A journalist covering police assigned to a juvenile division enters an affair with one of her subjects.
Individual confrontations and performances (not least Louis-Do de Lenquessaing’s unrepentant molester) impress, and there are interesting ideas here about the gulf between the world-weary adults and the prematurely-sexualised and often foul-mouthed adolescents, but overall Polisse is a clear case of a film that needed much more stringent editing.
It’s messy, immersive and vital.
Unsparing in its portrayal of the seedier side of French society, only Polisse's loose focus keeps it from matching The Class for emotional punch. It's still a worthy companion piece to TV police procedurals like Spiral.
Not for the faint-hearted, but it feels like the truth.
This is a winning mix of shocking drama and engaging intimacy from which it's hard to look away.
A drama with interesting moments, but also some false notes and a wildly bizarre ending.
There's something off-putting in its alternation of sentimentality and self-righteousness.
It's frank about the harrowing crimes they contend with, and the unbearable pressure such crimes place upon them, but that makes its willingness to be funny all the more laudable.
Shot with documentary-like realism it is tough, unsparing and illuminating, although too many characters jostle for attention.
The performances are uniformly excellent, but the charismatic rapper Joeystarr is particularly impressive.
All of human life is here and while a lot of it is ugly, the film does a good job of dramatising the fact that there are also forces of good working tirelessly to give the most vulnerable a fighting chance.
Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow from Friday June 22, 2012, until Thursday June 28, 2012. More info: http://www.glasgowfilm.org/theatre/
Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee from Friday June 22, 2012, until Thursday June 28, 2012. More info: www.dca.org.uk
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday July 6, 2012, until Thursday July 12, 2012. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com
RSS feed of Cinema reviews