Blood Ties (2013 film)

Blood Ties
Directed by Guillaume Canet
Produced by Alain Attal
Hugo Sélignac
John Lesher
Christopher Woodrow
Screenplay by Guillaume Canet
James Gray
Story by Jacques Maillot
Based on Les liens du sang
by Jacques Maillot
Starring Clive Owen
Billy Crudup
Marion Cotillard
Mila Kunis
Zoe Saldana
Matthias Schoenaerts
James Caan
Music by Raphaël Hamburger
Cinematography Christophe Offenstein
Edited by Hervé de Luze
Production
company
Les Productions du Trésor
Worldview Entertainment
Caneo Films
Distributed by StudioCanal
(France)
Lionsgate/
Roadside Attractions
(United States)
VVS Films
(Canada)
Release dates
  • May 20, 2013 (2013-05-20) (Cannes Film Festival)
  • March 21, 2014 (2014-03-21) (United States, limited)
Running time
 144 minutes[1]
127 minutes[2]
Country France
United States
Language English
Italian
Spanish
Budget $26,000,000[3]
Box office $2,415,472[4][5]

Blood Ties is a 2013 Franco–American crime thriller film directed by Guillaume Canet. It is a remake of 2008 French thriller Les liens du sang by Jacques Maillot, an adaptation of the French novel Deux frères: flic & truand by Bruno and Michel Papet. The screenplay was written by Canet and James Gray and stars Clive Owen, Billy Crudup, Marion Cotillard, Mila Kunis and Matthias Schoenaerts. The film was selected to be screened out of competition at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.[6] It received a limited release on March 21, 2014 in the United States.

Plot

After serving twelve years for murder (for killing a rapist and murderer he caught in the act), Chris (Clive Owen) is released from prison in 1974. His ex-wife, Monica (Marion Cotillard), is a drug-addicted prostitute. She has a son and a daughter. Chris tries to go straight with his new girlfriend Natalie (Mila Kunis) but is betrayed and sabotaged in his pursuit of a legitimate business venture. Returning to his criminal ways puts him in direct conflict with his brother Frank (Billy Crudup) who happens to be a New York City cop. Their sister, Marie (Lili Taylor), and their sick father, Leon (James Caan), want Chris and Frank to just get along with each other.

When arresting Anthony Scarfo (Matthias Schoenaerts) at his house Frank happens to meet his ex-girlfriend Vanessa (Zoe Saldana) again. Though Vanessa is now married to Anthony and has a daughter by him, Frank and Vanessa get back together again anyway, and she decides to divorce Anthony. But in the meantime Frank becomes conflicted over allowing his brother Chris to flee the scene of a felony murder. After Anthony is released from police custody his first act is to seek revenge against Frank for destroying his home life. Chris uncovers the plot and must decide between saving his own skin and stopping Anthony in his tracks.

Cast

Production

Filming started on May 3, 2012 in New York.[7] The first pictures of the set surfaced on May 12, 2012.[8][9] Lionsgate UK acquired the UK rights.[10]

Casting

On March 15, 2012, it was announced that Clive Owen and Billy Crudup would star in Blood Ties playing two brothers with Mila Kunis and Zoe Saldana as love interests and Marion Cotillard as ex-lover.[11] Austin Williams will play a younger version of Owen's character.[12]

Release

Noah Emmerich, James Caan and Guillaume Canet promoting the film at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Blood Ties screened out of competition at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.[13] It was released in the United States on March 21, 2014.[14] The DVD version of the film is 127 minutes long, which is 17 minutes shorter than the Cannes version.[15]

Reception

Blood Ties received mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 54% based on reviews from 52 critics, with an average score of 5.6/10.[16] Metacritic gave the film a rating of 45/100 (indicating "mixed or average"), based on reviews from 16 critics.[17]

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the film, saying: "The impressive cast makes this French-financed New York 1974-set production watchable but it's too inert to catch on with critics or audiences."[18] Xan Brooks of The Guardian gave the film 3 out of 5 stars.[19] Matt Barone of Complex gave the film 3 out of 10 stars.[20] Fionnuala Halligan of Screen International called it "Heat meets Mesrine via Cain and Abel".[1] Ryland Aldrich of Twitch Film praised the production. "From the wonderfully decorated exteriors loaded with the cars of the era to the record players spinning classic hits, 1970s New York absolutely comes alive", he said.[21]

At the box office, Blood Ties was a huge flop worldwide. In France, it had only 238,823 entries, although it was screened in more than 400 screens in the country.[22] In the US, it was released by Roadside Attractions and made $42,472 over two weekends.[23] According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film made $2,415,472 around the world, after a $26 million budget.

References

  1. 1 2 Halligan, Fionnuala (May 20, 2013). "Blood Ties - Reviews - Screen". Screen International.
  2. ↑ Das, Abhimanyu (March 20, 2014). "Blood Ties". Slant Magazine.
  3. ↑ Keslassy, Elsa (January 9, 2014). "French Specialty Players: Lost in Translation?". Variety.
  4. ↑ "Blood Ties (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Blood Ties". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  6. ↑ "2013 Official Selection". Cannes. April 21, 2013. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  7. ↑ "First NYC filming location for 'Blood Ties', starring Mila Kunis and Zoe Saldana". On Location Vacations. May 3, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  8. ↑ Merriam, Allie (May 12, 2012). "Mila Kunis and Clive Owen Kiss For the Cameras". PopSugar. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Clive Owen and Mila Kunis in BLOOD TIES Set Photos". Film Filia. May 16, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  10. ↑ Tartaglione, Nancy (May 17, 2012). "Lionsgate U.K. Snaps Up Guillaume Canet's Starry 'Blood Ties': Cannes". Deadline.com. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  11. ↑ Kit, Borys (March 15, 2012). "Clive Owen, Billy Crudup to Star in Crime Thriller 'Blood Ties' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  12. ↑ Kilday, Gregg (May 8, 2012). "Austin Williams Cast in Guillaume Canet's Crime Thriller 'Blood Ties'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  13. ↑ Foundas, Scott (May 20, 2013). "Cannes Film Review: 'Blood Ties'". Variety.
  14. ↑ Gilroy, Amanda (March 21, 2014). "'Blood Ties' Tries to Recreate the Mean Streets of '70s Brooklyn". PopMatters.
  15. ↑ Howell, Peter (June 19, 2014). "DVD reviews: Enemy and Blood Ties". Toronto Star.
  16. ↑ "Blood Ties". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Blood Ties Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  18. ↑ McCarthy, Todd (May 19, 2013). "Blood Ties: Cannes Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
  19. ↑ Brooks, Xan (May 19, 2013). "Cannes 2013: Blood Ties - first look review". The Guardian.
  20. ↑ Barone, Matt (September 6, 2013). "TIFF Review: Only Mila Kunis' Bad Brooklyn Accent Saves "Blood Ties" From Complete Dismissal". Complex.
  21. ↑ Aldrich, Ryland (March 20, 2014). "Review: BLOOD TIES Knots Up 1970s New York". Twitch Film.
  22. ↑ http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=13578
  23. ↑ http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=13578

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.