Rating: C-
Dir: Jérémie Guez
Star: Roland Møller, Veerle Baetens, Lola Le Lann, Lubna Azabal
This might be a case of adjusting expectations. I was thinking this was going to be rather more action-oriented. It’s actually more of a slow-burn drama, with occasional bursts of violence. Oh, those wacky Belgians. Danny (Møller) is just out of prison, but still on parole and obliged to abide by a curfew. He gets a room in a low-rent hotel run by Nadia (Azabal) and her teenage daughter, Clara (Le Lann). There’s some compassion, because Clara’s father is currently in prison himself. Danny gets a job as a dishwasher in a nearby Chinese restaurant, and somewhat grudgingly, takes on the role of a vaguely paternal figure for the daughter.
Things (briefly) explode when Clara is raped by her scummy, drug-dealer boyfriend. She refuses to tell her mother or go to the police, leaving Danny as the sole means of justice. It’s a role he may be as reluctant to accept, as that of a foster father. But it’s one for which Danny is very well suited, busting up the rapist and burning him alive. This is all well and good, except that unknown to Danny, the car also contained a large quantity of drugs. Its owner is not happy about his merchandise going up in flames. When low-level thuggery against Danny fails to do the trick, more violent methods must be tried. We never do find out why Danny was in prison, but it might be brought to you by the letters G, B and H.
The title is a reference to a poem by Charles Bukowski, about the soft centre hidden within his tough exterior. It’s a fitting one for what we have here. There’s a certain sense of Léon: The Professional here, with a strong, silent and honorable man connecting with a fatherless young girl. But this does not own anywhere near the same sense of narrative drive, and instead, there’s a lot of watching Danny scrubbing the walls at his place of work (top). It’s enjoyable enough, because Møller delivers a performance that is pleasing to be with: Jean Reno-lite. The same can’t be said for Le Lann, who is too abrasive to be relatable, making Natalie Portman seem quiet and understated in comparison.
The film doesn’t have a particular antagonist either. It needs someone like Gary Oldman to glue everything together, with charisma and enthusiastic yelling. Scummy drug-dealer boyfriend is offed too early to count, and his boss is little more than a faceless NPC, muttering threats at Danny. The dialogue is in an odd mix of English and French, with which nobody seems thoroughly comfortable. Again, Møller does best, simply because he has least to deal with. Weirdly, the print on Tubi had its subtitles censored, with the bad words blurred out. Never seen that before. It’s almost fitting for a film which didn’t deliver much of what I wanted, or do enough to subvert pleasantly those expectations.