Archive for August, 2022
The Symbol of Love
Eiffel
![](http://www.davidrwalker.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/EIFFEL-SA-POSTER-resized-768x1024.jpg)
Director: Martin Bourboulon
Cast: Romain Duris, Emma Mackey, Pierre Deladonchamps, Armande Boulanger, Bruno Raffaelli
Film Rating: 8 out of 10
Running Time: 1 hour 48 minutes
This film is in French with English Subtitles
French director Martin Bourboulon’s meticulous reconstruction of the events both historical and romantic leading up to the design and construction of the infamous Paris landmark the Eiffel tower is beautifully told in a new film Eiffel which had it’s South African premiere at the Durban International Film Festival in July 2022 before going on general release in cinemas. With financial backing from Loreal Paris and BNP Paribas, Eiffel is a truly sumptuous French film.
![](http://www.davidrwalker.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/eiffel-221x300.jpg)
Eiffel is like watching a Merchant Ivory film in French and stars Romain Duris (All the Money in the World) as Gustave Eiffel who inadvertently reconnects with his lover from 20 years ago, the gorgeous Adrienne Bourges played by Anglo-French actress Emma Mackey who last appeared in Death on the Nile.
The only problem is that in 1886, three years before the Paris World Fair in March 1889, when the idea for the Eiffel tower is first proposed, Adrienne is unhappily married to Antoine de Rustac played by Pierre Deladonchamps.
Based upon an original screenplay by Caroline Bongrand, the plot of Eiffel skilfully weaves between two time periods, the Paris of 1886 and Bordeaux of 1860 when Gustave Eiffel having successfully designed and been an engineer on a new bridge first meets Adrienne Bourges, a young girl from an upper middle class family. Their love in 1860 is lustful yet forbidden. At the time, they didn’t realize that fate would bring them together again.
In 1886, after some initial opposition to the building of the Eiffel Tower, Gustave and his team win the bid to build the tower for the 1889 Paris World Fair, not realizing that once it is constructed, it will become a symbol of eternity for Paris and an iconic Parisian landmark.
Nowadays everybody associates The Eiffel Tower with Paris, but it is fascinating to watch a historical film like Eiffel as it provides all the backstory about the man behind the design and the woman that inspired such a momentous effort and fuelled his determination to complete the Tower in time for the World Fair.
The Eiffel Tower officially opened in March 1889 and was naturally a huge success for Parisians. With gorgeous costume design by Thiere Delettre and accompanied by a signature original score by Oscar winning composer Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Shape of Water) Eiffel is a sumptuous period film set in the 1880’s about forbidden love and a quest to build something symbolic which became eternally associated with the city of Paris.
![](http://www.davidrwalker.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/eiffel_ver2-221x300.jpg)
Eiffel is worth watching particularly for the superb onscreen chemistry between Emma Mackey and Romain Duris. With all the history, symbolism and romance, Eiffel is a fascinating historical film and gets a film rating of 8 out of 10. Beautiful and entrancing.
Showdown in Kyoto
Bullet Train
![](http://www.davidrwalker.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/bullet_train_ver3.jpg)
Director: David Leitch
Cast: Brad Pitt, Joey King, Sandra Bullock, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Logan Lerman
Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Running Time: 2 hours and 6 minutes
Based upon the novel by Kotaro Isaka, Dead Pool 2 director David Leitch stitches together a complex crime film in Bullet Train featuring a lot of dialogue and some bizarre action sequences, referencing Pulp Fiction but set on a high speed train from Tokyo to Kyoto involving a group of very weird assassins including the twins Lemon and Tangerine wonderfully played by Brian Tyree Henry and Golden Globe winner Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nocturnal Animals), the Hornet played by Zazie Beetz (Joker) and the main star Ladybug played with charisma by Oscar winner Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).
![](http://www.davidrwalker.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/bullet_train_Hiroyuki-240x300.jpg)
Bullet Train involves a sinister crime boss named White Death, a Russian emigrant who infiltrates the Yakuza or Japanese organized crime and the length he goes to to draw out his arch rival The Elder, played with panache by Hiroyuki Sanada (Mortal Kombat, Mr Holmes, The White Countess) and the Elder’s son Kimura played by Andrew Koji.
![](http://www.davidrwalker.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/bullet_train_Andrew-Koji-240x300.jpg)
As the Bullet Train speeds from the Japanese capital of Tokyo to the artistic capital Kyoto, a menagerie of assassins appear on board including Lemon and Tangerine, The Prince played by Joey King and Ladybug whose simple task it is to steal a briefcase filled with cash and alight at the next station. Literally everything goes wrong, from bad guys drinking sleeping tablets to an escaped boomslang slithering through the high tech train.
![](http://www.davidrwalker.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/bullet_train_Brian-Tyree-240x300.jpg)
Using multiple flashbacks to such places as Mexico and Johannesburg to establish backstory, the assassins square off against each other, as one by one they get eliminated or so we think, as they speed ever faster with deadly efficiency to the showdown in Kyoto whereby The Elder is going to meet The White Death.
![](http://www.davidrwalker.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/bullet_train_Brad-Pitt-240x300.jpg)
Fortunately Brad Pitt’s charm carries Bullet Train to its thrilling conclusion amidst lots of witty dialogue, the occasional samurai sword, many guns and an errant poisonous snake. Amidst all the nuanced innuendo’s and gory action, there is a complicated plot which unravels itself like a boa constrictor killing everything in its path.
![](http://www.davidrwalker.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/bullet_train_Aaron-Taylor-Johnson-240x300.jpg)
With flashes of anime, traditional Japanese imagery and sparkling with originality, Bullet Train is a fascinatingly bizarre film with sufficient action and fight sequences to keep audiences glued to the screen. Of particular note is the brilliantly choreographed fight sequence between Tangerine and Ladybug played by Aaron Taylor Johnson and Brad Pitt.
![](http://www.davidrwalker.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/bullet_train_Joey-King-240x300.jpg)
If audiences are looking for a weirdly entertaining film filled with cameo appearances, gory action and an exotic location, then buy a ticket for Bullet Train and make sure not to disembark before the showdown in Kyoto. It’s a riveting ride.
Bullet Train gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and will find an audience that enjoys quirky action with strangers fighting each other on a high speed locomotive.