Search - Fresh Bait on DVD

Thriller that holds your attention

elvistcob@lvcm.com | Las Vegas, NV | 04/22/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Like the movie "Swimming Pool", I'm not sure I would have watched it three times in a row if it didn't star a stunning young actress in the lead. But watch it three times in a row I did. I have no idea what the "true story" behind the movie is, or how much is dramatization, as most of this kind of movie is.

But the movie strikes a simlar chord to "The Onion Field" and "In Cold Blood". With all three of these films you get a pair of criminals who are such hopeless losers and so hopelessly stupid that relatively small crimes turn into senseless murders. That all three of these films are based on
true events, it does ad a bit of scariness to the real world.

What this film ads to those two is the complete lack of remorse shown by the killers in this movie. While certainly not better people, the killers in "The Onion Field" and "In Cold Blood" were at least aware of the magnitude of taking another life. Except for one of the gang putting on headphones to drown out the sounds of torture, there is absolutely no indication that the killers here care one way or anthoer that another person has died. In this respect, it is more closely aligned to "The Bully" or "River's Edge".

The performances are as good as they need to be. The two slackers who think they will find 10 million francs stored in an apartment are portrayed as ambitious only in the sense that if they can get the 10 million, they can open up a business in America. Yet after their first job, which nets all of 2400, the seem to spend 2300 of it on a night on the town. Not quite "Bill and Ted's Excellent...", but not that far, either.

Which brings us finally to our "triple screening" reason, which is the actress in the lead. Played by someone I had never heard of, Marie Gillain is as breathtaking to look at as any actress I've ever seen on film. There is a nice amount of nudity, but it's portrayed refreshingly as youthful exuberance more than the leering "American Pie" type of nudity that would have been filmed if shot in this country. Which is one thing the French do have over us.

"

TERRIFIC TRUE FRENCH CRIME THRILLER -- SEXY AND VIOLENT

Robin Simmons | Palm Springs area, CA United States | 07/29/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"


The sensational true crime story that Bertrand Tavernier's FRESH BAIT (Koch Lorber) is based on shocked even the French.

Young, sexy, entrepreneurs Nathalie, Eric and Bruno need big money and they need it fast. They want to open a retail clothing chain in America and they figure it'll cost about $10 million.

What to do?

How about using hot-looking Nathalie as sex bait to lure unsuspecting men into an apartment, torture, rob and murder them? Sounds like a plan.

But when two men enter an apartment to never be seen alive again, their get rich quick plans suddenly go awfully awry.

Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, this masterfully directed, horrific true crime caper is what sex and violence in movies is all about. And I mean that as praise as it effectively reveals the pure evil that shimmers under the superficial illusions of innocence.





"

Youth, France, amorality, and selfishness--circa 1995

LGwriter | Astoria, N.Y. United States | 05/31/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Killing's easy...anyone can do it. So says one of the three French youths in Fresh Bait. Have they murdered someone? Or are they thinking about it? That won't be revealed here. The real essence of this film is how easy it really is, if you're young and thinking only about yourself, to do whatever you think should be done to get what you want. Robbery is the number one crime here. Is it the only one? Ah, that would be telling...

The focal point of the film, then, is selfishness, something we in America are all too familiar with. The rich who are selfish want more than they already have, which is substantial, relative to the rest of the population. The poor who are selfish want more than they already have, which is very little. Each does what has to be done, regardless of the consequences, to get what is felt is rightfully theirs. Human nature? Or crime? Or both?

The three youths here want to open a clothing store in the States where the laws are apparently not as strict as they are in France, specifically taxes and related. To do that, they need bushels of cash, way too much to earn legitimately. The girl of the three is attractive and can seduce older men easily. Hence a plan is hatched.

And hence goes this noirish tale as it moves through its paces. We hear their music, listen to their selfish babble, wonder at their seemingly innocent delight in each other's little desires while at the same time find it hard to believe they could do what they did (based on a true crime spree by a trio of French youths).

An excellent change of pace for Tavernier and well worth watching."