Films: A Prophet & Toy Story 2

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Toy Story 2

The list of sequels that outshine the original is very short indeed – Godfather Part 2, Aliens, The Empire Strikes Back, and Toy Story 2.

Initially planned as a direct to DVD follow-on, the good people at Pixar took one look at the half finished product, recognised genius, threw more money at it and released it in cinemas to rapturous reviews.

Released now in 3D for a fortnight as a teaser for the upcoming Toy Story 3, the first sequel still impresses as much as it did the first time round. As with every Pixar, the script is the thing, with the story at turns funny, exciting and moving.
A PROPHET

Jacques Audiard’s follow up to The Beat That My Heart Skipped continues his interest in young men living on the fringes of society.

18-year-old Arab Malik is sentenced to 6 years for an unspecified crime in a French prison. Seemingly more naïve and younger than his fellow inmates he is soon preyed upon by the Corsicans who rule the roost inside. The head of the gang Cesar forces him to murder another inmate in return for his protection. However, everyone has underestimated Malik and soon he is not only surviving inside, he is blossoming and gradually building his own empire.

The film works on two levels. As a straightforward film about life in a modern prison it is as gripping a crime drama as Goodfellas or last year’s Gamorra. The early scenes are brimming with tension and violence seeps off the screen, though there are occasional bursts of poetry in amidst the grime – a hand held out of a cell in the snow, a face basking in sunlight.

However, Audiard is just as interested in critiquing the French penal system. Rarely moving outside the walls of the prison, and with a cast populated with non-actors, the film strikes a highly realistic cord, showing how putting a rootless young man in with career criminals will inevitably lead him to follow the same path they have.

Posted by Paul Antrobus

Posted in Film & TV |