Chien de la casse

Here's a nice surprise. It's a story of friendship between two childhood friends who make a living from petty crime. One (Anthony Bajon) is mute and speaks little, while the other (Raphaël Quenard) is cultured, talkative and takes up space, harassing his willing childhood friend. Jean-Baptiste Durand manages to make these characters touching, or at least human. He doesn't judge them. Through their behavior, he shows their deeper malaise.

This little harmony of a buddy duo evolves when one of them falls in love with a young woman. They also have to deal with drug suppliers.

These are lonely characters. We follow them in their daily routines, between the villagers, the mother of one of them, their buddies, and the suppliers of the small traffic they do.

It takes place in the sun (Languedoc region), but at night, or the picture is darkened by tonal choices that don't evoke a sunny region. For this is a drama, the progression of which is difficult to guess, while the sequences that follow are easy to guess.

There's also a good use of music, not very present given the choice of naturalism, but which densifies the images.