Frontier(s)

Frontier(s)
Language: French with English Subtitles

Brief Synopsis: After the presidential election of an extremely conservative candidate, riots break out throughout France. Five young thieves make an attempt to escape to Amsterdam and start a new life there, away from the "oppression". Due to a botched escape they are forced to stop at an inn in the countryside, which just happens to be run by a Neo-Nazi family intent on making the one female thief into their new broodmare for future generations.

My Take: After reading several poor reviews for the film, I had my reservations going in. Many said that it was simply a French Texas Chainsaw Massacre, others claimed it stole from a number of movies and was a sort of Frankenstein of horror cinema. While I definitely agree that the basic plot is similar to Texas Chainsaw, and I saw where there were some similar shots/scenes, I did not feel as if it was a direct rip-off. No, Frontiers was actually something unique.

The film starts with an ultrasound image of a fetus and closes in on the beating heart. A voice-over explains that this is the child inside of one Yasmine, and that she intends on aborting the baby to prevent it from ever having to deal with the cruelty of the world. The credits start, overlaid on fake news footage of the riots in Paris.

After Yasmine's brother is shot by police, the group splits; Yasmine and a friend going to the hospital, with her boyfriend and another male going to find an inn in the country somewhere to lay low. The two men that go to the inn find it inviting, even sleeping with two of the women there, and they tell Yasmine to come to the inn as a safe place. Shortly after, they discover that the inn is run by a family of neo-Nazis. Things spiral downhill from there.

The film is graphically violent. With an NC-17 rating in the US, it is above and beyond even the Hostel or Saw films. Unlike those franchises though, I felt myself more deeply invested in the character of Yasmine. I wanted her to survive. The assistance of the youngest of the Nazi family clan, a young pregnant woman who was kidnapped as a child and held hostage since, made the film more interesting. A number of movies have done this, with one family member acting out against the rest in their new friendship (The Hills Have Eyes remake comes to mind) but I really liked Eve, the young woman. She genuinely cared for Yasmine, and while she was damaged, she wasn't rendered as a simple two-dimensional character. Eve had backstory, and she was acted superbly.

One thing I found the most interesting about Frontier(s) is that the protagonists are young French Muslims. The obviously evil family are Christian, with a large crucifix in one scene and a character making the sign of the cross in another. This is something you would never see in a Hollywood flick, to be sure!

Overall, I found the movie to be entertaining from a horror-movie standpoint, and thought-provoking in places. There were some beautifully shot sequences, while others had shaky-cam-itis. It wasn't perfect, to be sure, but it definitely holds its own with its New French Extreme contemporaries and is deserving of more praise than critics have given it.


Entertainment value: Medium-High. I was on the edge of my seat for a good deal of the movie, and I was emotionally invested in some of the characters. Then again, with the violence of this film, it is not for everyone.
Scare value: High. Dead bodies, squealing pigs guarding cages, murder galore...
Realistic?: Medium. It honestly really could happen. Pretty easily.
Violence/Gore: Extreme. More blood and guts than a slaughterhouse. Fantastic special effects.
Sex: Medium. Sex in the beginning (not too graphic but there is female nudity.)
This movie is for: Those interested in the New French Extreme, slasher movie fans.
Films like it: Martyrs, in style. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in story.


IMDB Entry for Frontier(s)
Trailer

Kamikaze Girls

Kamikaze Girls
Language: Japanese with English Subtitles

Brief Synopsis: Momoko is a girl obsessed with Japanese Lolita fashions, especially Roccoco fashions from 1700's France. She lives with her father and grandmother in a small town in the middle of nowhere and is generally considered the odd one out. She travels to Tokyo (a LONG trip) to get new outfits all the time, and sells her father's rip-off Versace items to make money to do so. Enter Ichigo, a Yanki punk who decides to befriend Momoko. Things will never be the same...

