A stylish and thoughtfully-executed thriller about a group of young adults who execute a terror attack in Paris. Nocturama is a difficult film to review because its intent is somewhat elusive. The filmmaker's approach is uncompromising in his choice to tell this story and explore its themes largely through visuals alone. He challenges the viewer by refraining from explicitly spelling out the details for you: the exact motivation for the attack, the details of the political climate that provoked it, the overarching themes and intent of the film etc. It simply shows you the events, even endears you to its terrorist characters, and then forces you to sit in discomfort as the credits roll without a clear idea of who you were supposed to be siding with and why. Rather than using these characters and this fictional setup to offer a more straight-forward thriller with a narratively satisfying story, the film instead seems to be using this scenario more to explore larger, more universal themes: the relationship between citizens and government, consumerist culture, the disillusionment of the youth, and the psychology of rebellion. I appreciated this approach, even if it personally left me feeling a bit unsatisfied or puzzled (which is something that may be remedied with future viewings). Regardless, the film was frequently a joy to watch. It has a clean, icy feel somewhat reminiscent of a David Fincher film and employed a lot of clever editing that played with the passage of time in interesting ways. Overall I feel it could've been a little tighter and perhaps more impactful with its themes, though it's certainly worth a watch for the strong, intelligent execution and visual prowess alone.3.5/5

'NOCTURAMA': Four Stars (Out of Five)A French-language dramatic thriller about a group of young multiracial radicals that commit a terrorist attack in Paris. It was written and directed by Bertrand Bonello, and it's one of the best reviewed movies of 2017. The film stars Finnegan Oldfield, Vincent Rottiers, Hamza Meziani, Manal Issa, Martin Guyot, Jamil McCraven and Rabah Nait Oufella. I found it to be long, and disturbing, but definitely interesting and well made too.The story is set in Paris, when a group of young multiracial adults decide they're fed up with the current government and need to do something about it. So they stage multiple bombings; on a government building, an office tower, and a statue of Joan of Arc. The group then hides out in a shopping mall, while they wait for tensions to die down outside. As they wait, the stress among them builds to extreme levels.The movie does a great job of making the young terrorists seem sympathetic, and relatable. Of course most of us would never do what they do in the film, but still the filmmakers paint a very understanding picture of their reasons and motives. You have to respect a film that can make the viewer respect those that are usually seen as the most deplorable among us, and that's what this movie does. It's a bit long, and definitely dark, but it's still more than worth a viewing.

We actually liked this.But the ending let the movie down big time. Why would the police shoot unarmed people during a terrorist incident? The police didn't know who these people were! They were likely employees, hostages, innocent bystanders. Why would they be murdered by police? Even if they were terrorists what advantage would there be in shooting an unarmed terrorist who was surrendering? This was the biggest flaw in the movie. It was a real turd in the punchbowl. But also... why did they decide to hide out in the shopping mall anyway? There didn't seem to be any good reason for doing that. Also how did the police figure out where they were? Did the director believe the film was improved by leaving out important parts of the narrative? Despite these and other glaring terrible appalling problems it was still above par. The cinematography was great.

This film truly lives up to its description as a thriller. For much of the first part, and almost all of the second, I was biting my nails and sitting on the edge of my seat. Additionally, the scenery is very beautiful as it takes place in Paris and then an extravagant department store. My thoughts are these: Firstly: BE WARNED if you don't speak French. I do, so I could understand without the subtitles. However, my friend who was sitting next to me often had to ask for translation because she didn't understand what was happening, due to the fact that the subtitles are often inaccurate. As in, whole chunks of dialogue just left out. Secondly: A few of the other reviews mention how the terrorist's motives are unclear (as in, we have no idea why they did what they did). However, I didn't see this as a flaw: It allows you think about possible motives and identify with the characters more easily. Thirdly: For anyone who cares: I would rate this movie R (it's not rated last time I checked) for: Cursing (In French and English) Some nudity (two butts) Violence - not for the sake of being violent though. Overall though, I really enjoyed this movie. I am still thinking about it for days afterword.. a good adjective is PROVOCATIVE. Don't be scared away by the long run time - it wasn't boring at all. Bonus points if you speak French, that would definitely help your understanding.