Cesar Awards Name "Timbuktu" as Best Picture of 2014 - Complete List of Winners

First given out in 1975, the César Award is the national film award of France.  Some even think of the César Award as the French equivalent of the American Academy Awards (Oscars). The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, and the award ceremony is held in Paris each February.  The name of the award comes from the late sculptor César Baldaccini, and the trophies are actual sculptures of the artist.

The winners for the 40th Cesar Awards were announced on Friday, February 20, 2015 in Paris.  Director Abderrahmane Sissako's Timbuktu won 7 Césars, including “Best Film” and “Best Director.”  Timbuktu is also one of the five films nominated for the foreign language film Oscar at the 87th Oscars.  Kristen Stewart won for “Best Supporting Actress” for Sils Maria, becoming the first American to win an acting award from the French Academy.  Sean Penn won an Honory César.

The 2015 / 40th Cesar Award winners (for the year in 2014) – complete list:

Best Film
Timbuktu, dir: Abderrahmane Sissako

Best Director
Abderrahmane Sissako, Timbuktu

Best Actress
Adèle Haenel, Les Combattants

Best Actor
Pierre Niney, Yves Saint Laurent

Best Supporting Actress
Kristen Stewart, Sils Maria

Best Supporting Actor
Reda Kateb, Hippocrate

Best Newcomer (Female)
Louane Emera, La Famille Bélier

Best Newcomer (Male)
Kevin Azaïs, Les Combattants

Best Original Screenplay
Timbuktu

Best Adapted Screenplay
Diplomatie

Best Foreign Film
Mommy, dir Xavier Dolan

Best Debut Feature
Les Combattants

Best Score
Timbuktu

Best Editing
Timbuktu

Best Cinematography
Timbuktu

Best Set Design
La Belle Et La Bête

Best Costumes
Saint-Laurent

Best Documentary
Salt Of The Earth

Best Sound
Timbuktu

Best Animated Film
Minuscule – La Vallée Des Fourmis Perdues, dirs: Thomas Szabo and Hélène Giraud

Best Short Film
La Femme De Rio

Best Animated Short
Les Petits Cailloux

Honorary César: Sean Penn

Prix Daniel Toscan du Plantier: Sylvie Pialat

Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma – Médaille d’Or: Luc Besson

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Review: "Taken 2" Does Not Suffer from Middle Film Blues

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

Taken 2 (2012)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  France; Language:  English
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sensuality
DIRECTOR: Olivier Megaton
WRITERS: Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen (based on characters created by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen)
PRODUCER:  Luc Besson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Romain Lacourbas (director of photography)
EDITORS: Camille Delamarre and Vincent Tabaillon
COMPOSER: Nathaniel Méchaly

ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Rade Shergedgia, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, D.B. Sweeney, and Luke Grimes

The subject of this movie review is Taken 2, a 2012 French thriller, directed by Olivier Megaton, produced by Luc Besson, and starring Liam Neeson. The film is a sequel to the 2008 film, Taken.  In Taken 2, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills finds himself facing off against the father of a man he killed while hunting for his kidnapped daughter in Paris (as seen in the first film).

Early in Taken 2, former CIA operative, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), is still trying to find ways to get closer to his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace).  This time, it is by helping her pass her driving test, which she has already failed at least twice.  Meanwhile, Bryan's ex-wife and Kim's mother, Lenore (Famke Janssen), is having severe marital problems.  All three of them are about to have worse problems than they expect.

Over in Europe, specifically in Tropojë, Albania, funerals are being held for the Parisian-based, Albanian mobsters Bryan killed for kidnapping Kim in the first film.  Murad (Rade Shergedgia) is a mob boss and the father of Marko, one of the dead men.  Bryan killed Marko by electrocution, and Murad vows to capture Bryan, to bring him to the men's graves, and to kill him there.  They track Bryan to Istanbul, Turkey, where he is vacationing with Lenore and Kim.  Murad and company launch an attack and are able to abduct Bryan and Lenore.  Before Bryan can kick their attackers' asses, however, Kim will have to free his ass.

