Traversable wormholes (12/27/01)
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Subway. [Luc Besson, 1985.]
Christopher Lambert [in surfer mode, with bleached-blonde punk haircut] swipes some mysterious “papers” [a true McGuffin, you never find out what they are] after blowing a safe after crashing the birthday party of Isabelle Adjani, takes off in her car across Paris pursued by bodyguards in a Mercedes, and, before the credits conclude, wrecks the vehicle, ducks into the subways to escape his pursuers, loses them by taking an unfamiliar turn, and winds up in a netherworld beneath the rails inhabited by the eccentric denizens of the underground, including Jean Reno [in his Weird Al Yankovic period] as a drummer, muta persona, who is always playing with his sticks, and Jean-Hugues Anglade as a pursesnatcher on rollerskates. Guided by the occult attraction she feels for him, Adjani seeks him out, but the progress of their romance is inhibited by her pre-existing marriage to some mysterious Mister Big, either a mobster or a businessman with shady connections, to whom her relationship is, as she explains, that of Little Orphan Annie rescued by Daddy Warbucks. Meanwhile the heavies are after Lambert, who for some reason seems mainly preoccupied with forming a band from his new acquaintances, and everyone is pursued by the subway cops, who are characters straight out of Mack Sennett. Complications ensue.
The story is somewhat confusing, but the chases are beautifully choreographed, as always with Besson the photography is amazing, and the concept is priceless. Check this out.
____________It’s only a paper moon (12/20/01)
