Film / District B13
A brilliantly terrible French action film, much of District B13 is so poorly done that it races through atrocious and ends up amazing. The stunts are the highlight, many performed by parkour experts such as David Belle, one of the stars of the films and a co-founder of the art. They are mesmerizing and all the more impressive considering there is little use of special effects. The rest of the film is just garnish, but delightfully tasteless garnish. Set way in the future, in 2010 France, the most uncontrollable parts of the city have been walled in and people within these communities have somehow acquired severely pimped cars, shiny gangster clothing and copious weaponry. One of the best things about French cinema is listening to that beautiful language, but this has been overdubbed with English — the cartoon voices and terrible lip-syncing adding to the film’s overall hilarity. There is then a slab of social commentary jammed inappropriately at the end and what results is a package so terrible that is immensely enjoyable. Worth repeated viewing just to marvel at those stunts and the truly disastrous scripting and acting
Tagged: France, French movies
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