Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / Léon: The Professional (1994) - Luc Besson | Houselights #258

Transcript

Léon: The Professional (1994) - Luc Besson | Houselights #258 · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the NED party. Welcome back to house Lights
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: in our newest edition that we're adding on to this
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: great mansion of a podcast, the House of Basan Luke
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Basson in specific as we examine his works of the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: nineteen nineties, and this week we will be looking at
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Leon The Professional or the Professional if you just saw
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: it in movie theaters back in the nineties. And I
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: am one of the hosts here on house Lights. I
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: am John Mills, and I am pleased as punch to
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: be welcoming my two co hosts, Cleaner trainee Darren Moser.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Are you ready to explore this film that has one
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: of the best worst taglines from a review that I've
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: ever encountered in film history.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's quite a setup.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Oh it is a setup. It's a line from a
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: commercial for this film that myself and the infamous Joey
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: have made fun of for literally the time since this
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: film came out, so decades at this point, where there
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: was an ad for The Professional and it had the
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: shot of the the one rosta cop firing the gun
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: and you know you're tracking with the gun as it's
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: firing everywhere, and the line was makes Speed look like
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: a drive to Grandma's house.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: And that's a bold claim.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: It was one of those things where like you can't
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: even process it. You're like, how did this? Like it
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: sounds like something AI would write nowadays, because you're like this,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: these are like English words and the sentence sort of
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: there's structure there, But I don't know how you arrived
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: at that thought. Go on, please and so yes, that
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: is the line from a review for The Professional that
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I have held on too with Joey for thirty years
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: at this point, and we'll never let it go. In fact,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: us talking about The Professional means I will go and
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: when I see Joey in the coming days, I will
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: say to him, Hey, remember that ad. But Darren, I'm
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: going to ask you. You were a precocious youth. But
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: I doubt you saw The Professional in the movie theaters
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety four as I did. But when was
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the first time you encountered this? Which cut of the film?
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Was?
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: It is now your first viewing? Take the audience through that?
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Well, I didn't even know there were other cuts until
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: you just said something two seconds ago. So surprises theatrical.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: This was a college movie. This was living with a
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: bunch of college students and we were all film majors,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: and so someone had a copy of Leone. Of course
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: they did, and so caught it, you know, one of
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: our eyebrow movie nights of Oh yes, let us watch
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Leone and to deconstruct that. You know, I don't know,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: maybe we couldn't enjoy things, but it was still fun.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: So yeah, that was, you know, many decades ago, still
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: at this point, but not quite so far back as
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety four, apparently trying to jump on the Speed bandwagon.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Well so to speak, ninety four I think was the
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: year that Speed came out, or was it was Speed
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: was ninety or was summer and this was a September release. Yeah,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: so I think makes sense why it was there. I mean,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: I will go ahead and say this being the September
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: release in nineteen ninety four, this was actually a first
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: date movie with myself and my first serious college girlfriend, Alisha,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: you know, all cards on the table. When a four
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: K release of this came out, I did purchase it
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: because regardless of anything else or anybody else thinks of whatever,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: blah blah blah, like I think that this is an
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: important film, or the fact that it from my perspective,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: it had an impact on the action genre. I don't
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: think it had an outsize Diehard level impact, but I
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: definitely think that it had an impact on how people
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: approached staging gunfight scenes and how they approached characters like
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the professional. I think this definitely had sort of like
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: a It wasn't a shockwave like Predator, but there's a
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: ripple effect that I think you can see emanating out
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: from this film, Darren, do you see that? Do you
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: see influence from this film?
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, just thinking about it. One of the
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: things I like about this movie is that he's not
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: superhuman like he's he's a professional, like he has skills,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: but he's constantly training, he's constantly honing and working out.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: So the fact that he is able, I've never pushed
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: out of suspension of disbelief. I always believe he can
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: accomplish anything that we see him do, and a little
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: bit of its life honestly in him taking people out.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: But he gets shot, he gets hurt. You know, he's
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: not infallible. So I would say the way it's shot,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: coupled with I don't want to say every man, you know,
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: get cleaner, but the fact that it's so grounded. I
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: totally buy that this could be a person, you know,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: doing their thing, and it makes me enjoy the story more.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: It makes me feel the tension, Like, gosh, when he's
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, I know, I'm jumping to like the very end,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: but when he's wearing the mask and going down the
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: stairs and you see the division of troops that are,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: You're like, oh my gosh, like there was no way out,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: like you were. You were so screwed. It was not
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: even funny.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Well, I like the fact that you mentioned the ending
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: because it has probably one of the most iconic Gary
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Oldman moments of all time when they say, you know,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: bring out and he turns out, just goes everyone like
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: that is That's an indelible sort of scene. So I
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: think that's a good opening to say. You know, Tristan
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Oldman is post to Dracula at this point, he's post
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: True Romance. He's sort of established himself for very eccentric characters.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: He mentions Beethoven, he talks about Beethoven, he's imagining Beethoven,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: but the score sounds nothing like Beethoven in that moment, Darren,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: do you think that's what's taking Tristan out of it.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Did it work for you? Did it not work for you?
