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Petits Freres
First Run Features // Unrated // December 18, 2001
List Price: $29.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Jacques Doillon's film Petits Frères takes viewers into the heart of France's lower-class neighborhoods, where boredom and poverty spur gangs of aimless, unsupervised kids to petty crime for entertainment as well as for profit. The older kids (the "big fellas") are the ones who are into the heavier crimes such as dogfighting and drug dealing, but the pre-teen kids are no little angels; they have their own little (and not-so-little) schemes, plots, and deals. Into this scene bursts Talia, a young runaway trying to get away from her abusive stepfather. But while Talia herself creates somewhat of a stir, it's her pit bull Kim who immediately becomes the object of greed and envy from the "little fellows" that Talia encounters. In the ensuing events, Talia finds herself both drawn to and antagonized by the gang of boys who she's hanging out with.
The acting in Petits Frères has a very amateurish feel to it, and for what appears to be good reason. Nearly all the actors, and certainly all of the young actors, are listed in the credits as playing themselves in the film, as if director Doillon had packed up his camera crew and headed onto location to film whatever he found there, aiming for maximal realism. The effect is indeed to give an uncompromising look into a different place, a different culture that at the same time has a strong similarity to inner-city culture in the United States. It's a look for both good and for bad: while not particularly optimistic about the futures of these young kids, the film also clearly depicts their energy and enthusiasm about life. In different circumstances, could their same ingenuity and loyalty to one another turn to a better end? Most likely; though it's not evident from the film what Doillon's thoughts are on the subject.
Considered as a film, and not as raw documentary footage, Petits Frères is fairly unfocused. The slice-of-life presentation, while doing a good job of illustrating the culture and circumstances of the characters, does have the downfall that it fails to offer a strong narrative thread. The storyline following Talia's dog Kim is really the only element in the film to connect scenes that otherwise would be a loose montage of life in a French suburb. There simply isn't much of a feeling that the film is developing or progressing; at the end, while there's a minimal sense of closure in the final scene, I still had the sense that the film had not really gone very far with its material.
Video
The low-tech appearance of the image is probably deliberate, to enhance the illusion that someone stepped onto the location and began filming real-life events with a home video camera. In this way it's similar in effect to The Blair Witch Project, though the cinematography in Petits Frères is much more smoothly handled.
The image is presented in 1.66:1 non-anamorphic widescreen. The main fault that I noticed (apart from the lack of anamorphic enhancement) was a general blurriness to the picture. There's also some distortion visible behind the burned-in English subtitles.
Audio
Petit Frères' soundtrack is an undistinguished Dolby 2.0 French track. It carries the dialogue adequately, but doesn't shine.
Extras
The main area where I find fault with this DVD is in First Run Features' handling of the subtitles issue. The English subtitles are burned-in, which I think is inexcusable in the DVD format; French speakers should be able to enjoy the film without the distraction of the English titles on the screen. Apart from this, I would really have appreciated the option of French subtitles as well, but we're stuck with permanent English ones.
The DVD case claims that the film offers scene access, but this isn't the case: the DVD has no chapter stops at all, and in fact doesn't even display the running time on the DVD player. We're definitely looking at a disc that was made with minimal attention to production issues.
As far as extras are concerned, the DVD does offer a few snippets of interest. There's a brief text introduction to the film from the director, and a video interview with a film critic discussing the film. The latter piece isn't particularly interesting, as it spends a fair amount of time recapping the storyline of the movie.
Final thoughts
Petits Frères was interesting to watch, but more as a short, light documentary than as a film. It's superficially similar to Amores Perros in plot, setting, and cinematography, but in the end lacks the substance of that film, and won't merit repeat viewing. Petits Frères probably worth picking up as a rental if you are in the mood for a French film or if you've enjoyed other films by Jacques Doillon.
The acting in Petits Frères has a very amateurish feel to it, and for what appears to be good reason. Nearly all the actors, and certainly all of the young actors, are listed in the credits as playing themselves in the film, as if director Doillon had packed up his camera crew and headed onto location to film whatever he found there, aiming for maximal realism. The effect is indeed to give an uncompromising look into a different place, a different culture that at the same time has a strong similarity to inner-city culture in the United States. It's a look for both good and for bad: while not particularly optimistic about the futures of these young kids, the film also clearly depicts their energy and enthusiasm about life. In different circumstances, could their same ingenuity and loyalty to one another turn to a better end? Most likely; though it's not evident from the film what Doillon's thoughts are on the subject.
Considered as a film, and not as raw documentary footage, Petits Frères is fairly unfocused. The slice-of-life presentation, while doing a good job of illustrating the culture and circumstances of the characters, does have the downfall that it fails to offer a strong narrative thread. The storyline following Talia's dog Kim is really the only element in the film to connect scenes that otherwise would be a loose montage of life in a French suburb. There simply isn't much of a feeling that the film is developing or progressing; at the end, while there's a minimal sense of closure in the final scene, I still had the sense that the film had not really gone very far with its material.
Video
The low-tech appearance of the image is probably deliberate, to enhance the illusion that someone stepped onto the location and began filming real-life events with a home video camera. In this way it's similar in effect to The Blair Witch Project, though the cinematography in Petits Frères is much more smoothly handled.
The image is presented in 1.66:1 non-anamorphic widescreen. The main fault that I noticed (apart from the lack of anamorphic enhancement) was a general blurriness to the picture. There's also some distortion visible behind the burned-in English subtitles.
Audio
Petit Frères' soundtrack is an undistinguished Dolby 2.0 French track. It carries the dialogue adequately, but doesn't shine.
Extras
The main area where I find fault with this DVD is in First Run Features' handling of the subtitles issue. The English subtitles are burned-in, which I think is inexcusable in the DVD format; French speakers should be able to enjoy the film without the distraction of the English titles on the screen. Apart from this, I would really have appreciated the option of French subtitles as well, but we're stuck with permanent English ones.
The DVD case claims that the film offers scene access, but this isn't the case: the DVD has no chapter stops at all, and in fact doesn't even display the running time on the DVD player. We're definitely looking at a disc that was made with minimal attention to production issues.
As far as extras are concerned, the DVD does offer a few snippets of interest. There's a brief text introduction to the film from the director, and a video interview with a film critic discussing the film. The latter piece isn't particularly interesting, as it spends a fair amount of time recapping the storyline of the movie.
Final thoughts
Petits Frères was interesting to watch, but more as a short, light documentary than as a film. It's superficially similar to Amores Perros in plot, setting, and cinematography, but in the end lacks the substance of that film, and won't merit repeat viewing. Petits Frères probably worth picking up as a rental if you are in the mood for a French film or if you've enjoyed other films by Jacques Doillon.
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