Jean-Pierre Mocky is an acquired taste .I must confess I'm not part of his fan base but when he comes up with aces ,works such as "l'Albatros" "Le Temoin" "Agent Trouble" or "Noir Comme Le Souvenir" I've got to made amends.Mocky has made so many movies -after starring in Franju's harrowing masterpiece " La Tete Contre Les Murs" - there's inevitably a lot of half-baked flicks nay rubbish.Who knows that his critically-acclaimed "Le Miraculé " is actually a ripoff of George Langelaan's short story "the miracle" without giving the writer any credits-Langelaan wrote the famous "the fly" -?Who knows that Fredric Brown is completely butchered in his celebrated "L'Ibis Rouge" ?
Mocky is very smart ,smarter than you'll ever think he is."Solo" must be considered one of his very best.One of the first movies dealing with the events of May 68 -which were reportedly predicted by Godard's stodgy "La Chinoise" - ,Mocky shows much less naive and less "revolutionary" than his peers.
The title may have two meanings: the hero is a musician who leaves his orchestra (thus going "solo" ) and gets involved in acts of terrorism against his will;and although one of the terrorists is his brother ,they brush against one another more than they really meet.
Some students want to get rid of the bourgeois values ;first step is slaughtering all these mean bourgeois orgy lovers .A couple of dumb detectives (about as dumb as the Thompson bros (Dupondt)) are hot on their heels.While the youngsters are ranting about that hypocrite society ,the horrible life that lays in store for all of us ,Vincent wants to make the best of his life ,while keeping his distance from the well-meaning society he hates as much as his brother does.Vincent and brother Virgile are Antoine and Jacques Thibault in the late sixties . And Anne Deleuze would be Jacques's Jenny -most amazing thing ,Deleuze actually played the part of Jenny in 1972!
Although full of good lines ,of black humor ,"Solo" is a rather desperate work which leaves no hope to the viewer.As the three passengers leave the train ,dead or (still) alive,the locomotive pulls it carrying a lot of people whose most fervent wish might be that things remain what they are and that they cease to bother them with their revolutions.