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm kind of neither here nor there. I think
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: they were trying something or he or like you said,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: he kind of threw something at the wall. It didn't
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: necessarily stick. I think if this movie was made slightly later,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: it would have maybe changed the character a little bit.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: But I could totally see him being a guy who
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: has like a beat up walkman and he puts it
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: on and we cut to just the music like nont
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: sound or even he goes into his head and then
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: the music swells and we can't hear the music, but
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: he hears it internally. Something to make the connection. But
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: it was one of those things when a character you're
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: trying to give him a quirk, and it didn't quite
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: like the drugs was enough. When he to the way
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: he took it and put his head back, that was enough.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, okay, I know exactly how to read
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: this guy. And then they added the music and or
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: the you know, the love of it, and it didn't
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: It didn't really do anything for me.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: See a lot of people get a kick out of it,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: because he later very shortly after this went on to
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: play Beethoven and Immortal Beloved. So everybody was like, oh,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: that's cute.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: For me, it's one of those things where I actually
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: enjoy it because I think that the the camera work,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: the staging of that infiltration of the apartment, I really
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: enjoy it because it's really I think well paced, well plowed,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: and by plotted, I mean in terms of like the
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: steps he takes and the steps he goes, like I
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: plotted my course, not necessarily as like oh the plotting
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: on that as a screenwriter, you know, That's what I mean,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: And I like, I never lose my sense of place
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: in the apartment or anything like that. I think that
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: where I've always enjoyed it is that no, I can't
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: hear what's in his head, and as a result it
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: I think it does effectively make him. I think it
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: does work because he's talking about this saying, and the
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: film is not making the effort to make me understand
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: the thing. It's making it very clear nobody understands what's
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: going on inside this guy's head. That's what I've always
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: walked away with on it. But I think it's definitely
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: if if you were to take another director and put
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: it in, Darren, I think you're right. I think you're
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: going to be hearing just Beethoven through that scene with
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: not even the shotgun noises going off and stuff like that.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: So but you know, we have this setup, we have
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: all of this. We see we meet Matilda, a very
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: young Natalie Portman. She's a traumatized kid. She's been abused
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: by her her family to the point where she's pretending
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: to be dead to her school so that she can
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: like she's she's coming from a very broken place. And
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I basically I agree with you. It is complicated because
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: she doesn't really want to give it up, but Leon
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: doesn't want to turn her out onto the street, and
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: so like he's caught. I think you very much get
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: the vibe where he's like, well, okay, like she'll she'll
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: grow out of this. It's sort of the vibe that
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: I get through it, where it's like I care about her,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: I want her to be okay, but I don't get
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: a sense of like and I'm going to marry her tomorrow.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: And I think that to the point where and you know, Darren,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: feel free to disagree, obviously, but like at the end
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: when he's like, you know, telling her I love you,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: I want to go off. I want to do that.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: He's saying what she needs to hear so that she'll
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: let go and leave him.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's Part's very clear that that's why he's
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: saying that.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: I agree with you both, I think, but I give
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: it a positive notch as far as the story is
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: making me feel, it's making me feel uncomfortable, but it
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: is it is creating this character in this dynamic that
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: is making me feel something, and that I think is
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: you know, I give credit to that when movies are
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: able to do that with their characters. And I don't
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: have a source to sight, but I had read that
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: that Jean Renaud chose to play Leon slightly dim as
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: a way to also kind of put a bit of
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: a gap between like, oh, he would never go towards
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: this because he doesn't have the ability to make kind
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: of that type of emotional can or try to pursue
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: her at all, like another barrier in the character. That
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: might be true. I have to research it again, but
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: I think at the yeah, but at its core, it
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: is uncomfortable. It is you know, inappropriate as far as
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: you know, you're still putting a human being through this
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: in a in making a movie like that is still
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: happening to Natalie Portman in that regard and the and
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: the side effects of that. But do I feel like, oh,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: I could never watch this movie again because of that aspect. No,
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: I don't think it crosses that line.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: You know, the movies made. It makes enough money to
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: be a hit, and you know, a modest hit, but
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: a hit nonetheless. And there was actually a sequel that
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: was supposed to be filmed called Matilda, but because of
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: a falling out with the studio, like they held on
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: to the rights and they wouldn't let Basan make it.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: You know, Darren you said you, yeah, there's still time,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: There's still time. But like you know, Darren, you mentioned like, oh,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: nothing exists in such a way that you would never
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: revisit this film. Do you think that there is enough material?
