9mm (2008) Reviews

• A fair and efficient drama

  searchanddestroy-12010-12-22

  Here is a typical french drama directly based on the authentic reality of the social problems from the suburbs. The tale of a tragedy among a family. The family chief, a police woman, is torn between her alcoholic and unemployed worker husband - Riaboukine - and her juvenile petty delinquent son. She has to fight every day, every hour to survive, trying to put her family on the right track again. But it is hopeless. The characters are convincing, and the story poignant. And so dark. Only the independent American movie industry could make such a feature. A downbeat tale not for the depressing audiences. But a very good film.

• A shot

  jotix1002012-08-18

  It becomes clear as the story begins, the family being studied is in turmoil. Nadine, a police woman, is preparing for work getting her gun out of a secure box. As she goes through the living room, she rouses her unkempt husband Roger from the sofa where he has been sleeping. Their son Laurent, who is preparing for school is offered a lift from his father, something he reluctantly accepts. We realize Laurent does not want to be in school. He joins a gang of young toughs who are targeting a railroad yard where they are going to deface with their cans of paint. Roger has an idea his son is up to no good as he watches him leave the school. Meanwhile, Nadine, has a rough time as she and her partner come to the house of someone wanted, who shoots at them and could have killed either one. After the ordeal, on the way to the station, Nadine accepts her partner Alain's advances, seen also by Roger, who has followed her. As the three of them get home, Roger and Nadine fight, while in the other room Laurent sends a message that startle both parents. This Belgian entry was intriguing in the way its director, Tylan Barman, conceived the story. One incident plays into the next one, in flashbacks that give way to the next part of the narrative. The film is slow, but it shows a family in crisis. Things have gone too far to have any chance of repair. Mr. Barman gets good results from his cast, notably the young Morgan Marinne as Laurent. Anne Coesens plays Nadine with conviction and Serge Riaboukine appears as Roger.

• Daily life tragedy

  dbdumonteil2011-06-15

  A depressing tragical tale ,in which the three members of the family are incapable to understand each others;the only two persons the father finds to confide in are his own sick father ,beddridden in a gloomy hospital, and his mother in the cemetery;the son does not go to high school anymore but spends his time tagging the walls and the cars with his pack;the mother,and in that context it's almost an anomaly ,is a cop! Nothing dramatical,nothing important really happens ,the director watches his pitiful characters as though they were under a magnifying glass.It could be a documentary about wasted lives,and the ending precludes all kind of sentimentality ;it's so brutal,so unexpected that the viewer has no time to wonder why or to take pity on the character. It's not a very accessible movie;The director seems to be much influenced by Robert Bresson.