REVIEW: DVD Release: Black

Film: Black
Release date: 14th February 2011
Certificate: 15
Running time: 115 mins
Director: Pierre Laffargue
Starring: MC Jean Gab'1, Carole Karemera, François Levantal, Anton Yakovlev, Christophe Aquillon
Genre: Action/Crime/Thriller
Studio: Anchor Bay
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: France

The debut film from director Pierre Laffargue and starring District 13: Ultimatum star/rapper MC Jean Gab'1, Black is a heist film with a sprinkle of comedy and mysticism. After screenings at a variety of film festivals throughout Europe and North America, Anchor Bay Home Entertainment now bring the 2008 heist film with a difference to UK DVD.

Black (Gab’1) is down on his luck. A Senegalese bank robber born and raised in France, his latest heist proved a complete failure, with him being the only survivor. Black thinks of going straight until he gets a call from his cousin in Dakar, who tells him that a briefcase full of contraband diamonds has just been placed in the vault at the bank where he works.

Believing this will be an easy heist; Black puts together a new team and quickly heads out to Africa. What he didn’t count on, however, was that they aren’t the only people interested in the diamonds.

If Black and his team are going to get out alive and with the goods, they’ll have to go through a corrupt bank manager, a crazed arms dealer, a gang of mercenaries and an sexy female Interpol agent. So much it for it being an easy job…


From a wide city shot of Paris opening, Black immediately thrusts the viewer into the action with a rather low key robbery. While initially it doesn’t feel all that different to the kind of heists you see pulled on American cop dramas and Blaxploitation films, the European twist on the genre becomes immediately obvious when Black’s cohorts get gunned down left right and centre. Such a high death count so early into the film is the perfect attention-grabber, and nicely sets the scenario for what’s to come.

After such a violent introduction, the plot development becomes key to the film rather than the action sequences that follow. Yet the film manages to stray away from being too plot heavy, as narrative details fly by and remain seemingly secondary to the action. Most importantly, the visuals remain true to the age the film is homaging, with freeze frame character introductions (complete with names appearing superimposed on the screen), multiple-split screens and, more aesthetically, the rich grain and colour the film has makes it look like it’s from another age. But despite paying his respects to the past, Laffargue has clearly rooted his tale in the modern day – making his style choices all that more interesting to watch.

Looks can be deceiving, as Gab’1 plays Black to be as equally charismatic as he is threatening. Black is a man disgusted by the poverty of his roots and the simplicity of the African people, but as the film develops, he realises that perhaps the country he’s turned his back on until now isn’t quite as dumb as he first believed. Gab’1 is an actor with real star potential, and one to watch. The rest of the cast is equally as colourful, from Black’s naïve heist team to crazed Russian Viktor Ouliakov (Yakovlev), who manages to steal almost every scene he appears in.

But just as the last half hour begins to roll, Black starts to become an entirely different beast – beast being the key word. The animal imagery that pops up every now again throughout the film suddenly comes to a head, and elements of African mysticism and animal instincts suddenly dominate the film. The full extent of it comes as a surprise, and it certainly drags the film out of the ordinary. The only problem is that it happens far too late into the film, and is such a U-turn that it almost feels like Black doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. The climax of the film also makes use of very dark footage coupled with deep blues, which from an artistic point of view looks excellent – but unfortunately makes the sequence rather difficult to follow.

The soundtrack is an excellent blend of the sounds of modern Africa and those reminiscent of ‘70s American cop shows and Blaxploitation films such as Shaft. The best part about Black’s soundtrack is that music is only used where it’s needed, which means many of the scenes where the dialogue is the main focus is not drowned out by unnecessary background music. Instead it’s kept in all its glory for the city-scape scene transitions, explosive action sequences, and gloriously retro split-screen moments.


While a quirky heist film full of retro charm, Black’s change in direction comes a little too late in making the film truly standout. Still, despite being a film with a rather formulaic plot, its unique spin on events will keep the audience guessing. AJ