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Would you be interested in seeing a continuation of Matilda's
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: story or do you think it ends at the right spot?
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: On thinking about it for two seconds, I think it
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: ends at the right spot. I think it really does.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: It is also very much a product of the nineties,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: the vibe, the look, the tone of filmmaking. I don't
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: know what there is to gain for putting this movie
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty five with an older Matilda? What finding
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: like Batman and Robin finding another you know, ward to
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: bring in Like, I don't know. I would I maybe
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: watch it if it got pulled together. Maybe, But honestly,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Leon is the draw that character, that character we saw
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: a transfer over from Nikita, Like, I don't know if
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Matilda being Leon older, I don't know if that puzzle works.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Danny Iello makes an appearance here. His role is not substantial,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: but it's impactful. Darren, how did you feel about that character?
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Do you think that he was utilized to his full extent?
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Do you wish there was more of him to give
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: more history?
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: No? I give a hat tip to Baisan for sure
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: that he knows how much to use a character, like
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: the fact that he's in it just enough, but he
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: feels like a full flesh character. I totally buy. These
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: guys have known each other for decades, but his his
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: box is small. It's like, oh, he's the guy who
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: calls the hits and he holds his money, Like that's
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: all I need to know about him. I'm left wanting more,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: not in a compulsive way of like oh I wish
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: there was more, but I'm not. I'm left wanted more
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: in an interesting fashion. It's like, Okay, this is an
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: interesting guy. It's an interesting world, you know. But I
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: see how he fits into the story. So yeah, I
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: think his he had great parts. Especially I mean, we
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: keep talking about the end, but I love that there's
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: that scene where Matilda goes to him and it's not
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: she walks away from the building and goes to the school.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: It's instead she has one more try of like as
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: a child, she feels the most childlike where she's like, oh,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: I want to be a cleaner. He's just like no
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: and shuts her down. Is like that is not you know,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: for you. And then she goes to the school and
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: it and it, you know, fades out. But yeah, I
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: makes me think of some roles from pulp fiction or
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: actually sorry, not fiction, reservoir dogs, some of the just
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: the smaller characters that we barely know but you totally
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: buy they're a part of this world. So very well done.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: And the thing is, you corrected, and you said reservoir dogs.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: But pulp fiction did come out this year, so the
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: professional lay on, you know, whichever version of the title
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: you want to use. You know, it costs sixteen million,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: it makes forty five ish. That's that's a good return
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: on investment, solid return on investment. But trustan. Do you
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: think that The Professional is one of those movies that
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: has been relegated to the need for somebody to evangelize it,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: for somebody to take it forward to someone. Is it
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: semi forgotten because of the year that it came out?
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: You know, in a way it's all speculation. But I
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: almost feel like the way you can tell it's not
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: mainstream in that way is the title. Like if this
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: was really mainstream, you could just call it Leone and
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: everyone would know what you're talking about. But you almost
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: have to add the Professional for your brain to click
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: and be like, oh, yeah, I know what you're talking about.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: But see that. That's what's crazy is when I talk
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: about this, you know, the international cut was not a
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: thing in the States for a time. When it was released.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: I was all over it because I owned a copy
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: of the theatrical because I love the Theatrical, And to
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: this day, when I talk about it, I don't say
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: leon I say The Professional because that's the interesting first
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: title that it got known by in the States, and
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: I think that further complicates it. Is that sort of
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: like title confusion sort of thing. It's like, you know what.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: When like you have lived I repeat and Edge of
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: Tomorrow and oh gosh.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Or any of the any of the titles for you know,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Apocalypse Now, do you say, oh, did you see Apocalypse
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: now the final cut? Or do you just talk about
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Apocalypse now? Or do you just you know, there's so
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: many movies where it's like, you know, that extra little
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: bit of title confusion or.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: What's it now Thunderbolts asterisk just I don't know.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Oh no, it was always Thunderbolt's asterisk and now it's
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Thunderbolt's asterisk the New Avengers, which spoils a ligne like
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: when somebody and somebody explained it to me and I
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: was like, oh, so do I need to see the movie?
