Review of Bastards (2013) by Ws W — 21 Jul 2014

One line summary: Told slowly in noir style, to a harsh conclusion.

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Marco is the captain of a supertanker. He's at sea and life is good.

Pull the chain on that. Marco's sister Sandra calls him back in desperation: her husband has committed suicide, her daughter Justine is in a tailspin, and the family business is not going well. Sandra accuses wealthy business man Edouard Laporte as the cause of these ill fortunes. So Marco, in his own particular way, goes after Edouard.

Marco's fortunes diminish, and he discovers a number of discouraging truths about his family. This gets more evident when a young man offers to sell Justine back to him for 5000 francs.

Will Marco pull himself and his family out of this downward spiral, or will external forces be too great for that?

-----Scores-----.

Cinematography: 6/10 For much of the screen time, there was not enough light or too much light, odd choices of camera angles, strange depth of field choices...in other words, much of the noir package. The filming of the car ride with passengers and drivers high on drugs was quite emblematic of this. I did not find this helpful or illustrative, even though this is a dark tale.

Sound: 7/10 OK, redeemed by the sound track with the closing credits.

Acting: 6/10.

Screenplay: 6/10 A bit lurching for my taste. The film jumps from segment to segment to segment, with time references not all that clear, with one message. All the characters are flawed and disgusting. Got it: noir.