I had put off seeing Taken for about three years.  I saw it shortly before Taken 2 was released.  I put off seeing Taken 2 for three years, and decided to see it in time for the release of Taken 3.  When I finally saw Taken, I had to admit that it easily surpassed my expectations.  Taken was and remains a terrific thriller, a feisty little revenge flick that plays like a big-time, big studio thriller.

Now, that I have finally seen Taken 2, I have to admit that it surpassed my expectations.  It received such negative reviews that I avoided seeing it in a movie theater.  Taken 2 is not quite as good as Taken, but it isn't far off.  Like the original, Taken 2 strains credulity, and Liam Neeson's Bryan Mills does stuff that takes him into the fantasy realm of Jason Bourne films.  In this sequel, Bryan seems a little less human and more robotic than he was in the original movie.

Still, I like that Maggie Grace's Kim plays a bigger part.  Here, Grace approaches playing the action sidekick with the same terrified energy she used to play the first film's victim.  Yeah, Taken 2 is still a Liam Neeson vehicle, but it seems less so because of what Maggie Grace and even Famke Janssen (an underrated actress) bring to the film.  The always good  Rade Shergedgia (whose last name seems to have multiple spellings) manages to steal quite a bit of this film for himself.  So I am once again taken in by a Taken film.  Taken 2, like the first, is a tasty fast-food film.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, January 11, 2015


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Unleashed" is Brutal (Happy B'day, Bob Hoskins)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 74 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Unleashed (2005) – USA title
Running time:  102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violent content, language, and some sexuality/nudity
DIRECTOR:  Louis Leterrier
WRITER:  Luc Besson
PRODUCERS:  Luc Besson, Steve Chasman, and Jet Li
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Pierre Morel
EDITOR:  Nicolas Trembasiewicz
COMPOSERS:  Neil Davidge, Massive Attack

DRAMA/MARTIAL ARTS/CRIME

Starring:  Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins, and Kerry Condon

The subject of this movie review is Unleashed, a 2005 martial arts and crime film from writer Luc Besson and director Louis Leterrier.  The film was a French, British, and American co-production and was originally released under the title, Danny the Dog, but released in the United States as Unleashed.  The film centers on a man who has been enslaved by the mob since childhood and trained to act like a human attack dog, but who one day escapes his captors and attempts to start a new life.

On and beneath the mean streets of Glasgow, Bart (Bob Hoskins) destroys those who won’t pay their debts to him.  The fiery gangster has a nearly unbeatable weapon he uses to encourage debtors to pay him what they owe, one he also uses to put would-be rivals in their place.  This secret weapon is Bart’s enforcer, Danny (Jet Li), a martial arts fighter of near supernatural ability.  Danny has been kept a prisoner, for all practical purposes, by his “Uncle Bart” since he was a boy.  “Danny the Dog” wears a collar and lives the simple existence that Bart has crudely and cruelly fashioned for him; Danny can’t even remember his origins.  When Bart pulls his collar off, that’s the signal for Danny to attack, and he will either maim or kill – always as Bart dictates.

However, a chance encounter with a soft-spoken, blind piano tuner, Sam (Morgan Freeman), offers Danny a chance to find out what kindness and compassion are.  When a gangland coup inadvertently frees him, Danny finds his way back to Sam and begins to live with the kindly old soul and his daughter, Victoria (Kerry Condon).  They open their home and hearts to him, but the past comes knocking back into Danny’s life.  Now, he has to fight the mob to protect his new family and keep from returning to his old one.

Luc Besson is the French director of flashy action films such as The Fifth Element, but he has also produced a number of martial arts inflected films, including The Transporter franchise.  He went directly to the Hong Kong source for his Jet Li vehicle, Danny the Dog, known for its American release as Unleashed.  [I do not know if this film was re-edited and shortened by a few minutes, in addition to the name change, for its U.S. release.]  Unleashed is one of the few really good English-language martial arts dramas to hit the screen since Bruce Lee’s films in the early 1970’s.  What makes this film a solid and compelling production in which the drama is equal to the martial arts sequences is having two fine dramatic actors:  Morgan Freeman, who is arguably the best American actor working today, and Bob Hoskins, a superb character actor who is too often an afterthought.

