonates right out from the cinema screen. It’s tough, gritty and touching with both Schoenaerts and Coltillard completely convincing as two people that have to face up to life in differing ways but in the process help each other cope with the hardships thrown at them. Marion Coltillard certainly deserves a mention in this seasons Award dispatches. While Audiard deserves a lot of credit for his brave attempt to show what it like to loose limbs, the CGI is totally believable. A film that definitely deserves your attention.

Facing up to life again.