CINÉMA DE LA PLAGE – The Usual Suspects, Bryan Singer’s most outrageous film

Famous for his dedication to the X-Men series, in 1995 Bryan Singer masterfully directed the thriller, The Usual Suspects, bathed in lies, which has since become a cult film. Here are some good reasons to not miss out on the restored version of it.

Film still © RR

– For its enticing pitch: Five crooks are suspected of having hijacked a lorry full of weapons, and are arrested after someone made an anonymous report to the police. Six weeks later, they agree to work for Keyser Söze, a mysterious criminal whose name alone is enough to make his rivals shudder with horror. A loot worth 91 million dollars is at stake…

– For its five-star casting: It only took a month to shoot The Usual Suspects, after a few problems with funding. It brought together Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollak and Kevin Spacey, whose character said the cult phrase: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist“.

– For its atypical narration: The film relies on a lot of flashbacks, and is rolled out in a non-linear way while one of the five gangsters is being questioned: a “lame” manipulator named Verbal Kint, who is also one of the only survivors of the attack on the cargoship on which they were working for Keyser Söze.

– For Keyser Söze: Twenty years after the film was released, the character of Keyser Söze remains one of the most mythical of cinematographic art. He was inspired by the true story of an accountant from New Jersey who killed his entire family in 1971. In 2003, he was ranked 48th in the list of the best cinema baddies, compiled by the very serious American Film Institute.

Benoit Pavan

SCREENING

Saturday 23rd May / Macé Beach / 9.30pm
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