Freeman does his wise old black man routine, but this time with a twist.  Sam is a man of culture with impeccable taste.  He is a man who savors life, and his other senses so deeply drink of life that it is as if he weren’t blind.  Kind yet vigilant, he is the ultimate father figure – protector and encourager.  Hoskins gives his Bart many flavors.  On one hand, he plays the gangster as a petty and petulant hood looking for his share; on the other hand, he is all too human in his cruelty.  There isn’t a whiff of the supernatural or paranormal about what Bart does; he is just a bad man.

Jet Li is the star, and even Jet fans like myself must face up to the fact that Li isn’t a great actor when he has to speak English.  He is, however, a great performer regardless of the language he speaks.  Those all-around, all-star abilities that a movie star must have – a blend of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual – he has.  Li lights up the screen every time he’s on, and he always draws attention to himself, no matter how many good actors may be on screen with him.  A human dynamo, Jet Li is truly a martial artist and a film artist.

Unleashed is quite good, but falters in the end – letting the drama whither on the vine so that Li and his adversaries can have their big, final confrontation, and what a confrontation it is.  The film plays at being an epic, but Besson’s script can’t be bothered with developing conflicts and motivations; we’re here to see Li fight and the script focuses on giving us that.  Watching that final battle makes me wonder when Li is going to get his “Crouching Tiger,” but in the meantime, we can enjoy Li’s best English language effort… yet.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Updated:  Saturday, October 26, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: Still Taken with Original "Taken"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux


Taken (2008)
Running time: 93 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing thematic material, sexual content, some drug references and language
DIRECTOR: Pierre Morel
WRITERS: Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
PRODUCER: Luc Besson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michel Abramowicz (director of photography)
EDITOR: Frédéric Thoraval
COMPOSER: Nathaniel Méchaly

ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Xander Berkeley, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, David Warshofsky, Holly Valance, Olivier Rabourdin, Gerard Watkins, Arben Bajraktaraj, Nicolas Giraud, and Katie Cassidy

The subject of this movie review is Taken, a 2008 French thriller produced by Luc Besson and starring Liam Neeson. The film was released in January of 2009 in the United States. Taken follows a retired CIA agent through Paris as he tries to find his kidnapped daughter.

Former CIA operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) wants to be closer to his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), whom he calls “Kimmie.” The 17-year-old lives with her mother, Lenore (Famke Janssen), and her wealthy stepfather, Stuart (Xander Berkeley). Bryan has a rocky relationship with Lenore, who pressures him not to be overprotective of Kim. That’s why Bryan reluctantly signs a permission slip that allows Kim to travel to Paris, France with her older friend, Amanda (Katie Cassidy).

Not long after the girls arrive in Paris, they are kidnapped by a group of men. Bryan races to Paris to find Kim, but her kidnappers are ruthless, murderous men who hide in Paris’ shadowy criminal underworld. Now, he must rely on old skills as he races through Paris’ darker districts to save his daughter before she disappears forever. Heaven help anyone who gets in his way.

I had put off seeing Taken for about four years, and, now that I’ve seen it, I can say that it easily surpassed my expectations. Taken is a terrific thriller. It is a feisty little revenge flick that plays like a big-time, big studio thriller. I think that there are a few holes in the plot and even some things that the characters do in the movie that poke credulity. It is not enough to stop me from enjoying the movie.

Perhaps, this film was not meant to be a Liam Neeson vehicle, but it became one because of Neeson’s fierce performance. He is genuine as a daddy both desperate to make up for lost time with his daughter and resolved to let no one and no thing get in the way of him finding his stolen child. Neeson does the best killer-robot-like-action dude. When other actors take on that kind of character, they can sometimes seem too cold and/or too stiff: either inadvertently (Wesley Snipes in Blade: Trinity) or because of limited acting range (Chuck Norris – pick a movie).

I must also say that, once again, the Luc Besson slick-shiny-cool action movie generator has produced another pop movie hit. Director Pierre Morel plows through this script’s inanities like a chef determined to make the best meal that he can out of Big Mac ingredients. His resulting dish, Taken, is actually quite tasty.

