Taxi (1998)
Country: FR
Technical: col/scope 90m
Director: Gérard Pirès
Cast: Samy Naceri, Frédéric Diefenthal, Marion Cotillard
Synopsis:
A pizza delivery boy with astonishing driving skills becomes a Marseilles cab driver of an almost 007-style customized Peugeot. Before long he finds himself obliged to help an unlucky cop catch a gang of German bank robbers.
Review:
Peugeot vs Mercedes, or two World Wars re-fought on the streets of Marseilles, the film is not without the odd shameless piece of racial stereotyping; but neither does it give any quarter to its other target, the police (shades of Subway: Luc Besson wrote the screenplay here), who are made to appear as incompetent as the Germans are ruthlessly efficient. The women are either leggy, pouting and wonderbra-supported clotheshorses or devoted mothers who make great coffee. What entertains is the banter of the two leads and the breathtaking location footage of cars hurtling through traffic. The rest is wanton aping of American precedents. (A huge commercial success in France, the film gained 6 million entries in its Summer of release, and a sequel was already in planning by the end of 1999.)
Country: FR
Technical: col/scope 90m
Director: Gérard Pirès
Cast: Samy Naceri, Frédéric Diefenthal, Marion Cotillard
Synopsis:
A pizza delivery boy with astonishing driving skills becomes a Marseilles cab driver of an almost 007-style customized Peugeot. Before long he finds himself obliged to help an unlucky cop catch a gang of German bank robbers.
Review:
Peugeot vs Mercedes, or two World Wars re-fought on the streets of Marseilles, the film is not without the odd shameless piece of racial stereotyping; but neither does it give any quarter to its other target, the police (shades of Subway: Luc Besson wrote the screenplay here), who are made to appear as incompetent as the Germans are ruthlessly efficient. The women are either leggy, pouting and wonderbra-supported clotheshorses or devoted mothers who make great coffee. What entertains is the banter of the two leads and the breathtaking location footage of cars hurtling through traffic. The rest is wanton aping of American precedents. (A huge commercial success in France, the film gained 6 million entries in its Summer of release, and a sequel was already in planning by the end of 1999.)
Country: FR
Technical: col/scope 90m
Director: Gérard Pirès
Cast: Samy Naceri, Frédéric Diefenthal, Marion Cotillard
Synopsis:
A pizza delivery boy with astonishing driving skills becomes a Marseilles cab driver of an almost 007-style customized Peugeot. Before long he finds himself obliged to help an unlucky cop catch a gang of German bank robbers.
Review:
Peugeot vs Mercedes, or two World Wars re-fought on the streets of Marseilles, the film is not without the odd shameless piece of racial stereotyping; but neither does it give any quarter to its other target, the police (shades of Subway: Luc Besson wrote the screenplay here), who are made to appear as incompetent as the Germans are ruthlessly efficient. The women are either leggy, pouting and wonderbra-supported clotheshorses or devoted mothers who make great coffee. What entertains is the banter of the two leads and the breathtaking location footage of cars hurtling through traffic. The rest is wanton aping of American precedents. (A huge commercial success in France, the film gained 6 million entries in its Summer of release, and a sequel was already in planning by the end of 1999.)