My Take: After the twisted female relationship in Baise Moi, I needed a sisterhood movie that didn't leave me feeling sick. Thankfully, I LOVED Kamikaze Girls. It's quirky, it's funny, and at it's core, it's actually really sweet. The friendship between Momoko and Ichigo is so unusual, and both girls are really unique characters. Momoko's fashion sense and need for perfection are opposite of Ichigo, who is rough and rumble and ready to go. Each girl learns something from the other, and there are rarely any dull moments. There is even a hysterical animated sequence about the origins of Ichigo's gang leader.

The climax of the film is ridiculous and wonderful. I was laughing and cheering the girls on and having a great time.

Entertainment value: High. I had so much fun watching this movie.
Scare value: Very Low. Not a scary movie.
Realistic?: Low-Medium. I mean, everything in the film technically COULD happen but it's all very unlikely and out there.
Violence/Gore: Low-Medium. One major fight scene and it's not really too graphic.
Sex:Very Low. Other than some spoken sex joke humor, it's totally chaste.
This movie is for:Anyone who wants a good laugh, those looking for a good girl power movie, anime fans.
Films like it: FLCL the anime, sort of. I can't think of anything similar with female protagonists like this. The closest I've got is the all male Attack the Gas Station. Similar humor.


IMDB Entry for Kamikaze Girls
Trailer

Baise-Moi

Baise-Moi

Language: French with English Subtitles

Brief Synopsis: Two young women who have both lost their connection with society team up and go on a spree of sex and violence. Manu (Raffaëla Anderson) has an abusive older brother and after being gang-raped, kills him when he calls her a slut for "enjoying the rape." Nadine (Karen Lancaume) sees her only friend get shot because of drug dealing, and she also has less-than-kind clients in her work as a sometime prostitute. The two meet while on the run at a train station and begin killing, at first for money and then for revenge; going after the rich and men.

My Take: Baise-Moi, which translates literally into "Fuck Me", is somewhat akin to Thelma & Louise on steroids, paired with the violence of Natural Born Killers. The sex in the film is not simulated, and the two lead actresses are former porn stars. The murders are frequent and often without real motive. Yes, Manu was raped, but she doesn't go after the men that raped her. Instead she kills at random, from men she picks up for casual sex to a woman on the street at the ATM to a whole club full of people. Nadine, for her part, is reluctant at first, and it seems like Manu is the aggressor in most of the situations.

This is no revenge story. These women are killing simply for the sake of killing, for the rush it gives them. They are equal to their male counterparts in cinema in this, and I found myself comparing their glee more than once to Otis in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.

Perhaps what's most interesting in the film is the juxtaposition of sex and violence. Different people will be more offended by differing things, and I think there are a lot of questions one can ask in regards to this. The sex is extremely explicit, but so is the violence. The film has been banned or heavily cut in a number of countries, including it's home, France. The cuts made are usually in regards to the sex, not the violence. This raises the question: even though sex is a natural part of life, and murder is not, why does society allow for explicit scenes of violence to be allowed in theaters and not scenes of explicit sex?

Is Baise-Moi worth sitting through? Maybe. It really made me think about a number of things, including the fact that I have never seen two females in such roles before. The acting is actually quite good, though the cinematography is distracting and the soundtrack makes almost no sense in regards to what's happening on screen. I'm glad I watched it once, but I have no plans to ever watch the film again.

Entertainment value: Medium. Intriguing and often engaging but the murders and sex scenes become repetitive; the lack of plot can also cause the film to drag. However, at a mere hour and seventeen minutes, it's an easy length to enjoy.
Scare value: Low. Violent and tense in places but never "scary."
Realistic?: Medium-High. There are definitely repercussions to the killing spree.
Violence/Gore: High. Quite the body count, lots of close-ups of gunshot wounds. One particularly nasty death by stiletto-heels.
Sex: Extremely High. NONE of the sex is simulated, penetration is shown, and there are graphic scenes of oral sex.
This movie is for: Those interested in gender studies/gender relations, serial killer movie fans, fans of the new New French Extremity film movement.
Films like it: Thelma & Louise (sort of), Natural Born Killers, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Man Bites Dog

IMDB Entry on Baise-Moi
(Note: IMDB translates it as "Rape Me", but the filmmakers have denounced this title as incorrect.)
Trailer