Can you help me criticise my movie review on La Haine?

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Hi, I'm Mats and I want to become a movie critic. I have written my first movie review ever on the movie "La Haine". I would be incredibly grateful if you could criticise my review. Thank you.

La Haine movie review:

La Haine, a film about police brutality directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, starring Vincent Cassel, Saïd Taghmaoui, and Hubert Koundé. This crime drama from 1995 takes place in the banlieue (poor suburbs of Paris) after riots causing high tension between police forces and people living in poverty.

La Haine opens with footage of riots in Paris after Abdel Ichaca has been physically abused in police custody and is taken to intensive care. The movie spans over 20 hours of the lives of Vinz, Saïd and Hubert aimlessly living in the poverty stricken neighborhood in Paris. Vinz’s rage is growing, threatening to kill a cop with the gun a policeman lost during the riots while Hubert is the one who wants to escape this environment. The title derives from the line that Hubert gave, “La haine attire la haine!” which translates to “Hatred breeds hatred!”.

La Haine is the perfect commentary on a class society but most importantly, police brutality. Which is still relevant 25 years after its release with the “Black Lives Matter” movement. A recurring theme is Hubert’s non-joke: Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good, so far so good. This metaphor for French society spirals down until ‘the man hits the ground’ which causes the situation to catastrophically get out of hand. This non-joke creates an incredible tension while watching the film since the audience is waiting for ‘the man to hit the ground’. This is further emphasized by the black screens with the time displayed together with the ticking sound that created this suspense.

The cinematography of La Haine is extraordinary. The film is shot in black and white which not only gives it an authentic style. The black and white symbolizes how people outside the banlieue have a preconceived idea of the youth of these neighborhoods. Furthermore, the black and white convey this sense of their dreary lifes with no escape causing me to feel claustrophobic throughout the entire film. This is especially clear when the protagonists are wandering through Paris. The gloomy shots of the streets of Paris contrast the beautifully, romantic lit streets normally portrayed in movies.
Moreover, does Kassovitz use incredible shots throughout the movie such as the scene where Vinz talks to himself in the mirror, the shot where Vinz shows the gun of the policeman that he found or the dolly zoom when Vinz, Saïd and Hubert are standing in Paris.

La Haine is a suspenseful commentary on police brutality with stunning cinematography. The feeling of being trapped in this environment full of poverty with no way out, waiting for the situation to explode made this an exceptional watch which I would recommend to everyone who is getting into cinema. I cannot give anything other than 5 stars to Kassovitz’s La Haine.



It’s always best here to search to see if there are existing threads, which there are for this movie.

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...ighlight=Haine
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It's a decent start, but covering all the information so quickly feels a little robotic, as if you're not putting your personality into it.



I read your review for La Haine. I've not seen the movie.

Your review made the film sound intriguing to me, like something I wanted to watch. I think you did an excellent review. Maybe there's a couple of grammar/syntax choices that could be different but overall nicely written.



I read your review for La Haine. I've not seen the movie.

Your review made the film sound intriguing to me, like something I wanted to watch. I think you did an excellent review. Maybe there's a couple of grammar/syntax choices that could be different but overall nicely written.
Thank you very much for your feedback! I really appreciate it.



It's a decent start, but covering all the information so quickly feels a little robotic, as if you're not putting your personality into it.
Thank you for your feedback! I will certainly try to change that in my next reviews!



I think that this is a good review. You explain what the film/filmmaker does, and how you feel that those choices are effective. I also think that you do a good job, via what you focus on, of letting us know how the movie made you feel.

It would be interesting to read a review of a film where you enjoyed certain elements and disliked certain elements.



Agreed, it's a solid review.

If you're specifically looking for nitpicks, I guess I'd say it's a little boilerplate, in the "state your premise, support it, then repeat it" sense. You mention liking a couple of things, then sort of recap that you liked them at the end. The mention of cinematography is a little more jarring because the recap of same comes in the very next paragraph.

Also, are you perhaps ESL? I ask for two reasons: first, because that's an added degree of difficulty that would make this better relative to that, and second, because it may help us determine what kind of feedback you're looking for. If you're primarily concerned about how it might sound to native English speakers, my response would be totally different.



Agreed, it's a solid review.

If you're specifically looking for nitpicks, I guess I'd say it's a little boilerplate, in the "state your premise, support it, then repeat it" sense. You mention liking a couple of things, then sort of recap that you liked them at the end. The mention of cinematography is a little more jarring because the recap of same comes in the very next paragraph.

Also, are you perhaps ESL? I ask for two reasons: first, because that's an added degree of difficulty that would make this better relative to that, and second, because it may help us determine what kind of feedback you're looking for. If you're primarily concerned about how it might sound to native English speakers, my response would be totally different.
Thank you very much for your feedback! My review is perhaps a little repetitive, I tried to write a conclusion at the end but it seems that that wasn't necessary.

And yes, English is my second language but I want feedback on the structure of my review. I'm not on school anymore so I don't have a teacher to ask. That's why I really appreciate your reply!