DVD Review - Dobermann (1997)

Dobermann, 1997.

Directed by Jan Kounen.
Starring Vincent Cassel, Tchéky Karyo and Monica Bellucci.


SYNOPSIS:

Following a brutal bank robbery, the charismatic criminal Dobermann (Vincent Cassel) is pursued by the Paris police, headed up by the sadistic renegade cop Christini (Tchéky Karyo).


Coming off the back of his acclaimed performances in Jean-François Richet’s two-part crime epic Mesrine (2008) and Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller Black Swan (2010), Second Sight have delved into the back-catalogue of French actor Vincent Cassel to deliver a re-release for one of his earlier domestic films, the stylish heist flick Dobermann (1997). The debut feature of filmmaker Jan Kounen (director of the 2009 biopic Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky) and based on author and screenwriter Joël Houssin’s series of pulp crime novels, Dobermann is Cinéma du look by way of Hong Kong’s Heroic Bloodshed, forgoing plot and characterisation in favour of lashings of highly-stylised, hyper-violent gunplay.

Dobermann sets its stall from the get go, an anthromorphised CGI dog pissing over the title credits before we shift to a Christening where a baby receives a somewhat unorthodox present, a mean-looking customised .357 Magnum. It will go on to become the signature weapon of its owner, Dobermann (Cassel), leader of a group of notorious bank robbers that includes his deaf girlfriend, Nat the Gypsy (Cassel’s other half, Monica Bellucci) and a motley assortment of characters including a priest, a transvestite, a dog-loving knucklehead and a trigger-happy psycho. Together, they run rings around the Parisian police force, much to the displeasure of Inspector Cristini (Tchéky Karyo), a detective so brutal and sadistic in his methods that he makes Dirty Harry seem as ‘by-the-book’ as Dick Tracy. After Dobermann and his crew pull off an audacious daylight robbery, during which the police are humiliated and two officers killed, Cristini takes it upon himself to put an end to the gang by whatever means necessary.

That’s about as much-set up – and indeed as much story – as you’re going to get with Dobermann but the plot itself is largely irrelevant when its purpose it simply to take us from one explosive action set-piece to another. Cassel delivers a solid performance as the anti-hero Dobermann but the real highlight is Tchéky Karyo’s Cristini, a bona-fide bastard who revels in his depravity and thinks nothing of beating on women and tossing babies through the air in his obsessive quest to topple the gang. Meanwhile the supporting cast of stock characters are admirable, although generally they’re left with little to do apart from a few memorable scenes for Belluci’s Nat (who, rather surprisingly, keeps her wongas under wraps) and Stéphane Metzger’s Olivier, a cross-dresser who also moonlights as Sonia.

In a way Dobermann is Heat without any of the depth, the entire film building to a climactic showdown between Dobermann and Cristini, leaving the audience to take a back seat and watch as the unrelenting carnage unfolds. Dobermann comes across as one long music video, moving at a breakneck pace and packed to the brim with over-the-top explosions, shoot-outs and high-speed car chases that are almost comic-book in their absurdity. It's paper-thin, but director Kounen employs almost every trick in the book to capture the mayhem and delivers a visually excessive and turbo-charged treat that makes for perfect after-pub viewing.

Gary Collinson

Movie Review Archive

DVD Review - Killer's Moon (1978)

Killer’s Moon, 1978.

Written and Directed by Alan Birkinshaw.
Starring Anthony Forrest, Tom Marshall, David Jackson, Georgina Kean, Nigel Gregory, Jane Hayden, Alison Elliot and JoAnne Good.


SYNOPSIS:

Four drugged-up mental patients escape from the local asylum and seek refuge in a remote Lake District hotel where a class of stranded school-girls are staying.


As with a number of his contemporaries, exploitation filmmaker Alan Birkinshaw (Confessions of a Sex Maniac) made the jump from the skin flick to horror for his second feature, Killer’s Moon. Inspired by the ultraviolence of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, Birkinshaw delivered what has since been referred to as “the most tasteless movie in British cinema history”, a description which probably isn’t too far from the truth. Killer’s Moon has been compared to I Spit on Your Grave but it kind of comes over more like St. Trinian’s meets Last House on the Left, mixing elements of the school-girl comedy, sexploitation, rape-revenge and slasher (before it even existed) into a low-rent, morally bankrupt and utterly incompetent piece of filmmaking.

The basic plot is a retreading of the US shocker Carnal Madness (a.k.a. The Sizzlers), with four psychotic sex-offenders escaping from a poorly-guarded nut house and wandering in the wilds of the Lake District, tripping out of their minds on LSD from an experimental treatment programme where they believe real-life to be a dream. Meanwhile a coach breaks down, forcing a class of boarding-school girls to spend the night in a hotel run by EastEnders’ Nana Moon. Sure enough the wackos soon arrive at the hotel to put them through hell, until the arrival of a couple of hikers who team up with girls to seek revenge.

Like a number of exploitation flicks, the film’s shoddy production values, laughable acting and weak script leave it verging on self-parody - only one that isn’t very funny. There isn’t really any other purpose for its existence than to offend, with unnecessary animal cruelty (thankfully simulated) and a flippant attitude towards rape; but it has to be said that apart from a few scenes the film’s shock-value has dissipated somewhat over the years. Instead we’re left with a poorly made piece of trash cinema that comes across as an X-rated episode of Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.

The dialogue in Killer’s Moon was supplied by Birkinshaw’s sister, the acclaimed author Fay Weldon, who once said that the film was “picture dialogue – A, picture movie – D”; I can only surmise that Weldon was undergoing the same treatment as the antagonists, because lines like an M.P. saying: “You mean this criminal lunatic is walking around believing he’s in a dream? In my dreams I murder freely, pillage, loot and rape!” and a school-girl telling her friend: “Look, you were only raped, as long as you don’t tell anyone about it you’ll be alright” are pretty far from A-grade stuff in my book (well, except perhaps the one from the M.P.).

While I couldn’t really recommend Killer’s Moon to anyone except die-hard genre-fiends and completionists, the DVD release from Redemption Films is actually a pretty good package. The film’s sound and picture quality are better than you’d expect and the special features come with an audio commentary and interviews with Birkinshaw and actress JoAnne Good, along with the obligatory stills and trailers. Sadly, that’s about all it has going for it, except for a three-legged dog who probably delivers the standout performance of the film and certainly has the best character arc.

Gary Collinson