When? Thursday 27 February
Where? The Star St-Exupéry cinema
How much? €15 for the entire evening, reduction cards accepted
Who? Organised by Les Films du Spectre and the Star cinemas, with the support of the Grand Est Region.
Cinéma de quartier: Crime, Italian style
20h : Caliber 9 (Milano Calibro 9 / Milan Calibre 9)
Ugo Piazza is released early from his 4-year prison sentence for good behaviour. His former accomplice Rocco, a psychotic henchman of a crime baron, known as The Americano, is on hand to refresh his memory: the sum of three hundred thousand liras have disappeared with no explanation and Ugo was the last one involved in the transaction chain.
Caliber 9 is a masterpiece of poliziottesco cinema, a subgenre of Italian giallo, which is a cross between the gritty crime film and the political thriller. It also marks the debut of Fernando Di Leo’s Milieu Trilogy on crime. The work of this prolix Italian scriptwriter and director explores Mafia quarrels and corruption, in the lower depths of 1970s Milan, aka the Years of Lead. The film is a scathing portrait of an epoch in Italy when crime was fast taking over. Its raw realism, dark aesthetic, fine-tuned dialogues and portrayal of sterile dry and characters has made Caliber 9 a reference work of genre cinema.
Italy – 1972 – 1hr37 – in Italian, subtitled in French – min. age 12
Director: Fernando Di Leo
Actors: Gastone Moschin, Mario Adorf, Frank Wolff
22h15 : Rabid Dogs (Cani arrabbiati / Les Chiens enragés)
During a hold up of an armoured car transporting money, one of the drivers is killed, and the 4 payroll robbers flee, with the police hot on their trail. One is killed and the 3 others take hostages, including a woman and man who says he’s driving his young son to the hospital. A long chase begins, with the worst that can happen hovering above their heads.
Rabid Dogs, an oppressive thriller filmed by giallo maestro Mario Bava in 1974, was left hanging in limbo after the producer went bankrupt. Resuscitated almost 20 years later, this intense, huit-clos thriller dissects human conflict and brutal violence and is a far cry from Bava’s usual pop, gore and gothic fare. Today, this cult film is regarded as one of the most singular works in the Bava canon.
Italy – 1974 – 1hr36 – in Italian, subtitled in French – min. age 16
Director: Mario Bava
Actors: Riccardo Cucciolla, Don Backy, Lea Lander