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: And they're like, now you're good. I was like, all right, cool,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna bother. Then we totally lost.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: John Harrison all over again. It's just.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Why why do you do this, Darren?
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: Why do right.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Just steered it right into it?
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: I could guarantee that it's not true. I'm gonna emphatically
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: state well, actually actually it is true. No I am.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I am con oh, for for goodness sake, Now, I
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: think this is a a remarkably well constructed film. I
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: you know, I when I was doing the rewatch, you know,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I mean we all have busier lives. Now you're at home,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: you get interrupted, that sort of thing. But before I
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: knew it, I was forty five minutes into it, like
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: it just flew by. And every time I've ever watched this,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: it hits that point where I'm like, wait, wait, how
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: long have I been watching this? And then I'm like,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: an hour in, I'm like, that's ridiculous. I didn't know.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: That doesn't make sense. Tristan, do you feel that sense
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: of pace? Do you think that this is a director
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: who's communicating better with his editor than he was in
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: lefem Nikita, or do you think that this is on
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: par with.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: I've heard it said many times about people in art,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: where you start off where you know what is good,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: like your sense of palette is good, but your skill
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: is there yet. So it's like, you know what makes
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: a good shot and a good movie, but executing is
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: what takes time and practice and effort. And I see
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: that where it's not that he was bad and didn't
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: know what he wanted, didn't have a vision in the Femnikita.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: But between that and this, it's now showing up on
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: screen even more. It's his first English language film, you know,
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: full in America. So yeah, I and I I'm just
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: falling in love with Baisan all over again because I
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: love how directed his shots are. Meaning there's shots like
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: looking down, looking up, looking like everything is placed so
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: well we're looking up at Leon out his window when
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: they're loading the missile in the shield to fire it
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: like and we're I mean, wait till we get the
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: fifth element, guys to be like salivating on that is
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: that's like the whole movie is that. But this that
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: is becoming. I said it last week. It is a
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: mark of Bison that he is a very intentional director,
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: you know, choose. I mean, gosh, when Matilda like sneaks
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: back to her house and trips up on something, looks
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: down and she's standing in the you know, the outline
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: of her dead brother, It's like, oh my gosh, Like
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: that's a shot that sticks with you. Yeah.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: I think that this is visually an evolution for Bisan,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: and like in the very beginning there's one shot it
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: might seem weird, I mean very obviously, the shot of
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Natalie Portman at the door, crying, trying to buzz her
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: way in to Leon's apartment is real. Like, you know,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: the camera is exactly as far away from her as
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: it should be. It's not right up in her grill,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: it's not too far away. It's that that you sense
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: the discomfort and you're really close without being too close.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: But one of the shots that I love, and this
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: may sound silly, is in that same scene when we
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: see the thug standing outside the apartment, and it's the
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: shot of the hallway with him in it looking over
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: at Leon's door. Like I love that because I feel
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: like you get a sense of somebody who knew how
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: to use the bend of the lens and the placement
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: of the camera in the right way to make it
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: feel disorienting in this very small hallway. It feels like
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: a very large picture of a very small space. And
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: I think that's something where you know, I mean, he
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: worked with Arbagast again, you know, his cinematographer of choice,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I guess, and I think that that's really one of
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: the reasons this film does take off Tristan, like you said,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: with like the film fans, the cult fans and stuff
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: like that, it's like it is beautiful in a lot
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: of moments, but for some the action sequences where a
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: little thin, including the ending. You know, I don't necessarily
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: see it the same way. But Tristan, are there any
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: specific moments where things wear thin, where the edit runs
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: too long, or where they should have I'm presuming you
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: watched the international cut the you know, yeah, that's right, Darren.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Okay, but that's what I watched too. I just didn't
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: realize it. What's the main difference.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: There are a couple of extra moments, mainly in the
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: in the latter part of the movie, but also the
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: title card would have said said Leon at the beginning
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: of the international cut.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: Ay, Yes, that was definitely the cut I saw. So
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: there you go.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: But you know, are there you know, since you saw
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: the international cut, do you think that they made the
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: right callback in ninety four with trimming certain scenes to
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: make the film shorter, or do you think that this
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: is no fat on here?
