Review of Le Cercle Rouge (1970) by Nikolai E — 16 Apr 2011

What struck me the most was how fundamentally similar this film is to 'Heat,' in the sense that it's about a handful of people who are intrinsically linked, unknowingly on a collision course with no possible escape, in spite of their supreme confidence and will to succeed.

Colour, perhaps not surprisingly, is a key element here, but it's balanced with a restrained and naturalistic sense of cinematography so the film still has the grittiness and immediacy that's synonymous with Melville.

The colour red is used sparingly, in fact black and white is the most common palette with other tones serving as accents, a sound strategy for shooting a classic film noir in colour. The extended, silent heist scene is impressive, but it's just not up to the standard of the analagous scene in 'Rififi.

' Like 'Heat,' this is a big movie with an extended running time, a relaxed pace, larger than life characters and a purity of tone that makes the heist film seem more like an emergent construct of film than a genre.

I think there are better heist films to be seen, but there are few that are so virtuous.