French Lesson: Le Samourai is French for The Samurai.

14/300
Le Samourai
Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville

So, I've officially moved to Austin, TX!  Which means for you dear readers, I have quite a few posts coming up from before/after arriving here that had to be pushed back until I could sit, and reflect.  So, here's yet another recommendation from Mr. Golembiecki's stack of dvds he so generously let me borrow.  Thank you, sir!

This movie is quite slow moving, but can pack a punch.  There are a lot of very slowly calculated shots with long takes and not much action for very extended times, but in juxtaposition the times that something does occur seem to pack much more of a punch because of this.  I really do feel like any film buff and/or filmmaker should see this movie.  It will shine quite a bit of light on where many other spy and action movies have been influenced.  It'll be just like meeting your friend's parents.  A lot more will make sense afterward.

For instance, when I visited I Luv Video yesterday, I was walking through an aisle and picked up the dvd of The American from the shelf.  In case you are unfamiliar with this video rental store, they are a quirky little place that serves free beer on tuesdays for patrons, has an extensive selection sorted by director, genre, etc, and most times their cases collect small reviews from workers and customers about the film they are attached to.  Well, in short, on The American (the George Clooney movie that not nearly enough people skipped Paranormal Activity 2 to see) dvd case, a character named Ben simply posted something along the lines of, 'it's pretty much Le Samourai, only in English'.  Which is pretty true.  Either way, they were both very good movies.

Anyway, for anyone worried about subtitles, because I know those times when you just don't want to work so hard for the entertainment or reading just is toooo harddddd, don't worry about it (those last 4 words would be more funny if you'd join me in watching the next movie I have backed up to blog about, so stay tuned).  There really isn't much dialogue in this movie.  Really, you could probably follow it without the subtitles even on, although, unless you know a bit of French, I would not recommend it to get the full effect.

So, if you like the strong silent type, I would definitely recommend this movie.  No, I take that back.  If you like movies, you should see this movie.

Run Time 105 min + 1582 = 1687 min