Rundskop (Bullhead) (2011)

Director: Michael R. Roskam
Writer:    Michael R. Roskam
Cast:       Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeroen Perceval, Jeanne Dandoy
Language: Flemish, French

The film begins with the following monologue:

"Sometimes in a man's life stuff happens that makes everyone go quiet. So quiet that no one even dares talk about it. Not to anyone, not even to themselves. Not in their head and not out loud. Not a fucking word. Cos everything somehow got stuck.  No matter how long ago it was, there will always be someone to bring it all back. Because no matter what you do or think, one thing is for sure, you're always fucked now, tomorrow, next week or next year, until the end of time, fucked."

It is basically the story of a young cattle farmer, Jacky, who is approached by a veterinarian to make a deal with a notorious beef trader. We are shown, through flashbacks, why the farmer is taking steroids in the same way that he is applying a different set of steroids to his cattle to beef them up. The trigger for the whole thing is him encountering someone from his past during a meet with the beef trader and it sets off a chain of events leading to him getting caught up inadvertently under the Police scanner due to a set of coincidences.

For Matthias Schoenaerts, the role is not very dissimilar from his role in Audiard's 'Rust and Bone', which also was a very physical performance while playing an unhinged character. The director trust the audience very much and doesn't spoon-feed them which helps in utilizing the time very well. It stands at just over two hours in length but you do get a feeling that a plenty have been told during that time with four sets of story strands going on-Jacky's business and his dealings with the beef trader, Jacky's past and his connect with the informant, informant and his dealings with the Police and finally Jacky's personal story with an awkward love interest. The whole of it appears seamless which is something the director should be proud of as it is very easy for him lose the audience either through lame expositions or utter confusion. That said, there is an exposition scene towards the end of the film which was really not needed as it was not that difficult to piece everything together without that itself. 

Overall it is a great watch with a very interesting and unique story line. Michael R. Roskam had directed Tom Hardy starrer 'The Drop', from last year, which was also something that I enjoyed very much. Bullhead was nominated for academy awards in the foreign film category but lost out to 'A Separation'. The highlight of the film is of course the performance from Matthias Schoenaerts who is literally a bullhead in it.

Rating: 4.5/5

                                                                         

The Drop (2014)

Director: Michael R. Roskam
Writer:    Dennis Lehane
Cast:       Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini

Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy) finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living- no matter the cost.

The film is adapted from Dennis Lehane's 2009 short story 'Animal Rescue'. His previous work that have been adapted to screen include 'Mystic River' and 'Gone Baby Gone', of which I found the former to be very overrated while the latter was really great. Both of those films were directed by actor-turned directors which is something I am not a fan of. That said I have spotted a trend, in a not so scientific manner, that shittier the actor better he would do as a director (Think Clint Eastwood and Ben Affleck). The director of 'The Drop', Michael R. Roskam, had previously made the Belgian film 'Rundskop' (Bullhead) about which I have heard good things and is apparently a very hard film to watch. 

The name for the film comes from the idea that the dirty money in the city is dropped each night at a designated mob owned bar which is chosen for the night in a random fashion. So the idea is if you know which one is the drop bar for the night it could be robbed pissing off some very dangerous people. The bar at the center of the film is 'Cousin Marv's' which used to be owned by well- Cousin Marv (James Gandolfini) but is now mob owned with Marv acting like a pseudo owner. His cousin Bob (Tom Hardy) is 'just' the bartender who doesn't want to get himself too involved with the shady side of the bar. But Marv has other ideas leaving them in a precarious position. Meanwhile Bob finds an injured dog in a trash can of a girl and he adopts the dog like a kid and the girl becomes sort of a girlfriend. Both girl and the dog have a psycho connection whom also start meddling with Bob's life. The overall setup is fairly low key without any stylization whatsoever. I think it helps that it is adapted from a short story and not a novel since it gives a lot more freedom to the director. Going by the cast one would expect some excellent performances and that is what you get with plenty of nuances in them. It is James Gandolfini's last feature film and the way he speaks in this film is very Tony Soprano like. I could see some of the mannerisms from 'Peaky Blinders' creeping in to Tom Hardy's performance. There is no big twist without warning in the film and the expositions are done very well with allusions to what happened in the past sprinkled all over the film trusting the viewer to piece them all together. 

Overall it is great solid watch with some very good performances. It is good to see that Tom Hardy has not gone all Hollywood on us after his involvement in couple of Nolan films. He has done some great little independent kind of works in 'The Drop', 'Locke', 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' and 'Peaky Blinders'. He has been getting criticisms for his accents lately but I never found it to be problematic. He is gonna be in the upcoming 'Mad Max' film which should be interesting even though I haven't seen the previous installments. 

Rating: 4/5