Review of Bob the Gambler

Bob le Flambeur is an interesting little crime film by a director that would prove very influential to New Wave cinema. The title character is a middle aged gambler who has served some prison time in the past for a failed bank robbery but is on friendly terms with the cop who arrested him (who also had his life saved by Bob on the day they met). The film is pretty plot less for the first forty minutes before there is any real talk of a casino heist, but in some ways those first forty minutes were my favorite part of the film. Not that the rest is bad, but I liked the leisurely pace of getting to see Bob roam around Paris and meet various characters he knows as well as taking a young girl under his wing. Bob's young friend Paolo looks up to him and even gets teased by being called Bob by some other characters in one scene. Both men befriend a pretty young blonde called Anne, who reminded me a little of myself when I first escaped to Paris (except in the one scene later on where she does something completely stupid that I would never do). I also did not know anyone and needed to find a place to stay. Isabelle Correy was surprisingly reportedly only fifteen when the film was made and director Jean-Pierre Melville's meeting with her is very similar to how Bob encounters her in the film - finding out that she has no place to stay and offering her help and a place to sleep. Much of the film's atmosphere and style seems more New Wave to me for most of the film but in the last half hour or so, things get far more film noir. The film is very influenced by American gangster movies and Bob spends much of the movie dressed in a trench coat. The fact that not much happens for much of the film and what does happen does not seem very consequential may put some people off but I very much had my attention taken by the whole film and enjoyed it's style and character interactions. In it's own way, I found it very interesting and it is a film I could see myself far more likely to return to than the likes of the fourth Indiana Jones movie or Predators. Filmed in clear, crisp black and white. I liked the relationship between Bob and Paolo and the film has a certain world weariness and cynicism without being depressing (I would say that a few bittersweet things aside - it is very idyllic and romantic in it's way, despite the feeling that none of the characters will ever really go anywhere). A very nice little film for lovers of French cinema and noir influences. If you liked this, I might recommend Stanley Kubrick's The Killers (which has much more action) or the similar character piece of Paul Thomas Anderson's Sydney (aka Hard Eight) and of course more great works from Jean-Pierre Melville. Just do not go into the film expecting lots of action or for the heist to be a big part of the film. If you're in the mood, then this can be a good little film when it unfolds at it's own pace.