{"id":29080,"date":"2024-07-26T01:44:31","date_gmt":"2024-07-26T08:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=29080"},"modified":"2024-07-26T01:44:31","modified_gmt":"2024-07-26T08:44:31","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-tchao-pantin-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=29080","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: TCHAO PANTIN (1983)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Radiance Films will\nbe available for purchase on July 30th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Radiance Films have really been making a name for\nthemselves, releasing gems from around the world that aren\u2019t as well known in\nNorth America as they should be. Their latest is the French picture Tchao\nPantin<\/em> aka So Long, Stooge<\/em>. Based on a well-regarded novel from its\nhome country, the movie was a huge box office success and critical darling,\nultimately winning five Cesar Awards (the French equivalent of the Oscars).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the film\u2019s success in France and parts of Europe, it\ndidn\u2019t get much attention in North America and was left off the Academy Awards\nhonor roll (both the original and English-translation of the title probably\ndidn\u2019t help matters for English-speaking audiences). Thankfully, the\ndistributor is now making the film available on Blu-ray in a very nice transfer\nthat emphasizes the gorgeous, award-winning cinematography. It\u2019s an excellent\ndisc that also includes a lengthy TV-documentary on the film and what it all\nmeant to French citizens at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story is set mostly over evening hours in a run-down\npart of Paris. Lambert (Coluche) is a 40-ish, sullen, alcoholic gas station\nattendant working nights. During one evening shift, a young local named\nBensoussan (Richard Anconina) stops when his moped breaks down. Over the course\nof several evenings, the pair become unlikely friends and the kid opens up\nabout his troubles. Bensoussan explains that he is a half-Arab, half-Jew\nimmigrant living on his own after the death of his adoptive parents. He\u2019s now being\nforced to sell and courier drugs to survive, all for a man named Sylvio (Albert\nDray). Lambert offers Bensoussan advice on how to impress a young woman named\nLola (Agn\u00e8s Soral) and warns him about his business dealings. Unfortunately,\nthings come to a tragic end when Bensoussan is targeted by his employer and\nLambert decides to seek revenge for a violent attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This picture is extremely well-acted. Coluche powerfully\nexudes quiet sadness as Lambert, and the other cast members hold their own\nonscreen with him.  Everything is subtle and authentic as the characters\nget to know each other casually at the gas station and nearby bar.Truth be\ntold, just about all of them, including Lola, have no business hanging out with\neach other, but are drawn together and end up relating due to the unfortunate\ncircumstances in their lives. There\u2019s definitely a nice arc for Lambert, who\nhas some anti-immigrant attitudes at the start that slowly fade as he takes on\nmore of a mentor role. His tragic past explains a great deal of why he ends up\nbecoming a surrogate father and feels the need to seek some form of personal\nredemption for what occurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s also gorgeously shot. This area of Paris is filled with\nrundown apartments and drug-dealers, but the rain-soaked streets are bathed in\nneon and the picture is visually striking. It\u2019s a beautiful look for the movie\nand one that hadn\u2019t been attempted in the early 1980s. The photography manages\nto capture the grittiness of the crime-ridden environment yet still look\npicturesque. There\u2019s just a hint of proper film grain in this stunning 4K\npicture restoration (approved by the director of photography). The gas station\nand apartment look so detailed and impressive that they almost become\ncharacters of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The action in the film is also short and anything but\npretty, particularly when Lambert seeks revenge. Of course, since this isn\u2019t an\nAmerican movie of the 80s, when the character finds himself mowing down crooks,\nhe is only getting himself deeper and deeper into trouble. This is a very\nstrong picture that, in some respects, may have been a little ahead of its time\ncompared to early 80s crime cinema in other parts of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The extras are also very informative. The 2003, nearly\nhour-long TV documentary on the feature goes into detail about how everything\ncame together. One of the many fascinating chapters in this story involves\nColuche himself. He was a famous stage comedian who satirized many politicians\nof the day and was so popular that in 1980, he became a candidate in the French\npresidential election. Sources in the documentary say that although it was all\nintended as a joke, he began polling extremely well. Coluche was soon forced\nout of the race by other candidates and the stress of the situation caused an\nend to his marriage as well as his show. Lonely and taking drugs to help with\npersonal losses, many suggest that the real-life events may have been partly\nresponsible for his incredible performance. The actor was suffering in many\nsimilar ways at the time to the character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coluche ultimately won a Best Actor Cesare for his\nperformance and was using it as a stepping stone to rebuild his career, but\ndied tragically just two years later in a motorcycle crash. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The rest of the cast and crew all have interesting stories\nabout working on the picture and its continued popularity. It\u2019s fun to hear\nco-star Richard Anconina tell a story about admitting to the director that he\nwas roughly ten years younger than the Bensoussan character he was auditioning\nfor (the actor does pull it off and won Best Supporting Actor for his work in\nthe picture). The cinematographer also goes into the different visual styles he\nand director tried out before settling on the final look of the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A French film expert also appears in a featurette that\nexplains some of the movie\u2019s elements that appealed to the public at the time.\nIt was new to see a rundown, crime-ridden part of Paris used as the primary\nlocation in a film, and the personal details of the characters were also\nrelatable. It seems that young people and old felt represented in this story\nand took a shine to the unique individuals being depicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the disc includes a trailer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a very spiffy-looking disc that does an exceptional\njob of presenting the award-winning picture to audiences around the world. One\ncan easily understand why Tchao Pantin<\/em> received accolades when it was\noriginally released and the bonuses, including the tale of its creation, are\nfascinating too. Anyone who appreciates international cinemas would be wise to\ngive this Blu-ray a look.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Radiance Films will be available for purchase on July 30th. Radiance Films have really been making a name for themselves, releasing gems from around the world that aren\u2019t as well known in North America as they should be. Their latest is the French picture Tchao Pantin aka So Long, Stooge. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":29089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29080\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}