Eine Frage der Ehre

Even a sleeping gangster is still a gangster. So when an old friend in arms owes money to the younger guys, not to mention a demanding new police commissioner, you have to pull out the guns from under your leather jacket and settle the score the French way, despite your wife's lamentations, i.e., without unnecessary bullshit, without the need for flashy gunplay, and with stone-faced protagonists who could easily substitute for nails in a coffin, which is what former police badge-wearer Olivier Marchal does best these days. (31.05.2012)

A decent French crime movie that fully meets the conditions France has set for crime movies in the past. The only thing that bothered me was the way the story was narrated, which jumps from the past to the present like a new bouncy ball. I also had a feeling that the movie didn’t have as much regard for emotion as other movies. It’s simply an incredibly raw topic and Gérard Lanvin is showing a perfect performance, but one important thing is missing. And that’s that in the 102 minutes, I should feel something for his character. So when the finale came, which was appropriately brutal for a French movie, I had this weird feeling that even though it pretends to be a classic French crime movie, it still lacks the emotions I need. (11.10.2012)

This time Marchal filmed a story from the other side of the barricades but that’s about the only significant difference from his earlier pieces. Perhaps also, the historical storyline reminds one considerably of Placido’s Crime Novel. Otherwise, it’s all as we might expect; in other words, an uncompromising, rough crime movie, loosely based on real events which stands firmly on atmosphere, male friendship and the performances of charismatic sixty-year-olds (this time, instead of Auteuil, the equally fantastic Lanvin). (02.04.2012)

Unquestionably the weakest Marchal film, who perhaps wanted to shoot a grand criminal saga in the style of successful overseas gangster films, but the script is rushed, the characters lack charisma, the story drags, and the alternating timelines definitely do not benefit the film. Moreover, the whole thing dangerously leans towards overly melodramatic moments and the film score sounds like something from an Argentine soap opera. The polarization of characters into good gangsters who strictly adhere to the criminal code of honor and love their family, and evil ones without morals who betray their fellow police officers and make deals with corrupt politicians, feels like something out of a nickel-and-dime novel. Marchal, who has valuable experience working for the police, must know very well that such romantically idealized relationships in the underworld never worked. Certain gangs truly operated based on family ties, but that had nothing to do with what is presented here. Any detective would laugh at it. Overall impression: 35%. (11.01.2013)

Nach dem Hockeyspiel Tschechien - Slowakei, das mir immer großes Sorgen bereitet, weil ich nicht weiß, wem ich die Daumen halten soll, ließ ich STV 1 eingeschaltet, weil der Sender schon längere Zeit gute europäische Filme mit Ausrichtung auf mein geliebtes Frankreich bringt. Von A Gang Story - Eine Frage der Ehre weiß ich schon länger, weil ich dazu auch eine Inhaltsbeschreibung verfasst habe. Ein französischer Krimi in der Regie von Olivier Marchal verspricht eine gehörige Portion Unterhaltung, naturalistische Szenen und kann wohl kaum enttäuschen. Leider litt ich die gesamte Woche unter einem Schlafdefizit, und so nickte ich in der ersten Hälfte des Films mehrmals ein, was mir die Orientierung in der Handlung nicht besonders erleichterte. Obwohl ich Rückblenden und zwei Handlungslinien in Büchern und Filmen mag, wirkte dies in diesem Fall zu störend auf mein müdes Hirn, man hätte das anders drehen können. Ich hatte manchmal das Gefühl, ein Mosaik von Kurzgeschichten zu sehen, die etwas andeuten, aber nichts Wesentliches mitteilen sollen. Ich habe mich gleich an Mon père, Francis le Belge erinnert, dem ich dasselbe vorgeworfen habe. Der zweite Teil war dann schon sehr schwungvoll und ermüdete einen dann nicht mehr unnötig mit Rückblenden. Lanvin und auch Karyo ganz toll. Allgemein gesagt verstanden sich die Franzosen immer darauf, tolle Kriminalfilme zu drehen, und diese hohe Qualität stellen sie immer noch unter Beweis. (10.05.2014)