Rivals (Les Liens du Sang)

Movie rating: 3 Star

Set in Lyon in 1979, Rivals sees two brothers struggle to make their relationship work despite their major differences: Gabrielle (Cluzet) is a career criminal, while the younger Francois (Canet) is a promising detective. Pretty standard fare so far, but Rivals branches out to encompass the brothers' private lives in a Heat style swoop. Gabrielle is just out of prison and is determined to go straight, taking abuse from Hitler-type managers in department stores. When his application to open a kiosk near the beach is revoked, Gabrielle gets the itch and returns to a life of crime. Meanwhile, Francois falls for the wife of a perp he put away years ago and will be caught in the path of that whirlwind when he's released...

What's cool about Rivals is that it fully realises the era in an effortless fashion. It might resemble Heat in storytelling but not in style; The film has a gritty look to it and feels like it was made in 1979 and was found collecting dust in a studio storeroom. I's got the essence of The Sweeney, but its episodic nature at times lends itself more to Eastenders than that hard-boiled, streetwise cop. But if you can get past the stop-start nature of the plot (and the fact that Cluzet looks like Joey 'The Lips' Fagan from the Commitments and Canet looks like Patrick Demspey circa Can't Buy Me Love), then there's enough here to sink your teeth into.

Review by Gavin Burke | 09:00 | Friday 5th December 2008 | Movie Review