8 of 10
A

Monday, January 14, 2013

The Transporter: Best Chuck Norris Movie Ever

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 229 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Transporter (2002)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: France
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violent sequences and some sensuality
DIRECTORS: Louis Leterrier with Corey Yuen
WRITERS: Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
PRODUCERS: Steve Chasman and Luc Besson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Pierre Morel
EDITOR: Nicolas Trembasiewicz

ACTION/THRILLER/CRIME with elements of martial arts and drama

Starring: Jason Statham, Qi Shu, Matt Schulze, François Berléand, and Ric Young

The subject of this movie review is The Transporter, a 2002 French action film from writer/producer Luc Besson. The film is the first in a series starring Jason Statham as a driver-for-hire who will deliver anything, anywhere with no questions asked.

Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is a “transporter,” a man who makes deliveries in his 7-series BMW, moving either people or packages from one place to another, no questions asked. A serious of unfortunate events begins for Frank when he opens a “package” and discovers that it contains human cargo: a young Asian woman, bound and gagged. He falls for the young woman named Lai (Qi Shu) and decides to help her after she throws some lovin’ on him, but it sends him against a seemingly endless number of men who want to kill him.

The Transporter is the kind of big, splashy, American-style action movie that French filmmaker Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) loves to make, either as writer, producer, and/or director. The Transporter is big, dumb, highly entertaining and lots of fun, based entirely on the lead Jason Statham’s tough guy persona and also on several high-octane, chop-socky-on-steroids-fight sequences. After watching about half of it, I realized that The Transporter is the best Bruce Lee movie made since Lee’s untimely demise. Since the star Statham is white, that would make this the best Chuck Norris movie ever, since Norris was a clunky white version of Bruce Lee. So if you like Norris and lots of man-to-man fisticuffs, The Transporter is a hot one.

7 of 10
B+

Zoe Saldana Acts "Colombiana" Out of Action Movie Ghetto

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Colombiana (2011)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, intense sequences of action, sexuality and brief strong language
DIRECTOR: Olivier Megaton
WRITERS: Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
PRODUCERS: Luc Besson and Pierre-Ange Le Pogam
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Romain Lacourbas (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Camille Delamarre
COMPOSERS: Nathaniel Méchaly and Craig Walker

ACTION with elements of drama

Starring: Zoe Saldana, Cliff Curtis, Jordi Mallà, Beto Benites, Lennie James, Michael Vartan, Amandla Stenberg, Callum Blue, Jesse Borrego, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Ofelia Medina, and John McConnell

Colombiana is a 2011 action movie from French filmmaker, Luc Besson. An American and French co-production, Colombiana is another of Besson’s films featuring a fight girl or action chick (my terms). These lovely ladies appear in such Besson films as Nikita (1990) and The Fifth Element (1997).

Colombiana opens in Bogota, Colombia in 1992. Nine-year-old Cataleya Restrepo (Amandla Stenberg) sees her parents killed by gunmen working for the drug lord, Don Luis Sandoval (Beto Benites). With the help of the U.S. Embassy, Cataleya escapes to the United States, where she is reunited with her uncle, Emilio Restrepo (Cliff Curtis). The girl insists that he train her to be a killer.

The story moves to 2007 and finds the adult Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) working as a killer-for-hire for Emilio, but Cataleya leads a double life. First, she has a boyfriend, Danny Delanay (Michael Vartan), an artist. Secondly, she is a tag killer, murdering various criminal types and leaving messages on their bodies, messages directed to Don Luis. Meanwhile, her activities have attracted the attention of FBI Special Agent James Ross (Lennie James), who is trying to learn the identity of the tag killer. When Don Luis decides to pay attention to Cataleya’s messages to him, he sends his right hand man, Marco (Jordi Mallà), to send a message back to Cataleya.

Colombiana is a good revenge action flick. I won’t say great because the screenplay leaves Cataleya as a cipher. It’s cool that in the movie, the other characters don’t know much about her, but the audience should get to know her more than we actually do. Still, the action scenes with both young Cataleya and the sexy older Cataleya are stimulating and visceral. Zoe Saldana proves two things: that her beauty and presence make her a movie star and that she has the acting chops to elevate even B-movie material like this. Young Amandla Stenberg as young Cataleya also shows some acting chops and even a bit of “it” factor.