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: I think when in the middle, when they're they're trying,
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Leon's trying to be convinced, you know, do I train
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: her do I not. There's the love aspect, like whenever
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: you're trying to convince your characters of something that is
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: not their nature, it's going to kind of drag a
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: little because you're like, oh, I want this to be resolved,
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: but also you can't have it happen in two seconds,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: like time has to pass or it doesn't feel you know,
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: it feels hollow. I will say in the end, I
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: didn't quite get the scene where she goes to the
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: police department, Like I understand the motivation of it, but
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: once she gets caught, it kind of feels like that
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: thread just dies. It's like, Okay, I'm gonna go. I'm
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: gonna you know, I'm gonna blow him away. And then
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: she gets caught and like yeah, he comes in and
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: swoops and I get narratively how it possesses, but it's
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: it's a very it's almost like a false start, like okay,
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: here we're going to the ending of just kidding. Now
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: we're not okay now here. We are now here. It's
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: he's coming in shooting everyone. And I'm not saying it's bad,
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: it's just it was a It kind of caught me
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: off guard where I thought we were on the train
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: to the ending, but we had one more stop to
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: hop over till it actually, you know, and then you know,
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: it all crescendos with the siege that everyone So, yeah,
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: I get what you're saying.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: I also think, you know, we keep coming back to
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: the siege at the end, and I'm sure we'll talk
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: about it one more time before we go. But I
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: think that Gary Oldman also and two Luke Bisaan movies
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: in a row has two of the best deaths scenes
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: of the nineteen nineties, and I just think it's like,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: it's almost it almost becomes a gag where it's like,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: man like, now every time I see a Gary Oldman movie,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, is he gonna have a good death
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: scene in this one? Oh, it's a drama, Okay, never mind,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: you know, in terms of the complexity of stuff, though,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: what I really key in what you were saying Tristed
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: where you were like, this isn't an action movie. It's
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: like a it's got the veneer of an action movie
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: put over it. So it's almost like, I think maybe
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: the reason it gets lost through time is people don't
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: know what box to put it in. And I think,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: what speaks to That is one of my favorite scenes
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: in the film, and it's always been one of my
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: favorite scenes in the film. Is the reason he has
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: left the apartment complex the morning of the killing is
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: to go see an old movie in the movie theater.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: And I think that Renault does such a beautiful, beautiful
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: job of We've seen him already be a hit man
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: and like an incredible hit man, but then he has
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: this childlike wonder at an old film. He's so alone
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: that he's sitting there. The only other person in the
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: theater is asleep, and he's got this sense of wonder.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: He's like looking around, is there anybody else I can
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: share this with? And he's completely alone. Like, I think
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: it's such a heartbreaking scene. It's so effective for establishing
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: the character and what's you know, Darren, you know, you
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: were talking about the found family thing that he just
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: wants to belong in some way, and so like, I
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: think that's such a key moment to make you feel
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: sympathetic for somebody who murders people for a living. You know, Oh,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: they're bad people. Yeah, it's it's still murder, you know,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Like it's still he's not helping society. Necessarily like he's
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: not an altruist or anything like that. But coming back
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: to the music, you know, I already cited in how
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: the you know, the Beethoven Murders, you know, the raid
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: on the apartment. We don't hear Beethoven, Tristan, What did
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: you think of Eric Sarah's score, Darren? Did you feel
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: this was the prelude the overture of GoldenEye?
