Kids by way of Tarantino. La Haine, while having a potent sociopolitical message, was more impressive to me in its crisp, clean style - hardly befitting the gritty subject matter, but oh, so pleasing to watch. Director Mathieu Kassovitz is clearly at home behind the camera and knows precisely how long to linger on a shot to maximize tension, or whip around a crowd to make a localized struggle seem much, much larger. Add a script unafraid to pull punches, but perfectly fine filming the mundane to deepen to depressing reality of life in the Parisian projects, and La Haine manages to be unrelentingly brutal without an over-reliance on graphic violence.

What is startling about La Haine's script is how…

"Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good.... So far so good. So far so good. How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land!"

"Hate"

That's what La Haine translates to. And hate is the underlying theme here. Hate is pumping through this films veins and breathes a tragic and extreme life into its frames. The movie may be about hate, but I've got nothing but love for this film.

I'll shamefully admit that La Haine has been on my watchlist for oh, I don't know. About 7 years or something like that.... I went wild with my tax return money…

I'd meant to see La Haine ever since it was released in the cinema. I even rented it once – in the days when I worked in places like the one where it's set – but never got round to watching it.
And I really should have watched it earlier: just as I thought La Règle du Jeu might be easier to appreciate when you're a little older, La Haine strikes me as a film best seen in your teens or twenties.

Young guys on tough estates are kind of the same everywhere, but La Haine seems to take them more seriously than most films & TV. It feels totally real, yet this film also looks fucking cool in a way…

I won't pretend to know much about street life in 90's France, but I do believe that La Haine is a great effort at giving a closer look at the brooding hate these young people feel towards a system that seemingly doesn't care for them. Lacking education, parenting, jobs or indeed anything resembling a hopeful future these kids are confined to their own grey concrete apartment complex. All they have and everything they know is how to get along out on the streets, a grim and harsh environment and no place for anyone to grow up in. Kassovitz' debut is a staggering film rich in aesthetics and subtext that despite my lack of background knowledge impressed me immensely. The Black/White…

This film came out way back in 1995 (the year I was born actually) and it's in a whole other language taking place in a whole other country...and yet it still feels so relevant as if it hasn't even aged a day. The raw intensity, wit, and sheer realism behind everything from the writing to the acting has already made this a new favorite of mine.

Everything about this is just great and I just love every inch and bit of it. The direction is excellent with some awesome shots. The film is beautifully lit in black and white (much like the lines of right and wrong) and perfectly sets the grittiness for the film along with the genius writing…

The June Challenge - Film #14

Now, I've never truly experienced how it is to live in 90's France, surrounding by crime everywhere you go, but I'm pretty sure this film does a great job of it.

Kassovitz's directorial debut is a strong one, taking on the life of the streets in Europe, following troubled youth. He knows exactly what he wants to do in this film and it shows. Kassovit's choice of the black and white aspect of La Haine is a great one, complimenting he subject matter so well and not feeling unnecessary at any point in time. While the film can be a bit on the easy side, it can get intense and uneasy very quickly.

The…

The June Challenge - Film #14

Now, I've never truly experienced how it is to live in 90's France, surrounding by crime everywhere you go, but I'm pretty sure this film does a great job of it.

Kassovitz's directorial debut is a strong one, taking on the life of the streets in Europe, following troubled youth. He knows exactly what he wants to do in this film and it shows. Kassovit's choice of the black and white aspect of La Haine is a great one, complimenting he subject matter so well and not feeling unnecessary at any point in time. While the film can be a bit on the easy side, it can get intense and uneasy very quickly.

The…

Shit was tight! Off top, the joint is definitely a visual masterpiece. The way my mans sets up the shots, uses title cards, different camera motions, and all kinds of shit like that makes the thing bomb to watch just aesthetical-wise.

And the story is just as raw. For as political and fight-the-power as its content is, it doesn't try to beat you over the head with a certain moral point of view. None of the characters are necessarily the mouth piece for the director, saying "this is the problem in the French ghettos." It sacrifices politics for the story, which we can all agree is only right.

The script is extremely tight, each scene and piece of dialog advancing…