Colombiana isn’t high cinema, but it delivers on what it is. This is titillation cinema that pays off.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2012 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Actress” (Zoe Saldana)

2012 Image Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Zoe Saldana)

Friday, February 03, 2012

Review: "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" is a Good Neo-Western (Happy B'day, Tommy Lee Jones)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 162 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
Running time: 121 minutes (2 hours, 1 minute)
MPAA – R for language, violence, and sexuality
DIRECTOR: Tommy Lee Jones
WRITER: Guillermo Arriaga
PRODUCERS: Luc Besson, Michael Fitzgerald, Tommy Lee Jones, and Pierre-Ange Le Pogam
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Chris Menges
EDITOR: Roberto Silvi

DRAMA with elements of comedy and western

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Julio Cesar Cedillo, January Jones, Dwight Yoakum, Melissa Leo, and Levon Helm

Ranch hand Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) found a treasured friend in an illegal (undocumented) Mexican worker, Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cesar Cedillo), who becomes a cowboy at the ranch Peter manages. However, a hot headed and ruthless border patrol officer, Mike Norton (Barry Pepper, who exquisitely channels bad vibes to play Norton), kills Melquiades and buries him in an unmarked grave to hide his crime or error (depends on how you look at it). When Pete learns of Melquiades’ death, he kidnaps Mike and has him dig the body out of the pauper’s grave in which it was buried. Then, Pete drags Mike and Melquiades’ corpse on a harrowing journey by horseback across the border to Mexico in order to bury Melquiades in his hometown.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada has all the trappings of a western and the narrative is ripe with scenes of black humor. Like a western, it deals with revenge and justice, and the black comedy comes through the macabre situations involving Estrada’s increasingly gruesome corpse (not to mention a drolly humorous love/sex triangle). Still, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is a story of friendship and obligation. As a famous talk show host recently said of her close relationship with a female friend, perhaps, we don’t have a term to describe the familiarity and understanding that defines the bond between Pete Perkins and Melquiades Estrada. Tommy Lee Jones unadorned and simple, yet masterful direction helps us to understand that a friendship means so much that a man would risk his standing and his professional life to do right by what’s left of his friend on this earth.

Jones, who seems to wear the western well – even quasi ones such as this, also deals with the themes of alienation and the search for meaning in life and love, and in this case the love between two men, as well as between women and men. In his film, souls seem as sparse as much of the landscape that surrounds them. Jones’ characters grasp at connectivity, and Jones uses the subtleties to enrich the film. He shows that even the most lonesome souls find partnerships – even for a little while. It makes The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada a work that eagerly reflects humanity in all its unattractiveness and its most desperately hopeful light.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2005 Cannes Film Festival: 2 wins: “Best Actor” (Tommy Lee Jones) and “Best Screenplay” (Guillermo Arriaga); 1 nominations for the Palme d'Or (Tommy Lee Jones)

Saturday, July 29, 2006

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Review: "Nil by Mouth" (Happy B'day, Gary Oldman)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 29 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Nil by Mouth (1997)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.K. and France
Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic drug use, non-stop strong language, brutal domestic violence and some nudity
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Gary Oldman
PRODUCERS: Luc Besson, Gary Oldman, and Douglas Urbanski
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ron Fortunato
EDITOR: Brad Fuller
COMPOSER: Eric Clapton
BAFTA Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: Ray Winstone, Kathy Burke, Charlie Creed-Miles, Laila Morse, Edna Doré, Chrisse Cotterill, Jon Morrison, Jamie Foreman, Steve Sweeney, and Leah Fitzgerald

Nil by Mouth is acclaimed actor Gary Oldman’s directorial debut. It’s what I call “cinema de unflinching,” in particular that “cinema’s” sub-genre “film de raw.” Oldman, an extremely talented actor who can simultaneously bury himself in a role and also exude movie star wattage, composed a film that stands as one of the most powerful family dramas of the 1990’s because of its dogged pursuit of portraying the effects of drugs and alcohol on a poor family in notorious South London.