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: You know, maybe a little. I think I definitely felt
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: it more in La femic He I mean even mentioned
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: it last week, but now I think the score was
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: was good. Overall, there's again nothing It built the tension
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: where it needed to, you know, and I think it
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: was never overpowering. Yeah, there's a few parts, like we
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: had just said, where it could have maybe used a
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: little more connection with the characters. But overall, you know,
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: this has really been interesting as we're going through this
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: on because of all of the pairings with the editing
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: and the music, and like we're kind of watching a
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: team go through the nineties rather than just a director,
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: which is rare for us.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Darren. You know, as we're closing out here in terms
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: of the sense of you know, set decoration and production design,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: do you think that this movie benefits from being in
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: New York. Do you think that adds to the character
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: of the film. Do you think that the production design
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: leans into that and so it makes a film maybe
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: more accessible than Nikita was, Or do you think that
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: the production design is simply more money and more experience
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: knows what to do with what they have around them.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting you say that, because you know, I'm
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: reading that the majority of the interior footage was shot
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: in France, which I would have not even had a clue,
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: Like it was so seamless between the exterior and the
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: interior shots that I thought the whole thing was done
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: in New York for sure. So I don't know exactly
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: what percent or what shots, but yeah, it the only
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: thing maybe that kind of pulled me out a little bit,
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: is the whole You have this really specialized hit man
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: that is killing a lot of people, Like a lot
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: of people are dying within a relatively short amount of time.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: And yes, all the cops come at the end, but
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: they come at the end because of the corrupt cop
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: that knew about it, like I you know, when they're
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: you know, just on a rooftop shooting a guy with
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: a paintball gun, you know, for practice. I'm like, I
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: feel like that would have more of an impact in
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: society than you know, like nobody cares, I guess, so
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: that it drew me out a little bit as far
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: as this is in New York, Like, yeah, I can
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: kind of see getting lost in the crowd, but my goodness,
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: like they just disappear.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: I you know, I will say that New York has
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: that vibe about it though, so you know, I mean,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: it's like, whether it's true or not, I would lean
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: toward it's kind of true because I don't know how
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: they solve anything in New York City because that place
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: is just, you know, a honeycomb of places to hide.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: So we've gone through production design, the set decoration, We've
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: gone through music, We've gone through editing, We've gone through
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: cinematography and performance and legacy and all of those sorts
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: of things in a film where Genrena basically introduces himself
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: to American audiences to the level where he shows up
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: in Mission Impossible and then becomes a mainstay in American
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: film afterward. Phenomenal performance, great calling card. Gary Oldman riding
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: the high of the freedom to play as many wacky
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: characters as he wants to and lean into it and
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: having a blast with it. And then Natalie Portman holding
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: her own as a child against these two actors who
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: have been doing it for decades. What an incredible statement
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: to the gift that she has to do what she's
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: done for a living. And I just, you know, if anything,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: that's why when she was announced to play, Oh, She's
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: gonna play Queen Amidala in The Phantom Menace, I was
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: one of those people that was like, oh, wow, really
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: because I knew her from the professional and I was
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: excited because I was like, Wow, she can really act.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to seeing that. It's entirely possible
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: that nostalgia plays into it. But I've loved this film
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: since the first time I watched it. I've loved both cuts.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: I don't care which cut i'm watching. I'll watch theatrical
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: sometimes i'll watch the For a time, we call it
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: the European cut. It's also been the direct cut. It's like,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: whatever you want to call the cut. I've watched both
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: versions and I give both a five. I adore this film.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: I love it. I think it's wonderful. So it's a
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: solid five for me too, Darren. That brings us to you. Man,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: I gave it five. Why did you give it a one?
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: No, geez no do that to me. No, I give
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: this a solid four. I really enjoyed this movie. Will.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: I rewatched the entire thing, and one sitting, I too
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: found myself captivated by it. Like I was like, oh man,
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: it's almost over, but I'll probably pop in and out
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: being like, oh, I really want to watch that end sequencer.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: Oh I want to watch like the training montage, like
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: you know, and just savor those parts. But yeah, I mean,
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: like I said before, this movie makes you feel for
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: these characters, makes you uncomfortable a bit, makes you kind
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: of like, how is this person living in this world
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: of you know, being a hit man? And it feels
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: very small. It feels like a very tiny world, like
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: like almost a city block, like no bigger that he's
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: you know, taking out these people. And I love all
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: sorts of things. I love the moment where Matilda discovers
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: oh it's or you discover that they're cops. You know,
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: they're like, oh, the cops are coming, and they're like
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: oh no, and then they're like hey, Bob, you know
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: how's it going? Like, what do we got here? And
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: you're like, oh, they're all dirty cops. Well that's a
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: wrinkle in you know, the plan, you know, just just
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: all of that put together. So yeah, definitely a four.
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: You know, obvious occult classic. You know, enjoyed watching as
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: a film student, and but enjoyed even more so watching
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: it now as part of this House Lights, because seeing
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: it from Nikita and going into you know, the fifth Element,
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: like I get a better sense of it seeing it
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: in that order versus before it was always just off
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: the shelf.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Well, there we go, you know, that's that is our
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: second chapter, our second room in the House of Bissan
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: and tease us up to go further into the nineties, Darren,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: what are we going to be watching next on?
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: Next week, We're staying with Luke Basson with the Fifth Element.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: It's love here on House Lights. Join the Revolution, Join
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: the net Party.