Ray (Ray Winstone) is a coke snorting, alcoholic bully who brow beats his wife Valerie (Kathy Burke) and his brother-in-law, Billy (Charlie Creed-Miles), who lives with the couple. After Raymond savagely attacks Billy and kicks him out of the apartment, both men spiral downward, as Ray drinks more and becomes more paranoid and Billy does little other than feed his dope habit. Meanwhile, Val and the rest of the women in the family valiantly hold the family together and look for a few good times in a drug-addled world of poverty and crushing of claustrophobia.

The film starts off quite slowly, and I am certain that it will be difficult for many non-Brits to understand the London dialects (as it was for me). Still, the acting is good, quite good, actually. Oldman gives this film a good pace and a high level of intensity, considering that this film is heavy with the kind of dialogue that reveals character. However, when Nil by Mouth bogs down on a plot point, it is almost anal, and I occasionally found myself drifting away from it. Nil by Mouth is raw and unflinching, but it did not always hold my attention. Still, the script is well-written and well thought out; when you consider the movie as a whole, the screenplay seems rather brilliant.

All in all, Nil by Mouth is a satisfying and rewarding film viewing experience. Oldman makes the right choice in terms of satisfying the audience by letting his film family work through their difficulties. Rather than call it a Hollywood ending, I’ll describe it as artfully handled.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
1998 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Luc Besson, Douglas Urbanski, and Gary Oldman) and “Best Screenplay – Original” (Gary Oldman); 2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Ray Winstone) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Kathy Burke)

1997 Cannes Film Festival: 1 win: “Best Actress” (Kathy Burke) and 1 nomination: “Golden Palm” (Gary Oldman)

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Review: Queen Latifah Makes "Taxi" a Winner

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 34 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Taxi (2004)
Running time: 97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for language, sensuality, and brief violence
DIRECTOR: Tim Story
WRITERS: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon, and Jim Kouf (based upon an earlier screenplay by Luc Besson)
PRODUCER: Luc Besson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Vance Burberry
EDITOR: Stuart Levy

ACTION/COMEDY with elements of crime and a thriller

Starring: Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, Henry Simmons, Jennifer Esposito, Gisele Bundchen, Ana Cristina De Oliveira, Ingrid Vandebosch, Magali Amadei, Ann-Margaret, and Christian Kane with Jeff Gordon

Belle (Queen Latifah), a mouthy and feisty New York City cab driver with a souped up cab, helps Washburn (Jimmy Fallon), an inept and green cop, solve a series of bank hold ups committed by a band of female Brazilian bank robbers, led by the sexy Vanessa (Gisele Bundchen), who is as good at driving at super high speeds through NYC traffic as Belle is.

The first scene of Taxi, an American version of the French series created by Luc Besson (creator of The Fifth Element, who also produces this version), features a NYC bike messenger flying through and over the streets and landmarks of the city in a manner that would mark him as super human. It was like something out of a video game or a James Bond movie. When the biker reaches the office where he works, he slips off his helmet to reveal that he is Queen Latifah. A slim stunt rider can’t pass for someone as… pleasantly plumb as the Queen. But the Queen and her co-star, Jimmy Fallon, have it going on.

Taxi is a cheesy, thrill ride, a funny action comedy that has more laughs than it has moments that stretch belief, and it has lots of moments that cross over into fantasy. Still, the important thing in terms of entertainment is to make a funny movie. No, the cop/FBI angle, as it is in Taxi, wouldn’t work in the real world, but here it works to lots of laughs. And the car races and chase scenes may not be The Fast and the Furious, but they’re 2 Fast 2 Furious.

Queen Latifah and Fallon have great screen chemistry. You can really believe that her Belle hates Fallon’s Washburn, but there’s truth in both their characters. You can buy their characters and the progression of their relationship as the film progresses. It’s dumb, but funny. The Queen is a talented and funny screen comedienne, and Fallon’s shtick works here. He’s not the macho action star; he’s more sweet, charming and vulnerable, but what keeps him from being a chump is that his Washburn is perseveres. No matter what knocks him down, he’s subtly relentless and machine like in his quest to be an effective cop. You can respect this soft guy who is not so soft after all. He’s got grit and determination. So you may not have wanted to buy a ticket to see Taxi, but if you have a sense of humor, this thrilling, action-paced comedy is worth a rental.

7 of 10
B+

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